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77990-01 - Übung: Planetarity from Africa: Developing a Research Agenda (3 KP)
| Semester | Frühjahrsemester 2026 |
| Angebotsmuster | einmalig |
| Dozierende |
Kenny R. Cupers (kenny.cupers@unibas.ch)
Julia Tischler (julia.tischler@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn) |
| Inhalt | This course examines African concepts and approaches to planetary health and habitability, emphasizing their relevance to global challenges. It serves as a platform for collaboratively conceptualizing new research agendas as well as a new MSG that will focus on themes of planetary health, cities, and environment from African perspectives. Planetary health, an increasingly prominent framework, highlights the interdependence of human well-being with ecological systems. By adopting a relational and multifactorial perspective, this course expands the notion of health from a biomedical condition to include socio-ecological relations, equity, and justice on a planetary scale. The course explores how African perspectives contribute to global debates on reparations, climate justice, decolonization, and decarbonization. African Studies’ interdisciplinary breadth—encompassing history, anthropology, sociology, urban studies, architecture, political science, and theology—provides a pertinent lens to address global inequities and envision inclusive, cosmopolitan futures. Integrating transdisciplinary social science, environmental humanities, and critically engaged pedagogy with health science, the course analyzes the socio-economic drivers and consequences of planetary transformation. Students will examine how the uneven impacts of environmental degradation and climate change underscore global inequalities and necessitate interdisciplinary approaches to planetary health. The course examines Africa’s rapid urbanization and its central role in climate adaptation and decarbonization policies. By challenging dominant frameworks of development, students will explore the relationships between urban processes, planetary politics, and global asymmetries. Using African cities as case studies, the course connects these discussions to broader issues of planetary futures. Finally, the course situates Africa-related research as a platform for methodological innovation and critical engagement with knowledge production. Students will interrogate what constitutes legitimate knowledge and how African epistemologies can be harnessed to guide social sciences and humanities towards research that respects the rights of both human and non-human systems. |
| Lernziele | Critical understanding of notions of planetary health, well-being and cosmopolitanism from Africa perspectives Collaborative research design skills at the intersection of critical humanities, engaged social and site-based research, and environmental and medical science |
| Literatur | Macamo, Elísio. “Before We Start: Science and Power in the Constitution of Africa.” In The Politics of Nature and Science in Southern Africa, edited by Maano Ramutsindela, Giorgio Miescher, and Melanie Boehi, 323–34. Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2016. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. “Introduction: Seek Ye Epistemic Freedom First.” In Epistemic Freedom in Africa. Routledge, 2018. Nyamnjoh, Francis B. Decolonising the Academy: A Case for Convivial Scholarship. Basel, Switzerland: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2020 Mbembe, Achille. “Planetary Entanglement.” In Out of the Dark Night: Essays on Decolonization, 7–41. Columbia University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.7312/mbem16028-003. Chakrabarty, Dipesh. “The Planet: An Emergent Humanist Category” Critical Inquiry 46, no. 1 (September 2019): 1–31. Gabrielle Hecht, “Interscalar Vehicles for an African Anthropocene: On Waste, Temporality, and Violence” Cultural Anthropology 33, 1 (2018) |
| Bemerkungen | Open to MA students from other programs with the priority for CU and CS as well as History, Anthropology, and African Studies Master students. |
| Teilnahmevoraussetzungen | Studierende der Geschichte aller Studienstufen sowie Studierende anderer Studienfächer, in deren Module die Übung verknüpft ist. Bei Überbelegung werden Studierende der Geschichte bevorzugt zugelassen. |
| Unterrichtssprache | Englisch |
| Einsatz digitaler Medien | kein spezifischer Einsatz |
| Intervall | Wochentag | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block | Siehe Einzeltermine | ||
Einzeltermine
| Datum | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|
| Dienstag 02.06.2026 | 09.15-16.00 Uhr | -- Anfrage zentraler Raum für Lehre-, -- |
| Mittwoch 03.06.2026 | 09.15-16.00 Uhr | -- Anfrage zentraler Raum für Lehre-, -- |
| Donnerstag 04.06.2026 | 09.15-16.00 Uhr | -- Anfrage zentraler Raum für Lehre-, -- |
| Freitag 05.06.2026 | 09.15-16.00 Uhr | -- Anfrage zentraler Raum für Lehre-, -- |
| Module |
Modul: Archive / Medien / Theorien (Bachelor Studienfach: Geschichte) Modul: Europäisierung und Globalisierung (Masterstudium: European Global Studies) Modul: Fields: Environment and Development (Master Studiengang: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master Studiengang: African Studies) Modul: Interdisciplinary and Applied African Studies (Master Studiengang: African Studies) Modul: Praxis (Master Studienfach: Geschichte) Modul: Reflexion, Methodik, Praxis (Master Studiengang: Europäische Geschichte in globaler Perspektive ) Modul: The Urban across Disciplines (Master Studiengang: Critical Urbanisms) |
| Prüfung | Lehrveranst.-begleitend |
| Hinweise zur Prüfung | In the course of the Übung, students will develop research agendas together to examine selected topics to be developed further in the context of seminar papers, MA theses, or even broader research initiatives. |
| An-/Abmeldung zur Prüfung | Anmelden: Belegen; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich |
| Wiederholungsprüfung | keine Wiederholungsprüfung |
| Skala | Pass / Fail |
| Belegen bei Nichtbestehen | nicht wiederholbar |
| Zuständige Fakultät | Philosophisch-Historische Fakultät, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Anbietende Organisationseinheit | Departement Geschichte |