Projects & Collaborations 21 foundShow per page10 10 20 50 Reversing the Gaze: Towards Post-Comparative Area Studies Research Project | 6 Project MembersThis project proposes the approach of a "conceptual laboratory" to test the analytic purchase of mid-level concepts that seek to explain the crises of political identity and liberal democracy, through practices of reciprocal comparison. The overarching research question for the conceptual laboratory is the following: how can mid-level concepts developed in the Global South be made useful for knowledge production in general? The key critical theoretical assumption underlying the methodological level is the idea that we need to reverse the gaze, i.e. deploy conceptualisations developed in the South in the North. On a substantive level, we ask how useful the mid-level concepts "re-tribalisation", "political society" and "the cunning state" are in describing, analysing and interpreting these crisis phenomena in liberal democracies of Europe (in comparison to already existing conceptual vocabularies developed in a European context), more specifically in the Alpine region (Switzerland, Austria and Italy)? On a theoretical level, we ask how freeing such concepts from the constraints of context can contribute to particular relational approaches to area studies (and disciplinary comparison). Finally, on a methodological level, we seek to draw lessons from the conceptual laboratory in operationalizing an epistemological practice of reciprocal comparison. We propose three empirical case studies which meet two main goals. On the one hand, they seek to offer innovative and conceptually out-of-the-box perspectives on and across the cases themselves, differing from those derived and developed exclusively within and against a European background. Moreover, they draw respectively from an old concept ("retribalisation", Africa), a fashionable but contested concept ("political society", Asia) and an emerging concept that still needs to establish itself in the area studies domain ("the cunning state", Asia). Second, we approach the concepts as descriptions of the set of particulars making up crisis phenomena in specific settings. The question we ask is whether the particulars brought into view can help us shed more light on similar phenomena in Europe, thereby shifting the case for conceptual regionalism in favour of greater attention to the possibilities of comparison. These different histories of the concepts provide us with a diversity of mid-range concepts whose application in other empirical contexts beyond their area studies domain can be tested. Crucial to the research approach is the distinction between the object of research and the scope of inquiry. The former refers to the "Southern" background of the deployed concepts and the three case studies in the Alpine region within which empirical research takes place. The latter refers to the concrete phenomenon we describe, analyse and interpret in a given setting. Our project proposal is thus a response to recent critical reflections on Area Studies, comparative disciplinary work, as well as critiques from the South. In building on these literatures while attending to knowledge production in practice, its scholarly outcomes include potentially new perspectives on comparison; a critical engagement with "universal" concepts and the politics of conceptual travel; and practical visions on how to imbue the pursuit of knowledge with a concern for ethical and political issues raised by these critiques. International Digital Exchange between Africa and Switzerland (IDEAS) Research Project | 4 Project MembersDas vorliegende Pilotprojekt vermittelt Master-Studierenden der Sozialwissenschaften in der Schweiz, Mali und Guinea das praktische, methodologische und theoretische Handwerkszeug zum kollektiven wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten über kontinentale Grenzen hinweg. Schlüsselaktivitäten sind zwei parallel veranstaltete Seminare zu sozialwissenschaftlicher Theorie und Methodologie sowie gemeinsame Workshops an den jeweiligen Universitäten. Eine zentrale Innovation des Projekts ist die Entwicklung einer Online-Lernplattform. Sie wird kontinuierlich an die Bedarfe der verschiedenen universitären Kontexte angepasst und kann für zukünftige Lehr- und Forschungskooperationen genutzt werden. Ziel ist es, die Internationalisierung und Digitalisierung der Sozialwissenschaften in der Schweiz innovativ voranzutreiben, gerade in Bereichen mit bislang ungenutztem Zukunftspotenzial. 7th European Conference on African Studies: Urban Africa - Urban Africans. New encounters of the rural and the urban Research Project | 6 Project MembersAt 3.5% Africa has the highest urbanization rate in the whole world. The potential effects of these staggering growth rates are relevant for all Africans, both in the urban as well as in the rural areas. By 2040 the continent's cities are expected to have to accommodate 79 Million additional inhabitants. Between 2040 and 2050 the figure will rise to a staggering 84 Million. The latest UN-Habitat report forecasts that by 2025 Africa's urban population will outstrip that of Europe and Latin America together. No wonder that a growing number of researchers, institutions and governments are paying more and more attention to urbanization in Africa. This growing interest focuses on whether rapid urbanization will overwhelm African governments and societies or whether it reflects the increasing importance of the middle classes, a factor which is held by many to account for Africa's positive economic performance of late. African urbanization trends raise several issues that are of interest to scholars. These range from politics (what does the growing importance of city dwellers mean to the character of politics?), through economics (will urbanization undermine or foster efforts at overcoming inequalities?), all the way to social (e.g. are African social relations changing in any significant way as a result of these trends? How do Africans live their cities?) and cultural issues (e.g. will urban life styles dominate the rural? How will the rural and the urban relate to each other in the future?). The key issue, however, is how urbanization processes in Africa transform conventional objects of African Studies and how do scholars of Africa gear up to face such changes? This is the question which the Centre for African Studies at the University of Basel (CASB) in Switzerland wishes to invite scholars of Africa to engage with in a more conscious and systematic manner. While the urban will be prominent, the proposed conference theme will also look into the entanglements of the rural with the urban, especially with a view to addressing an implicit assumption underlying the study of Africa and which concerns the supposed rural 'nature' of the continent as well as the constitutive nature of the tension between tradition and modernity. While over the past few decades a self-critical attitude within many disciplines has led to a weakening of these assumptions, the urban continues arguably to be seen as the exception or, at any rate, as analytically less consequential than the rural. ECAS 2017 "Urban Africa - Urban Africans" will, therefore, be an occasion for rethinking African Studies, but also for exploring and deepening research avenues that many researchers working on urban and rural issues have taken up over recent years. There is a critical mass to be harnessed in the effort to push the frontiers of critical European knowledge production on Africa. Over 1300 participants attended this convention organised by the Centre for African Studies Basel and the Swiss Society for African Studies on behalf of the Research Network of African Studies Centres in Europe AEGIS . They presented 1020 papers in 204 thematic panels and engaged in 10 round table discussions, 18 book launches, 13 film screenings and 13 meetings and were inspired by 4 keynote lectures. Challenges of Palliative Care in South Africa and Switzerland : A Comparative Study Research Project | 2 Project MembersThe project aims at (1) describing and comparing the Swiss and South African Palliative Care (PC) existing structures and services in public hospital settings ; (2) identifying the specific areas where the Swiss model could be implemented in SA hospitals; (4) identifying the specific areas where the South African model could be of help in Swiss hospitals. The common aim of the four Swiss and South African applicants - and their collaborators - is to describe, analyze and compare the present development of PC in public university hospital settings in a rigorous, scientific and understandable manner. All applicants agree that the purpose of their project has a great practical and socially relevance. The Swiss partners will focus their attention upon the ethical (Isabelle Wienand) and the social (Elisio Macamo) aspects of PC. The South African partners will concentrate on the philosophical-psychological (Abraham Olivier) and public political (Malcolm de Roubaix) dimensions of PC. Our SSAJR project has a clear innovative strength in today's research in PC as well as a social impact, inasmuch as it (1) studies how the quality of life and autonomy of end-of-life patients can be promoted and respected; (2) contributes to international PC research by comparing Swiss and South African existing settings (3) explores the potentialities of PC as a humane and patient-oriented medicine that could also be a financial relief. The research will be conducted on a (1) conceptual/theoretical level and (2) empirical level. (1) will explore the different views on PC and discuss the major ethical, medical and cultural challenges. (2) The empirical level will find out the opinions of different key informants/stakeholders on PC (quantitative and qualitative analyses). The research project will be conducted on a (1) conceptual/theoretical and (2) empirical level. (1) will explore the different views on PC and discuss the major ethical, medical and cultural challenges. (2) the empirical level will find out the opinions of different stakeholders on PC. Exchange Agreement with the University of Namibia Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe primary objective of this Agreement is the development of cooperative efforts between the University of Basel and the University of Namibia, which will enhance the academic interchange between the two parties. Recognizing the importance of mutual collaboration and the contributions to society made by institutions of higher education, the parties desire to promote exchange between the faculty and students of the two institutions as well as the exchange of academic and research information. Narratives of Identity, Multi-sited Biographies, and Transnational Life-Modes of Highly Qualified Migrants. Two Case Studies Research Project | 4 Project MembersThe migration of the highly qualified/skilled has recently gained recognition within migration studies after decades of being overshadowed by topics such as low skilled migration, push and pull factors, refugees, crime issues and legal restrictions. Research on skilled migration tends to focus on social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of knowledge-based societies within a globally multifaceted context. The focus on small diaspora communities within industrialized countries/regions is not fully recognized, though they deserve attention. The aim of the project is to understand how or to what extent tensions emerging between different aspects of globalization shape the experiences and activities of highly qualified migrants. The empirical reality of globalization includes different elements such as movement of ideas, people and goods. Theories of transnationalism permit to examine different facets and processes of globalization. However, concepts of transnationalism seem to be challenged by streams of renationalization such as changing migration policies and discourses on national identities. Such contradictions may provoke antagonistic tendencies calling for research exploring the present situation of highly qualified migrants, which could offer specific findings and insights of great value. The phenomenon of highly qualified migration is a significant part of today's globalization. It creates the necessity to negotiate relationships across and within localities. Biographies and narratives of distinctive groups of highly qualified migrants allow us to analyse how life experiences and activities are shaped across a multifaceted context. Furthermore, theories of life-modes and justification serve as frameworks to position highly qualified actors within globalization processes and to explain their activities. This approach provides us with an opportunity to make sense of the events and actions highly qualified migrants live with; and to understand how they articulate themselves. It also allows us to understand how these migrants think they play a part in the structure of today's "glocalization". The project consists of two subprojects focusing on distinctive groups of highly qualified migrants: Swiss in Israel and Israelis in Switzerland Swiss in Senegambia and Senegambians in Switzerland The historical, sociocultural, political and religious characteristics defining the specific groups of migrants and their countries of origin and destination create a distinct profile. There are surprisingly many Swiss living in Israel and an important number of highly skilled Israelis living in Switzerland. The image of Senegambia migrants in Switzerland has long been negatively shaped by the low skilled migrants from the region who often come to Switzerland as asylum seekers. However, they are now beginning to be perceived as agents contributing to the development of their country of origin. The subprojects take up transnationalism as a theoretical concept and globalization as an empirical reality, both of which will be studied through the prism of the migration of the highly skilled. Simultaneously, the tensions and contradictions of arising nationalist or ethnic arguments on "culture" will have to be addressed. A transnational context produces what we call multi-sited biographies that are justified in the narratives of the protagonists. This represents a societal antagonism between high mobility versus the desire for settlement and stability; and between policies on migration and national profiling versus the demands for trained experts. We will explore how or to what extent globalization shapes life experiences, the justification of transnational activities amongst highly qualified migrants and how they position themselves within a globalized but localized setting. The sampled groups of migrants allow us to understand the precise role of attributions and labelling in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, nationality, profession, and religion within and across multiple locations. The project uses qualitative methods and findings drawn from anthropology and sociology and informed by the concerns of African studies, Jewish studies, Near Eastern studies and European studies. The significance of carrying out such joint research is highlighted and recognized by scholars. Research on transnational migration tends to focus on a single group within a single locality. In contrast, we intend to grasp how different localities, surroundings and frameworks may lead to varying experiences and negotiations. We anticipate diverse outcomes and findings that could provide a way to understanding different groups of migrants within different localities. Historical, cultural, religious and visibility/non-visibility factors, etc. could have a major impact on life-modes, experiences and decision-making. TEMPEA Temporality of permanence - material and socio-spatial practices in African urbanism Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe constructed materiality of African urbanism can be seen in buildings and the urban layout, especially when they aspire to permanence by building in stone. These built environments have mostly been analysed through the rather static lens of individual periods and social forces, resulting in uniformly interpreted organic growth (for pre-colonial periods), or as in stages of progress towards the fulfilment of a grand master plan (predominantly in the colonial and post-colonial era). The project explores the social temporality of African urbanism against the context of its material complements from the perspectives of a range of social and human sciences, in order to obtain a dynamic picture from before to after the colonial era. Providing analyses relevant to the ever more pressing issues of urban ethnic/social coexistence and the implications of urban development, it incorporates aspects of sociology (living in neighbourhoods in densely populated environments), history (representations and accounts of past experience) and social anthropology (the meanings of space). It centres on spatial materiality of African cities, as it is demonstrated in their layout and in the organisation of buildings, looking at how these urban patterns are produced, used and continually altered, and how a 'building heritage' emerges from these. Its aim is to derive how this influences the social life of inhabitants and visitors, and how it in turn induces on-going processes of change in material representations. The first phase of the project is undertaken at the Centre of African Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland. The 2nd phase at Uppsala University, Sweden, will focus on the implications for the Swahili coast and African archaeology. Forschungsstelle Namibian and Southern African Studies Research Project | 3 Project MembersThis endowed researcher's position Namibian and Southern African Studies aims at initiating and building projects of research and cooperation related to the holdings of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. In connection with these research activities four hours of interdisciplinary teaching in African Studies will be offered each semester supporting the curricula of History and Geography in partiular. Technocrats at the Hydrocarbons Frontier: Changing Stateness in Mozambique Research Project | 4 Project MembersJon Schubert's current research project, Technocrats at the Hydrocarbons Frontier: Changing Stateness in Mozambique (as part of the DFG SPP1448) will look at how staff at the National Hydrocarbons Company ENH remake and rethink the role of the state at the interface of national bureaucracy and globalised capital. Staatlichkeit im Wandel: Ghana, Äthiopien und Mosambik im Vergleich (DFG SPP 1448) Research Project | 1 Project MembersDieses Projekt trägt zur Debatte über den Staat in Afrika bei, indem es vergleichend erstens die subjektiven Erfahrungen von und Erwartungen an Staatlichkeit in Afrika und zweitens die von afrikanischen Eliten als Leitmodelle zirkulierenden Vorstellungen über Staatlichkeit untersucht. Unsere Annahme ist, dass die Funktionen, die Staaten zu erfüllen haben, sich unter den Bedingungen ungleicher Globalisierung ebenso verändern wie die Erwartungen von Bürgern an den Staat. Wir sind erstens daran interessiert, wie staatliche Institutionen unter diesen Bedingungen die Anpassung und kulturelle Kodierung von Kreativität meistern, wenn sie externe Konzepte wie 'Staat' in lokale Konzepte übersetzen. Wir untersuchen zweitens, wie zentrale Akteure (oder Diskursentrepreneure) in diesen Prozessen der Anpassung und kulturellen Kodierung (Erwartungen an den) Wandel von Staatlichkeit in Afrika zum Ausdruck bringen. Wir analysieren drittens wie der Staat die Herausforderungen der 1960-er Jahre (national integration) und der 1990-er Jahre (Re-Demokratisierung und intensivierte Prozesse der Globalisierung) bewältigt und wie dies heute erzählt wird. Und wir wollen viertens verstehen, wie durch diese Prozesse neue Arrangements von nationaler Ordnung und transnationalen Verflechtungen entstehen. Die Untersuchung ist als Vergleich zwischen Kamerun (Phase I und II), Äthiopien, Ghana und Mozambique (Phase II bzw. III) angelegt. Das Projekt ist durch die raumtheoretische Wende inspiriert und rückt aus einer akteurszentrierten Perspektive transnationale Verflechtungen ins Zentrum; es arbeitet historisierend mit der Methodik der Kulturtransferforschung. 123 123
Reversing the Gaze: Towards Post-Comparative Area Studies Research Project | 6 Project MembersThis project proposes the approach of a "conceptual laboratory" to test the analytic purchase of mid-level concepts that seek to explain the crises of political identity and liberal democracy, through practices of reciprocal comparison. The overarching research question for the conceptual laboratory is the following: how can mid-level concepts developed in the Global South be made useful for knowledge production in general? The key critical theoretical assumption underlying the methodological level is the idea that we need to reverse the gaze, i.e. deploy conceptualisations developed in the South in the North. On a substantive level, we ask how useful the mid-level concepts "re-tribalisation", "political society" and "the cunning state" are in describing, analysing and interpreting these crisis phenomena in liberal democracies of Europe (in comparison to already existing conceptual vocabularies developed in a European context), more specifically in the Alpine region (Switzerland, Austria and Italy)? On a theoretical level, we ask how freeing such concepts from the constraints of context can contribute to particular relational approaches to area studies (and disciplinary comparison). Finally, on a methodological level, we seek to draw lessons from the conceptual laboratory in operationalizing an epistemological practice of reciprocal comparison. We propose three empirical case studies which meet two main goals. On the one hand, they seek to offer innovative and conceptually out-of-the-box perspectives on and across the cases themselves, differing from those derived and developed exclusively within and against a European background. Moreover, they draw respectively from an old concept ("retribalisation", Africa), a fashionable but contested concept ("political society", Asia) and an emerging concept that still needs to establish itself in the area studies domain ("the cunning state", Asia). Second, we approach the concepts as descriptions of the set of particulars making up crisis phenomena in specific settings. The question we ask is whether the particulars brought into view can help us shed more light on similar phenomena in Europe, thereby shifting the case for conceptual regionalism in favour of greater attention to the possibilities of comparison. These different histories of the concepts provide us with a diversity of mid-range concepts whose application in other empirical contexts beyond their area studies domain can be tested. Crucial to the research approach is the distinction between the object of research and the scope of inquiry. The former refers to the "Southern" background of the deployed concepts and the three case studies in the Alpine region within which empirical research takes place. The latter refers to the concrete phenomenon we describe, analyse and interpret in a given setting. Our project proposal is thus a response to recent critical reflections on Area Studies, comparative disciplinary work, as well as critiques from the South. In building on these literatures while attending to knowledge production in practice, its scholarly outcomes include potentially new perspectives on comparison; a critical engagement with "universal" concepts and the politics of conceptual travel; and practical visions on how to imbue the pursuit of knowledge with a concern for ethical and political issues raised by these critiques.
International Digital Exchange between Africa and Switzerland (IDEAS) Research Project | 4 Project MembersDas vorliegende Pilotprojekt vermittelt Master-Studierenden der Sozialwissenschaften in der Schweiz, Mali und Guinea das praktische, methodologische und theoretische Handwerkszeug zum kollektiven wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten über kontinentale Grenzen hinweg. Schlüsselaktivitäten sind zwei parallel veranstaltete Seminare zu sozialwissenschaftlicher Theorie und Methodologie sowie gemeinsame Workshops an den jeweiligen Universitäten. Eine zentrale Innovation des Projekts ist die Entwicklung einer Online-Lernplattform. Sie wird kontinuierlich an die Bedarfe der verschiedenen universitären Kontexte angepasst und kann für zukünftige Lehr- und Forschungskooperationen genutzt werden. Ziel ist es, die Internationalisierung und Digitalisierung der Sozialwissenschaften in der Schweiz innovativ voranzutreiben, gerade in Bereichen mit bislang ungenutztem Zukunftspotenzial.
7th European Conference on African Studies: Urban Africa - Urban Africans. New encounters of the rural and the urban Research Project | 6 Project MembersAt 3.5% Africa has the highest urbanization rate in the whole world. The potential effects of these staggering growth rates are relevant for all Africans, both in the urban as well as in the rural areas. By 2040 the continent's cities are expected to have to accommodate 79 Million additional inhabitants. Between 2040 and 2050 the figure will rise to a staggering 84 Million. The latest UN-Habitat report forecasts that by 2025 Africa's urban population will outstrip that of Europe and Latin America together. No wonder that a growing number of researchers, institutions and governments are paying more and more attention to urbanization in Africa. This growing interest focuses on whether rapid urbanization will overwhelm African governments and societies or whether it reflects the increasing importance of the middle classes, a factor which is held by many to account for Africa's positive economic performance of late. African urbanization trends raise several issues that are of interest to scholars. These range from politics (what does the growing importance of city dwellers mean to the character of politics?), through economics (will urbanization undermine or foster efforts at overcoming inequalities?), all the way to social (e.g. are African social relations changing in any significant way as a result of these trends? How do Africans live their cities?) and cultural issues (e.g. will urban life styles dominate the rural? How will the rural and the urban relate to each other in the future?). The key issue, however, is how urbanization processes in Africa transform conventional objects of African Studies and how do scholars of Africa gear up to face such changes? This is the question which the Centre for African Studies at the University of Basel (CASB) in Switzerland wishes to invite scholars of Africa to engage with in a more conscious and systematic manner. While the urban will be prominent, the proposed conference theme will also look into the entanglements of the rural with the urban, especially with a view to addressing an implicit assumption underlying the study of Africa and which concerns the supposed rural 'nature' of the continent as well as the constitutive nature of the tension between tradition and modernity. While over the past few decades a self-critical attitude within many disciplines has led to a weakening of these assumptions, the urban continues arguably to be seen as the exception or, at any rate, as analytically less consequential than the rural. ECAS 2017 "Urban Africa - Urban Africans" will, therefore, be an occasion for rethinking African Studies, but also for exploring and deepening research avenues that many researchers working on urban and rural issues have taken up over recent years. There is a critical mass to be harnessed in the effort to push the frontiers of critical European knowledge production on Africa. Over 1300 participants attended this convention organised by the Centre for African Studies Basel and the Swiss Society for African Studies on behalf of the Research Network of African Studies Centres in Europe AEGIS . They presented 1020 papers in 204 thematic panels and engaged in 10 round table discussions, 18 book launches, 13 film screenings and 13 meetings and were inspired by 4 keynote lectures.
Challenges of Palliative Care in South Africa and Switzerland : A Comparative Study Research Project | 2 Project MembersThe project aims at (1) describing and comparing the Swiss and South African Palliative Care (PC) existing structures and services in public hospital settings ; (2) identifying the specific areas where the Swiss model could be implemented in SA hospitals; (4) identifying the specific areas where the South African model could be of help in Swiss hospitals. The common aim of the four Swiss and South African applicants - and their collaborators - is to describe, analyze and compare the present development of PC in public university hospital settings in a rigorous, scientific and understandable manner. All applicants agree that the purpose of their project has a great practical and socially relevance. The Swiss partners will focus their attention upon the ethical (Isabelle Wienand) and the social (Elisio Macamo) aspects of PC. The South African partners will concentrate on the philosophical-psychological (Abraham Olivier) and public political (Malcolm de Roubaix) dimensions of PC. Our SSAJR project has a clear innovative strength in today's research in PC as well as a social impact, inasmuch as it (1) studies how the quality of life and autonomy of end-of-life patients can be promoted and respected; (2) contributes to international PC research by comparing Swiss and South African existing settings (3) explores the potentialities of PC as a humane and patient-oriented medicine that could also be a financial relief. The research will be conducted on a (1) conceptual/theoretical level and (2) empirical level. (1) will explore the different views on PC and discuss the major ethical, medical and cultural challenges. (2) The empirical level will find out the opinions of different key informants/stakeholders on PC (quantitative and qualitative analyses). The research project will be conducted on a (1) conceptual/theoretical and (2) empirical level. (1) will explore the different views on PC and discuss the major ethical, medical and cultural challenges. (2) the empirical level will find out the opinions of different stakeholders on PC.
Exchange Agreement with the University of Namibia Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe primary objective of this Agreement is the development of cooperative efforts between the University of Basel and the University of Namibia, which will enhance the academic interchange between the two parties. Recognizing the importance of mutual collaboration and the contributions to society made by institutions of higher education, the parties desire to promote exchange between the faculty and students of the two institutions as well as the exchange of academic and research information.
Narratives of Identity, Multi-sited Biographies, and Transnational Life-Modes of Highly Qualified Migrants. Two Case Studies Research Project | 4 Project MembersThe migration of the highly qualified/skilled has recently gained recognition within migration studies after decades of being overshadowed by topics such as low skilled migration, push and pull factors, refugees, crime issues and legal restrictions. Research on skilled migration tends to focus on social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of knowledge-based societies within a globally multifaceted context. The focus on small diaspora communities within industrialized countries/regions is not fully recognized, though they deserve attention. The aim of the project is to understand how or to what extent tensions emerging between different aspects of globalization shape the experiences and activities of highly qualified migrants. The empirical reality of globalization includes different elements such as movement of ideas, people and goods. Theories of transnationalism permit to examine different facets and processes of globalization. However, concepts of transnationalism seem to be challenged by streams of renationalization such as changing migration policies and discourses on national identities. Such contradictions may provoke antagonistic tendencies calling for research exploring the present situation of highly qualified migrants, which could offer specific findings and insights of great value. The phenomenon of highly qualified migration is a significant part of today's globalization. It creates the necessity to negotiate relationships across and within localities. Biographies and narratives of distinctive groups of highly qualified migrants allow us to analyse how life experiences and activities are shaped across a multifaceted context. Furthermore, theories of life-modes and justification serve as frameworks to position highly qualified actors within globalization processes and to explain their activities. This approach provides us with an opportunity to make sense of the events and actions highly qualified migrants live with; and to understand how they articulate themselves. It also allows us to understand how these migrants think they play a part in the structure of today's "glocalization". The project consists of two subprojects focusing on distinctive groups of highly qualified migrants: Swiss in Israel and Israelis in Switzerland Swiss in Senegambia and Senegambians in Switzerland The historical, sociocultural, political and religious characteristics defining the specific groups of migrants and their countries of origin and destination create a distinct profile. There are surprisingly many Swiss living in Israel and an important number of highly skilled Israelis living in Switzerland. The image of Senegambia migrants in Switzerland has long been negatively shaped by the low skilled migrants from the region who often come to Switzerland as asylum seekers. However, they are now beginning to be perceived as agents contributing to the development of their country of origin. The subprojects take up transnationalism as a theoretical concept and globalization as an empirical reality, both of which will be studied through the prism of the migration of the highly skilled. Simultaneously, the tensions and contradictions of arising nationalist or ethnic arguments on "culture" will have to be addressed. A transnational context produces what we call multi-sited biographies that are justified in the narratives of the protagonists. This represents a societal antagonism between high mobility versus the desire for settlement and stability; and between policies on migration and national profiling versus the demands for trained experts. We will explore how or to what extent globalization shapes life experiences, the justification of transnational activities amongst highly qualified migrants and how they position themselves within a globalized but localized setting. The sampled groups of migrants allow us to understand the precise role of attributions and labelling in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, nationality, profession, and religion within and across multiple locations. The project uses qualitative methods and findings drawn from anthropology and sociology and informed by the concerns of African studies, Jewish studies, Near Eastern studies and European studies. The significance of carrying out such joint research is highlighted and recognized by scholars. Research on transnational migration tends to focus on a single group within a single locality. In contrast, we intend to grasp how different localities, surroundings and frameworks may lead to varying experiences and negotiations. We anticipate diverse outcomes and findings that could provide a way to understanding different groups of migrants within different localities. Historical, cultural, religious and visibility/non-visibility factors, etc. could have a major impact on life-modes, experiences and decision-making.
TEMPEA Temporality of permanence - material and socio-spatial practices in African urbanism Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe constructed materiality of African urbanism can be seen in buildings and the urban layout, especially when they aspire to permanence by building in stone. These built environments have mostly been analysed through the rather static lens of individual periods and social forces, resulting in uniformly interpreted organic growth (for pre-colonial periods), or as in stages of progress towards the fulfilment of a grand master plan (predominantly in the colonial and post-colonial era). The project explores the social temporality of African urbanism against the context of its material complements from the perspectives of a range of social and human sciences, in order to obtain a dynamic picture from before to after the colonial era. Providing analyses relevant to the ever more pressing issues of urban ethnic/social coexistence and the implications of urban development, it incorporates aspects of sociology (living in neighbourhoods in densely populated environments), history (representations and accounts of past experience) and social anthropology (the meanings of space). It centres on spatial materiality of African cities, as it is demonstrated in their layout and in the organisation of buildings, looking at how these urban patterns are produced, used and continually altered, and how a 'building heritage' emerges from these. Its aim is to derive how this influences the social life of inhabitants and visitors, and how it in turn induces on-going processes of change in material representations. The first phase of the project is undertaken at the Centre of African Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland. The 2nd phase at Uppsala University, Sweden, will focus on the implications for the Swahili coast and African archaeology.
Forschungsstelle Namibian and Southern African Studies Research Project | 3 Project MembersThis endowed researcher's position Namibian and Southern African Studies aims at initiating and building projects of research and cooperation related to the holdings of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. In connection with these research activities four hours of interdisciplinary teaching in African Studies will be offered each semester supporting the curricula of History and Geography in partiular.
Technocrats at the Hydrocarbons Frontier: Changing Stateness in Mozambique Research Project | 4 Project MembersJon Schubert's current research project, Technocrats at the Hydrocarbons Frontier: Changing Stateness in Mozambique (as part of the DFG SPP1448) will look at how staff at the National Hydrocarbons Company ENH remake and rethink the role of the state at the interface of national bureaucracy and globalised capital.
Staatlichkeit im Wandel: Ghana, Äthiopien und Mosambik im Vergleich (DFG SPP 1448) Research Project | 1 Project MembersDieses Projekt trägt zur Debatte über den Staat in Afrika bei, indem es vergleichend erstens die subjektiven Erfahrungen von und Erwartungen an Staatlichkeit in Afrika und zweitens die von afrikanischen Eliten als Leitmodelle zirkulierenden Vorstellungen über Staatlichkeit untersucht. Unsere Annahme ist, dass die Funktionen, die Staaten zu erfüllen haben, sich unter den Bedingungen ungleicher Globalisierung ebenso verändern wie die Erwartungen von Bürgern an den Staat. Wir sind erstens daran interessiert, wie staatliche Institutionen unter diesen Bedingungen die Anpassung und kulturelle Kodierung von Kreativität meistern, wenn sie externe Konzepte wie 'Staat' in lokale Konzepte übersetzen. Wir untersuchen zweitens, wie zentrale Akteure (oder Diskursentrepreneure) in diesen Prozessen der Anpassung und kulturellen Kodierung (Erwartungen an den) Wandel von Staatlichkeit in Afrika zum Ausdruck bringen. Wir analysieren drittens wie der Staat die Herausforderungen der 1960-er Jahre (national integration) und der 1990-er Jahre (Re-Demokratisierung und intensivierte Prozesse der Globalisierung) bewältigt und wie dies heute erzählt wird. Und wir wollen viertens verstehen, wie durch diese Prozesse neue Arrangements von nationaler Ordnung und transnationalen Verflechtungen entstehen. Die Untersuchung ist als Vergleich zwischen Kamerun (Phase I und II), Äthiopien, Ghana und Mozambique (Phase II bzw. III) angelegt. Das Projekt ist durch die raumtheoretische Wende inspiriert und rückt aus einer akteurszentrierten Perspektive transnationale Verflechtungen ins Zentrum; es arbeitet historisierend mit der Methodik der Kulturtransferforschung.
