Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,
wir möchten Sie gerne auf den nächsten Workshop der dgv-Kommission
„Europäisierung_Globalisierung: Ethnographien des Politischen“
aufmerksam machen, die am 27. und 28. Juni 2019 in München stattfinden
wird.
Alle Informationen zur inhaltlichen Ausrichtung und zur Anmeldung finden
sich im untenstehenden Ankündigungstext. Wir freuen uns über Ihr
Interesse und Ihre Teilnahme!
Mit den besten Grüßen, im Namen des Vorbereitungsteams,
Alexandra Schwell
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*Call for Participation*
*Anthropologists Struggling with Neo-Nationalism and Authoritarianism: *
*Challenges for Ethnography in Turbulent Times*
*Workshop with Nitzan Shoshan (Centro de Estudios Sociológicos, El
Colegio de México)*
Munich, 27 & 28 June 2019
Right-wing populism and extremism are increasingly setting the political
and societal tone and agenda throughout Europe. These current
developments are leading to the “mainstreaming” of far-right ideas.
Language, signs, and imaginations are taken over by parties of the
center, and they become part of mainstream media and everyday discourse
in ways that only a few years ago would not have been conceivable. This
resurgence of the varied manifestations of the far right – from extreme
right grassroots movements to right-wing populist parties – across the
world have, unsurprisingly, been attracting more and more attention from
anthropologists. Anthropologists have turned their focus to right-wing
groups because they form part of larger phenomena that have the capacity
to transform the societies we live in. In the workshop, we are
interested in the continuum of right-wing ideology and practices, i.e.
from right-wing sympathizers to the extreme right. It is here where we
see how right-wing ideology and discourse are seeping into mainstream
discourse.
The workshop expands on these basic assumptions and seeks to stimulate
discussions and facilitate exchanges among scholars from anthropology
and related disciplines conducting research in this field. We aim at
discussing research on neo-nationalism and authoritarianism both from an
analytical and a methodological angle, since we assume that these
phenomena pose a significant challenge for anthropology and ethnography.
The workshop thus seeks to engage with anthropologists’ struggle with
neo-nationalism and authoritarianism by sharpening our terminologies and
theoretical avenues, discussing our conceptual frameworks, and
reflecting on experiences we encounter during empirical research, also
with regard to their ethical dimension. The questions we ask in the
workshop include, but are not confined to:
-How do neo-nationalist and authoritarian ideas and imaginations speak
to actors? How do they become “truth”?
-How are neo-nationalism and authoritarianism linked to emotional and
affective politics?
-What are the implications for the wider study of socio-cultural change
and social cohesion?
-How can ethnography and anthropology help to understand the current
crises of democracy and political representation?
-How do we distinguish between different actors on the “far right”, and
how do we make sense of their multiple overlaps and interconnections?
-Which practical problems do ethnographers face, ranging from problems
of field access to questions of collaboration and intimidation? How to
deal with emotional difficulties regarding one’s own (political)
positioning in the field?
-And finally, what can political anthropology, or anthropology more
generally, contribute to the study of neo-nationalism and authoritarianism?
The workshop will be complemented by a keynote by Nitzan Shoshan (Centro
de Estudios Sociológicos, El Colegio de México), author of “The
Management of Hate: Nation, Affect, and the Governance of Right-Wing
Extremism in Germany” (Princeton University Press 2016). He will also
contribute comments and join our discussions throughout the workshop.
The workshop shall function as a forum for scholars with an interest in
the study of neo-nationalism and authoritarianism. We invite
participants to send short statements (not exceeding 1 page) explaining
their interest in the workshop topic, including a short bio, until 30
April 2019 to Esin Göksoy (E.Goeksoy@campus.lmu.de). We particularly
invite early-career scholars and PhD students to present and discuss
their ongoing research.
Venue: Richard-Wagner-Str. 27, 80333 München
The workshop is jointly organized by Alexandra Schwell (LMU Munich),
Patrick Wielowiejski (HU Berlin) and Stefan Wellgraf (Hamburg
University) within the framework of the dgv working group
“Europeanization_Globalization. Ethnographies of the Political”, in
cooperation with the Department of Intercultural Communication at LMU
Munich and the Petra Kelly Foundation.