Democracy—what is it, what has it been, and what could it be? This seminar takes up these questions not expecting a singular answer, but rather as a point of departure in thinking about something that has been variously taken as a self-evident good, a threatened project, or an ideological obfuscation. We reflect on the relationship between people (demo-) and rule (-cracy): are these two things fundamentally in tension or contradiction, co-constitutive, or something else entirely? Other seminar themes include bodies collective and singular; the idea of the people (demos, ethnos, and populus); action, decision, and deliberation; economy and polity; the sociocultural and the historical. The seminar is grounded in anthropological debates and traditions, even as readings draw on cultural studies, history, Black studies, queer and feminist theory, and philosophy.

4 SWS

This course weaves together theory and practice through an exploration of what it means to live now, on this damaged, altered, “disabled” planet. This means that we will be thinking collectively about what it means to be attuned to and live with our surroundings and the “alterlife” that constitutes it, as well as with how we can practically engage with it, live with it, and engage in projects of repair. This course can only be taken as 4SWS and is divided into a seminar, where we will read authors that include Anna Tsing, Michelle Murphy, and Sunaura Taylor, and five excursions in Bremen and Bremerhaven where we will engage with people and organizations that deal practically with beings and things like insects, weeds, water, soil, and trees. Language of instruction will be English and German. Course work will be in both languages as well.

Blockseminar

“Richness against money: this battle will decide the future of humanity” John Holloway writes in the description to his newest book Hope in Hopeless Times (2022). Together with his heavily influential books Change the World Without Taking Power (2002, translated into eleven languages) and Crack Capitalism (2010), the new book completes a trilogy, each of which engage in its own way with the critique of capitalism and a renewal of a theory of struggle and revolution.
Drawing on Ernst Bloch’s Principle of Hope and Theodor W. Adorno’s concepts of negativity and non-identity, his new book provides us with an understanding of “richness” that is irreducible to money and profit, but instead should be grasped as an “overflowing” creativity which can enable radical social change and is therefore a source of hope. A hope that can dismantle the “pain-rage-frustration” that “seems to flowing now, across the world: towards bitterness, hatred, racism, sexism, nationalism, fear”.

John Holloway is Professor of Sociology in the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico. He has written extensively on Marxist theory, the relation of state and capital, on anti-capitalist struggle and the Zapatista Movement.
We are extremely lucky that John Holloway has accepted our invitation to the University of Bremen and will be here in person to discuss his new book, the key concepts and arguments with us. So, reading the book is a condition for preparation.
In a preparatory meeting, you will determine some of the key parts of the book, issues, questions and your interests which will be basis for the block seminar. These topics can include questions on the workings of capitalism: on the concept of abstract labour, commodity fetishism, money, value, capital and crisis, just as much as how he understands richness vis-à-vis money, what he means by overflowing and where it is located, why he understands this overflowing is anti-identitarian and against classification, why focus on money, instead of capital, and where capitalism “cracks”. … It is up to you.
The seminar will take place as a “Blockseminar” held in English (but if you want you can speak German). Please, note the following dates and times:


Dates:
Wednesday, 01.11.2023 14-16:00 Initial Meeting/Intro to the Seminar
Wednesday, 10.01.2024, 10-16:00 Clarification of Topics of Interest/Questions
Tuesday, 30.01.2024 18-20:00 Talk: John Holloway
Wednesday, 31.01.2024 10-16:00 Seminar with John Holloway
Thursday, 01.02.2024 10-16:00 Seminar with John Holloway
Friday, 02.02.2024 10:00-16:00 Reflection

Reading John Holloway's book Hope in Hopeless Times is a condition for taking part in the course.

Brief description:

Research ethics are integral to the entire process of knowledge production: from conceptualising and designing a research project and gathering, analysing, and managing data, to writing and other forms of representation and engagement. Research ethics not only provide a set of guidelines on research methodology and conduct. They are also integral to anthropology's epistemology and are deeply intertwined with power and the politics of knowledge production. As such, it is also necessary to reflect on one's positionality as part of ethical consciousness, discernment, and behavior. In this seminar, we discuss the importance of research ethics and reflexivity in anthropology. Employing a critical stance on dominant research ethics paradigms, we tackle as well feminist, indigenous, and decolonial research ethics. This is not a mere theoretical exercise. Rather, the aim is to equip students to identify ethical issues, reflect on how to address these issues, make ethical choices, and ethically respond to varied research contexts and demands. Through inputs, guest talks, discussions, and exercises on reflexivity, ethics case studies, principles, and assessment, the seminar aims to develop students' knowledge and skills on ethical discernment and ethical research design and praxis.

Skills and knowledge targets:

1. Understand what research ethics are, including feminist, indigenous, and decolonial approaches, in relation to qualitative research and more specifically to anthropology
2. Become familiar with key ethical debates and dilemmas in anthropology
3. Develop reflexivity in relation to one's positionality and how this relates to the ethical intricacies of one's research project
4. Assess case studies on ethical dilemmas and learn how to make ethical choices
5. Become equipped with 'how-tos' for citation, informed consent, anonymity, data management, and internet research ethics
6. Develop ethical consciousness as a student, not just specific to one's research, but more generally in relation to academia and knowledge production