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Political Transformation
| Dozent/in |
Till Förster |
| Veranstaltungsart |
Seminar
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| Wann |
Fr 10-12 Uhr |
| Ort |
Ethnologisches Seminar, Seminarraum |
| Sprechstunde |
nach Vereinbarung |
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Inhalt |
The theme: Political transformations took place at any time in history, though times of more rapid change always alternated with relative stability. In our time, however, stable political orders seem to have become very rare – with the notable exception of a few Western countries. This acceleration is occasionally attributed to the processes of globalization that increasingly penetrates all parts of the world. Even villages and tiny hamlets have become remotely global and are also affected by the political change at the national and international level. This situation calls for novel theoretical attempts to conceptualize the actual political transformations on the ground. From a social anthropological point of view, it is necessary to link the different levels of analysis and interpretation. The seminar thus adopts a somewhat unusual structure and combines general and theoretical work with empirical analyses of specific cases of political transformation.
The Research Seminar is a new format of teaching. It brings MA and PhD students together and aims at intro-ducing them to recent research and recent theorizing in the field of one of the three research groups at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Basel.
The Research Seminar is structured into three parts: 1. A reading of recent general and theoretical publications. 2. A study of relevant cases based on the literature. 3. A series of presentations of ongoing PhD projects.
MA students are expected to present either a recent general book on political transformation or a paper on an empirical case. The presentations of the general, more theoretical books and publications should be about 30min. long. The MA students can read and do the presentations together with a PhD student as a small team. For the empirical studies, we mainly propose case studies from Africa, but the students are invited to choose case studies that they are interested in. The presentations on empirical cases should be based on a reading of all available sources and thus can cover 45min.
PhD students should link one of the more general theories to their own empirical data and try to show how a possible interpretation would look like if they apply such an approach to their data. They can also present a chapter of their thesis if it fits to the theme of the research seminar. As an alternative, we encourage PhD stu-dents to work together with MA students on one of the theoretical issues and to do the presentation together with them.
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Programm |
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Date |
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Topic |
Presenter |
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05.03.2010 |
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Questions: How to conceptualize political transformation? |
Till Förster |
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12.03.2010 |
1.
2.
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Reading Recent Theoretical Attempts
Anthony Giddens, The Nation State and Violence. Cambridge 1985
Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power. vol. 2 Cambridge 1993 |
Helina Bischoff
Alain Schwab |
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19.03.2010 |
3.
4. |
Ernesto Laclau, Emancipation and Difference. (several works)
Alain Touraine, On Social Movements. (several works) |
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26.03.2010 |
5.
6. |
Patrick Chabal, The Politics of Suffering and Smiling. London 2009
Klaus Schlichte, In the Shadow of Violence. Frankfurt a.M. 2009 |
Daniela Gloor
Isabelle Hürst |
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02.04.2010 |
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Easter Break |
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09.04.2010
16.4.10
8–10am
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7.
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Understanding Empirical Cases
The Hawka: Negotiating Colonialism or a Moment of Freedom? |
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16.04.2010 |
8. |
Culture as Political Capital: Decolonisation or Neo-Colonial Elites? |
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23.04.2010 |
9. |
Niger Delta Vigilantes: Crime or Justice for the Disadvantaged? |
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30.04.2010 |
10. |
Monrovia and Freetown: Emerging novel orders in the (sub)urban? |
Jessica Bähler |
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07.05.2010 |
11.
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Fields of Research
South Africa: Khulumani as a movement of social emancipation? |
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14.05.2010 |
12. |
Guinea: A country at the margins of civil war? |
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21.05.2010 |
13. |
Côte d’Ivoire: New trust after times of uncertainty? |
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28.05.2010 |
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General Discussion: Future challenges and opportunities of research. |
all |
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04.06.2010 |
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Exam Week – No Meeting |
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Bemerkungen |
Vorbesprechung: Fr. 18.12.2009, 12-13h
Teilnahme an der Vorbesprechung ist Voraussetzung für die Übernahme einer Seminararbeit.
Die Teilnehmerzahl ist beschränkt, die Plätze werden nach Anmeldedatum und Studienfachzugehörigkeit vergeben. Vorrang haben die Studierenden der Ethnologie, African Studies und European Studies. Die Anmeldung erfolgt über ISIS. |
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Shortcuts
Inhalt
Programm
Bemerkungen
Download
paper D Gloor (pdf)
paper I Hürst (pdf)
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studium