|
Lehrende: Prof. Dr. Eray Cayli
Veranstaltungsart:
Seminar
Anzeige im Stundenplan:
Seminar Anthropo B
Semesterwochenstunden:
2
Unterrichtssprache:
Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl:
10 | 20
Anmeldegruppe: Anthropogeographie B
Weitere Informationen:
Die Teilnahme an der Tagesexkursion ist verpflichtend, eine Freistellung von der Exkursion kann nur aus unabdingbaren Gründen (Krankheit, Überschneidung mit einer anderen Veranstaltung) erfolgen und muss vorher abgesprochen werden. Es ist in solchen Fällen möglich, ersatzweise an einer Exkursion desselben Moduls teilzunehmen – die Noteneintragung erfolgt dann in Absprache zwischen den Dozierenden.
Participation in the day excursion is obligatory, an exemption from the excursion can only be made for indispensable reasons (illness, overlapping with another course) and must be agreed upon in advance. In such cases, it is possible to participate in an excursion of the same module as a substitute - the grade entry is then made in consultation between the lecturers.
Kommentare/ Inhalte:
The economy is a material phenomenon. This much is widely accepted. What is not as easily agreed upon is how politics occurs in relation to economy as such. Is the economy simply a material realization of politics? Or might there be a material relation between the economic and the political where the one does not necessarily predetermine the other? This course explores such questions in light of the latest scholarship in human geography (and kindred disciplines) that takes seriously the materialities constituting what is termed the economy as generative sites of politics in their own right. We especially read and discuss scholarship that considers these materialities qualitatively (as embodied and situated) and therefore beyond the quantitative orientation that underpins the rationalism and positivism of Eurocentric methodologies. After introducing the course’s aims and structure, we spend a week laying out the methodological pathway that will guide us in the rest of the semester. We then proceed through biweekly themes that help us grasp where, when, by whom, and for whom the politics of economy takes place as material politics. Every week, we collectively discuss two required texts we read in advance (each text is briefly introduced by a student to facilitate the discussion). There are two formally assessed assignments. The first is an 8-minute-long oral presentation (Referat) that is delivered in the final week of semester. The second is a 20,000-character-long term paper (Hausarbeit) submitted by 29 March on a topic relevant to the ambit of our course. A series of exercises and activities are included in the course to help students prepare for the term paper, including the oral presentation itself and another preparatory (ungraded) assignment as well as a day-long local excursion where we explore our key topics and questions in situ.
Lernziel:
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. List and explain theories and histories of materiality's role in the spatial politics of economy;
2. Outline and critically evaluate in written and oral form how these histories and theories have both shaped and been shaped by social, cultural, and political developments;
3. Critically engage with the role of material objects and sites in constituting political and economic geography, including those involved in the making of territory and borders, representation, securitization, resource extraction, migration, and cultural production;
4. Familiarize with various and often conflicting approaches to the questions of for whom material politics is and by whom it is constituted;
5. Apply the above to the critical analysis of specific cases from the recent past or the present.
Vorgehen:
This is a proseminar course. That the teaching format of this course is a seminar means it is taught through readings and in-class discussions based on them. There are two required readings per week as well as recommended ones (PDFs of all will be provided in advance). Each reading will be introduced briefly (max. 10 minutes) by a student, followed by open discussion. There will also be structured discussions involving group work and guided by Eray’s questions and/or further material he will introduce on the day. Students are encouraged to use what is called a “reflection sheet” to structure their thoughts ahead of each class so as to prepare to participate as fully as possible in the discussions to be had in class. This is effectively a form with three simple sections that help structure one’s reflections on what one has read (a template and further information are provided here under "Resources"). Doing so is likely to benefit especially those students presenting a required weekly text. The seminars may involve discussions in groups of varying sizes (in pairs, in trios, and within the whole group). The office hours will enable one-to-one discussion of students’ ideas. Where relevant, the course will make use of visual material, site visits, online video tutorials on the technicalities of coursework, and online platforms for dialogic/collective critique (i.e., by way of posting reflections on MIN-Moodle), extending teaching and learning to spaces outside the classroom and/or campus.
Literatur:
Students are more than encouraged to also read the following recommended texts, which are likely to enhance the benefits derived from the course: Andrew Barry's Material Politics: Disputes Along the Pipeline (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013); Nikhil Anand, Akhil Gupta and Hannah Appel's (eds.) The Promise of Infrastructure (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018); Antina von Schnitzler's Democracy's Infrastructure: Techno-Politics and Protest after Apartheid (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017); Jason Dittmer's Diplomatic Material: Affect, Assemblage, and Foreign Policy (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2017); Erik Swyngedouw's Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities in Twentieth-Century Spain (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2023); Thomas Lemke's The Government of Things: Foucault and the New Materialisms (New York: New York University Press, 2021); Vanesa Castán Broto's Urban Energy Landscapes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019); Andreas Malm's The Progress of This Storm (London: Verso, 2018); Klaus Dodds' Geopolitics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007); Penelope Harvey and Hannah Knox's Roads: An Anthropology of Infrastructure and Expertise (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015); Kathryn Yusoff's A Billion Black Anthropocenes (Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota University Press, 2018); Janet Vertesi and David Ribes's (eds.) digitalSTS: A Field Guide for Science & Technology Studies (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019); Rafi Youatt's Interspecies Politics: Nature, Borders, States (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2020); Kregg Hetherington's (ed.) Infrastructure, Environment, and Life in the Anthropocene (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019); Franck Billé's (ed.) Voluminous States: Sovereignty, Materiality, and the Territorial Imagination (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020); Dominic Boyer's Energopolitics (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019); Jairus Victor Grove's Savage Ecology: War and Geopolitics at the End of the World (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019); Alan Ingram's Geopolitics and the Event: Rethinking Britain's Iraq War Through Art (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2019); Nikhil Anand's Hydraulic City: Water and the Infrastructures of Citizenship in Mumbai (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2017); Austin Zeiderman's Endangered City: The Politics of Security and Risk in Bogotá (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016).
Leading academic journals that publish latest research on topics relevant to this course include but are not limited to Political Geography, Progress in Human Geography, Antipode, The Professional Geographer, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, and Geopolitics.
Zusätzliche Hinweise zu Prüfungen:
This module has two assignments that impact your official grade and one that is not graded formally but only meant to help you prepare for the other two. The two assignments graded formally are an oral presentation (Referat; weighted at 25%) and a term paper (Hausarbeit; weighted at 75%). In both, students develop and demonstrate an ability to critically analyze geographies of material politics in light of the topics covered in this course. Both are strictly research-based exercises, and must offer a clear and coherent argument and adhere to formal academic conventions. Alongside the general guidelines available through the University, a brief and rubric are provided below to inform students of the expectations and the assessment criteria involved. The term paper must be 20,000 characters long (it is okay to be 10% above or below this length) and use Chicago-style citation. The deadline is 29 March 2024 (4.30pm). The oral presentation, delivered in the final week of term, covers the preparation you have done by that point on your term paper. Each presentation is max. 8 minutes long (or approximately 5,000 characters in textual terms) and followed by questions from class; attendance is mandatory throughout the whole series of presentations. There is a preparatory exercise to help your work towards both these formally marked assignments: a 2,000-character abstract in progress (including a research question) to be submitted by 8 December 2023.
|
