Wintersemester 2022/2023

Das Modul ist eine Einführung in die regionale Ethnologie. Studierende werden mit den kulturellen Besonderheiten verschiedener Regionen vertraut gemacht, diskutieren die Beziehung von einzelnen Kulturen zu ihren Regionen sowie den Austausch und die Überlappung von Kulturen und Regionen. Studierende setzen sich mit den kulturellen Folgen von Kolonialismus und Globalisierung auseinander und beschäftigen sich mit Konzepten wie Diaspora, Transnationalismus und Hybridität.

If one excludes studies on dreams and dreaming, sleep has to date been a curiously neglected phenomenon in medical anthropology and anthropology more broadly. This neglect is curious not only because sleep (like eating or drinking) is crucial for our health and well-being, because we spend almost a third of our lives sleeping, and because sleep or the lack thereof is an omnipresent topic in daily conversations and the media; it is also curious because sleep fundamentally affects how social life is organized and, as such, should be of interest to anthropologists.
Sleep can be studied from a broad variety of anthropological angles. Sleep – how it is used to discipline and govern – is a topic for political anthropology (e.g. Williams, 2011; Crary, 2013). Sleep – its evolution and the unresolved question of its function for human and other-than-human life worlds – is a topic for biological anthropology (Samson, 2021). The medicalization of sleep, changing categorizations and lived experiences of sleep disorders, or the dynamic and growing field of sleep science are rich topics for medical anthropology and STS (e.g. Wolf-Meyer, 2012). Sleep, of course, is also an important topic for social anthropology more generally: Sleeps affects who we are and how we relate to others. Where, when, how, and with whom people sleep is inherently bound up with their work and personal life. Studying sleep can provide insights into, for instance, class structures, family and life course dynamics, intimate relations, and forms of care – not just in different contemporary societies, but also historically (e.g. Brunt & Steger, 2008; Glaskin & Chenhall, 2013; Ekirch, 2005).
In this course, we will venture into the night – so to speak – to explore recent debates and developments in the anthropology of sleep. In the first part (seven sessions on a weekly basis), we will read and discuss key publications on sleep in very different subfields of anthropology. Drawing on these readings and their own personal interests, students will then have time until the end of January to develop ideas for an oral presentation at the block day which will also serve as the basis for their written assessment (Hausarbeit). Students can explore anthropological debates on sleep and dreaming, analyze portrayals of sleep in films, art, literature, or the media, or even gather own empirical material (e.g. conduct an interview with someone about their sleep habits or sleep problems). The third part of the course is a one-day block seminar at the end of January, during which students will present their findings and ideas for their Hausarbeit.

Organisatorisches:
Termine:
14.10., 21.10., 28.10.,11.,18.11.,25.11.,2.12.2022
27.1.2023. 9-17 Uhr, S 202

Expectations & Examination:
Students are expected to carefully prepare the assigned readings and participate actively in class. The assessment (Prüfungsleistung) consists of two parts: a) an oral presentation (approx. 20 minutes) at the block seminar and b) a written paper (Hausarbeit, approx. 12-14 pages) based on this presentation. Due date: 31.03.2023

MA Course: Culture & Technology WT 22/23

Course Description: This subject examines relationships among technology, culture, politics, animals and the (human) body in a range of social settings. In this reading-intensive course, we encounter a few core concepts and theorists relevant to the anthropological study of science and technology. We explore the often unacknowledged political, aesthetic, religious, ethical and embodied aspects of technology and science, and ask how we may study these as sociomaterial practices rather than human mastery over Nature. Specific attention will be paid to contexts of so-called Global South. What hopes, fears, and uncertainties are evoked by the global circulation of science and technology? How are scientific knowledge and technological innovations constantly redrawing the boundaries between Nature and Society? How do new technologies evolve in relation to, and transform imaginations of identity, power, and knowledge? Each session is organized around either analytical core concepts, or anthropological encounters with a distinct thing, field or process, such as the wheelchair, the plastic spoon, the cyborg, stem cells, the cochlear implant, the fingerprint, childbirth. We use these as cases to explore how technology shapes, and is being shaped by, cultural assumptions, utopian imagery, and complex interactions between human and non-human substances and agencies.

In this course, we will discuss the intersections of these two disciplines. Every week will revolve around a new question, for example: What is culture? What is gender? What is ritual? By addressing these questions, we will go through the development of anthropological theory and many of the trends in contemporary philosophy. We will talk about everything from Functionalism to Post-Structuralism, from Feminism to Actor-Network Theory and Object-Oriented Ontology. Along the way, we will also look at the terms that show up in anthropological debates all the time and usually lack any explanation: “ontology”, “epistemology”, “positivism”, “empiricism”, “phenomenology”, and all of the paradigms and turns you can think of!