300101 Research Seminar Social Anthropology (Ko) (WiSe 2006/2007)

This Seminar is open exclusively to those students who are already in the process of putting together written theses (Diploma, Master, Doctoral, Habilitation) under the guidance of Prof. Pfaff-Czarnecka.

At the very centre of this Seminar will be the under-explored notion of belonging. Over the last two decades social science research has strongly concentrated upon processes of identity formation. Besides, numerous studies have explored the shifting patterns of governance and politics. Curiously however, the interrelations between people-centred notions of commonality and mutuality, on one hand, and the externally imposed patterns of dominance, allegiance and ordering, on the other, have been neglected so far. However, only by acknowledging this tension, the multifaceted notion of belonging can be adequately grasped.

Belonging then emerges as one of the key life-world categories, connoting embeddedness, intimacy and self-evidence. At the same time, the sense of belonging is shaped through protection from diverse contestations. It is a truly relational concept, located at the very centre of peoples¿ perceptions of common roots and horizons. It is prone to continuous refractions, and it entails a very strong emotive dimension. Belonging can then play a crucial role in development and restructuring endeavours in the so-called ¿third world societies¿, and it can guide entrepreneurial choices and affect transnational practices. Furthermore, cultural production and negotiations over cultural politics can be strongly shaped by a sense of communality and mutuality. Similarly, representations of national unity and ritual practices can be decisively guided by a sense of belonging ¿ as much as by exclusionary practices.

As a first step, there is a need to explore the notion of belonging, centring mainly on small-scale, intimate and old-established categories and modalities. The major task will be to inquire into the co-presence of diverse modalities of belonging, their intersections and their mutual contestations. A useful introduction to this issue will be to list the categories of belonging which are the most salient in the societies under study: kinship groups, localities, castes, religious congregations and others. One line of inquiry will be to elaborate upon this list and to ask some obvious questions. What are the dialectical relationships between identity and local territory? How are the identities shaped through the local material worlds? How are the elementary social ties in different contexts defined and how do they shift? Which discourses are used to express belonging? Have their meanings and their representations changed over time? Which emotional expressions can be observed? And above all: How do individual persons and collectivities manage to reconcile the diverse dimensions of their belonging?

This field of enquiry will also investigate the major forms of exclusion at the local level. For instance: the various gender dichotomies, and exclusions of women from particular groups and activities. What are the boundaries of belonging in small-scale societies and what do these boundaries do? How far are the notions of self and the other useful to define the forms of attachment to a locality and to a kin-group? Do these ties automatically involve exclusion and marginalisation of some other groups? How can boundaries be transgressed or blurred?

The second set of issues concentrates upon regional and national dimensions of belonging and seeks to establish how managerial modes of classification and ordering have intersected with pre-existing notions of mutuality and commonality. Has the national integration contributed to blurring ethnic boundaries, or rather reinforced the ethnic boundary-making? How do regional allegiances coincide or clash with national and ethnic boundaries? It is also necessary to study some examples of creation of new territorial entities (state, district, region, etc.) and their socio-political impact. What are the different senses of belonging in these new administrative units? Can specific historical moments be identified when regional identities have acquired more importance in political discourses than others (hence becoming the master narrative of belonging for a certain period of time)? How do shifts in identification and loyalty occur in time and space?

This topic could be linked with the issue of democratisation and governance and particularly directed towards the changing notions of citizenship. How do new political and administrative categories shape the meaning and the representations of belonging and exclusion? How does belonging translate into readiness to participate in formal politics? How do forms of resistance affect the sense and the manifestations of belonging? How did notions of nation-building and regionalisation come to intersect with ethnicity and with other forms of ¿boundedness¿? When and how did discourses of nation, ethnicity and region come to impinge upon each other? How are the relations between the citizens and the others (i.e. who do not belong) defined, contested and negotiated?

Finally, this Seminar will focus on the issue of trans-migrants, new locality constructions and trans-national identities. How are the multiple identities of migrants and traders moving from one zone to another experienced in diverse social contexts? What is the relation between trans-locality and belonging? Did new modalities of migration and transnationalism affect peoples¿ notions of belonging and inclusion? Can particular joint patterns be discerned? How can we grasp the relationship between multilocality and belonging?

This Seminar will be based upon the work-in-progress, as conducted by the students. Therefore, a list of reading materials can only be put together at the beginning of the Seminar.