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79618-01 - Forschungsseminar: Dealing with Ghosts, Spirits, and Magic in African History (4 KP)
| Semester | Herbstsemester 2026 |
| Angebotsmuster | einmalig |
| Dozierende | Julia Tischler (julia.tischler@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn) |
| Inhalt | This research seminar for MA students explores the spiritual as a historical force. Modern historiography has rethought historical agency on multiple levels, foregrounding how subaltern actors as well as non-human forces have shaped historical trajectories. Yet spiritual agency has proven more difficult to incorporate. With several notable exceptions, much political, social, and environmental history operates with a broadly secular framework: the spiritual is occasionally mentioned, sometimes dismissed, often rationalized—but rarely taken seriously on its own terms. Interrogating important previous conversations on the metaphysical in anthropology and religious studies, we seek ways of “re-spiriting” historiography. This is a slippery slope, both in terms of methodology (how do we find ghosts in historical sources?) and research agendas (given the centrality of the racist notions of “African superstition” in European knowledge production). How can historians open themselves to broader notions of agency by taking spiritual agency seriously? What counts as evidence in such inquiries? And how can we engage spiritual realities without slipping into exoticization or epistemological relativism? The seminar will be strongly research focused and experimental, revisiting older strands of research and exploring new avenues based on primary sources. In addition to missionary and early ethnographic texts, we will be dealing with less conventional sources, such as objects and fictional writing. |
| Literatur | An Yountae (2024). The Coloniality of the Secular: Race, Religion, and Poetics of World-Making. Duke University Press. Birgit Meyer (2024). 'Idols' in the museum: Legacies of missionary iconoclasm. In Image Controversies: Contemporary Iconoclasm in Art, Media, and Cultural Heritage (pp. 108-130). De Gruyter. David Gordon (2012). Invisible Agents: Spirits in a Central African History. Ohio University Press. |
| Bemerkungen | The research seminars are designed exclusively for Master’s students. Compared to standard seminars, they offer more scope and time for research-oriented learning. At the same time, they place greater demands on students in terms of independent research, the analysis of research literature—including works of a theoretically demanding nature—and working with sources. Research seminars can serve as a basis for writing seminar papers and also for preparing a Master’s thesis. |
| Teilnahmevoraussetzungen | Students in History (MSF and MSG), Eastern European History and African Studies have priority. Students of Social Anthropology, Global European Studies, Theology, Social Anthropology, Critical Urbanisms and related programmes are also welcome. |
| Unterrichtssprache | Englisch |
| Einsatz digitaler Medien | kein spezifischer Einsatz |
| Intervall | Wochentag | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Montag | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
Einzeltermine
| Module |
Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master Studiengang: Europäische Geschichte in globaler Perspektive ) Modul: Epochen der europäischen Geschichte: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master Studiengang: Europäische Geschichte in globaler Perspektive ) Modul: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master Studiengang: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Media and Imagination (Master Studiengang: African Studies) Modul: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master Studienfach: Geschichte) |
| Prüfung | Lehrveranst.-begleitend |
| Hinweise zur Prüfung | Students are asked to present a primary source. In addition, we will systematically develop outlines for individual research projects (seminar papers or MA theses). |
| 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 |