300522 Kolloquium Sozialanthropologie (Ko) (SoSe 2009)

(Un)bounded Belonging

Today’s societies are shaped by simultaneous dynamics that at least at the first sight appear contradictory. On one hand, the social horizons of relatedness and reflexivity stretch their scope onto globality. On the other hand, small-scale configurations and local attachments reassert their salience. This simultaneity is inscribed in a number of dichotomies that for instance come to light in universalist vs. particularist as well as cosmopolitan vs. parochial positionings. These dichotomies reveal the dynamic character of social formations as well as uncertainties and contestations in the field of social boundary-making. All over the world we can currently observe how established boundaries are challenged, abandoned, shifted, blurred, and transgressed. New boundary-making mechanisms come into existence, opening up new possibilities while also instigating new risks and conflicts.

These re-configurations impinge upon people’s sense of belonging that is simultaneously embedded in the shifting constellations of commonality, mutuality and attachments. Under the conditions of globalisation and transnationalisation, perceptions and performance of commonality change; individuals and groups tend to acquire new points of reference so that multiple belonging becomes norm. So do relations of mutuality, and consequently, the mutual commitments. Individual and collective attachments are possibly less clear-cut than in former times. In particular, they diversify in translocal / transnational social fields, shifting in scope and in intensity. In this vein, the diverse key-parameters of belonging – legal entitlements, material possessions, identity politics and modalities of representation – acquire enabling as much as constraining effects when it comes to social inclusion and exclusion. In consequence, belonging becomes more and more an object of human reflexivity - losing its ‘what’s-going-without-saying’-character - as transnational migration, manifold ‘systemic colonisations’ of life-worlds as well as the awareness of new possibilities significantly shape social practices.

Grasping the nature of belonging, understood as a sentiment and as social practice, and understanding its salience under the conditions of rapid social change provides a new and fascinating challenge to social science research. The interest in this notion comes to light in the rapidly growing numbers of publications bearing ‘belonging’ in their title. They point to a broad range of research fields that are pursued at Bielefeld’s social anthropology and development sociology. To name some obvious trends: State- and non-state actors engage in assertions of commonality (e.g. through identity politics), evoking collective memories and engaging in collective positioning. Auto-ethnographies, performativity and new ritualisations find inspirations in reservoirs of cultural repertoires disseminated through globalizing communication channels. Ethnicity, race and gender, class, sexual orientations as well as physical characteristics intersect – as possible dimensions of belonging - in intriguing ways.

Belonging becomes all the more an object of reflexivity as the realm of the political undergoes manifold transformations. The horizons and modalities of political action change in significant ways. In particular, environmental movements have greatly buttressed the vision of common global destiny, buttressing the sense of belonging at a very large scale. Similarly, the expansion and diversification of media communication has enabled the growth and transformation of a global public sphere. Translocal and transnational activist networks bring new political constellations about. With the democratic consolidation, participatory forms acquire more and more importance, not withstanding the related problems and contradictions. Top-down uniform measures are challenged by activists standing for small-scale constituencies that strive to shape their life-worlds according to own ideas and visions. Within legal and political regimes emerge new categories of the social, whereas established collective categories of belonging are questioned – as is for instance the case with separatist movements. The quest to protect minority rights and measures to attain regional autonomy, to give just one example, directly link the question of belonging to commitment, mobilisation and participation.

The current seminar is dedicated to pursuing the ongoing research projects, by examining the dimension of belonging – but not restricting our preoccupations to this particular concept. Based upon empirical material collected by students participating in this seminar we shall concentrate on social science tools that resort to qualitative methodologies - that are multi-perspective in scope and that privilege actor-oriented approaches. Among the objectives pursued in this seminar will be assessing what we can gain by adopting the belonging-approach, and how it can enrich the analytical tools developed in major research fields in social sciences such as ethnicity, migration, local-level politics, human / minority rights, and conflict.

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen, notwendige Vorkenntnisse

This seminar is addressed at the doctoral students as well as at those who are in train of writing academic texts (MA-, Diploma-Thesis) in related fields.