How does change happen – in societies, bodies, or the environment? How do people instigate – and explain – personal, political, or environmental change? And how do they assert, resist, or refuse powerful structures and forms of domination?
In the late 1990s, agency came to be a prominent and much-celebrated concept in anthropology. Emerging out of practice theory, agency was imagined as an inherently positive capacity to act within, even resist, potentially oppressive structures. In more recent times, it seems, anthropologists have become less enthusiastic about the concept for various reasons. Human agency in particular is increasingly regarded as problematic rather than something to be celebrated (if one thinks of debates on the Anthropocene, for instance). At the same time there is an increasing realization that human agency is rather limited, and there is a widespread sense of powerlessness in the face of climate change, pandemics, and war.
In this course, we will engage with anthropological debates on agency, resistance, and related concepts like refusal or patiency. Drawing on both classic and more recent ethnographic texts, we will investigate the complex relationship between agency, intention, and effect in fields as varied as politics, the body, language, and the Anthropocene. Every session, one or two students will prepare a short introductory comment (Impulsreferat) which relates the theoretical ideas from the text to a contemporary political phenomenon or debate (e.g. the protests for women’s rights in Iran, euthanasia, climate change, Donald Trump etc.). Thereby, we will learn how anthropologists and other social theorists have struggled to conceptualize the dynamics between agent and world, between responsibility and fate, and between power and resistance. And we will reflect on people’s, and perhaps our own, desires for change, for control, or for submission.
Expectations & Examination (Prüfungsleistung)
Students are expected to carefully prepare the assigned readings and participate actively in class. The Prüfungsleistung consists of two parts: 1) a short oral presentation/‘introductory comment’ (approx. 10 min.) and 2) a written paper (Hausarbeit, approx. 12-14 pages) to be submitted by 31 March 2024.