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63864-01 - Seminar: Female West Africa: Ethnographic Encounters (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2022 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Michelle Engeler (michelle.engeler@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This seminar will explore West Africa through the glasses of female anthropologists; how do they work the terrain, what challenges do they face and which topics do they emphasize while discussing the extremely high variety of natural, societal and cultural forms characterizing West Africa? 'Female West Africa' is thus a seminar that creates encounters with women working during different times, coming from different generations, having various regional backgrounds and discussing, amongst others, also past and present lives and experiences of the very often mis-/underrepresented female population of West Africa. Besides analyzing and rewarding female ethnographies/anthropologists, this seminar also critically engages in discussing ethnographic writing, feminist anthropology and gender equality/diversity in the social sciences. Finally, participants will further train their scientific reading and writing skills. Students who write a seminar paper may also include qualitative data collected through interviews with key anthropological authors. |
| Learning objectives | Participants will critically read and analyze ethnographies written by female anthropologists, learn about women living and shaping West Africa and discuss ethnographic writing, gender equality and diversity in the social sciences. In addition, they will further train their scientific working skills (reading, writing, data collection and interpretation,...). |
| Bibliography | Introduction: - Jackson, Ruth & Kelly, Max (eds.) 2019. Women researching in Africa: the impact of gender, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. - Neuilly, Melanie-Angela & Muhammad, Bahiyyah M. (eds.) 2019. Mothering from the field: the impact of motherhood on site-based research, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Possible Case Studies: - Alber, Erdmute 2018. Transfers of belonging. Child fostering in West Africa in the 20th century, Leiden, Boston, Brill. - Ammann, Carole 2020. Women, agency, and the state in Guinea. Silent politics, London, Routledge. - Botta Somparé, Ester 2015. Education familiale et scolaire dans une société pastorale guinéenne, Paris, L’Harmattan. - Dankwa, Serena Owusua 2021. Knowing women: same-sex intimacy, gender, and identity in postcolonial Ghana, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. - Dessertine, Anna 2021. À quoi tient le village: espaces et mobilités en pays malinké (Guinée), Nanterre, Société d’Ethnologie. - Faure, Armelle 2020. Révolution et sorcellerie. Une ethnologue au Burkina Faso, Bordeaux, Elytis - Hannaford, Dinah 2017. Marriage without borders: transnational spouses in neoliberal Senegal, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press. - Lentz, Carola 2013. Land, mobility, and belonging in West Africa: natives and strangers, Indiana University Press. - Mazzocchetti, Jacinthe 2009. Être étudiant à Ouagadougou. Imaginaire et précarité, Paris, Karthala. - Roth, Claudia 1994. Und sie sind stolz. Zur Ökonomie der Liebe. Die Geschlechtertrennung bei den Zara in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, Frankfurt a. M., Brandes und Apsel. - Steuer, Noemi 2012. Krankheit und Ehre. Über HIV und soziale Anerkennung in Mali, Bielefeld, transcript. |
| Comments | The readyness to read and discuss publications written in French is a huge advantage for this course. |
| Admission requirements | The number of participants is limited to 25 people. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to the subjects listed under "modules". |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 24.02.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 03.03.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 10.03.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Fasnachtsferien |
| Thursday 17.03.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 24.03.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 31.03.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 07.04.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 14.04.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ostern |
| Thursday 21.04.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 28.04.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 05.05.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 12.05.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 19.05.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Thursday 26.05.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Auffahrt |
| Thursday 02.06.2022 | 10.15-12.00 | Ethnologie, grosser Seminarraum |
| Modules |
Modul: Ethnographien (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Public Health and Social Life (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Themenfelder der Geschlechterforschung (Bachelor's degree subject: Gender Studies) Modul: Theory and General Anthropology (Master's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Vertiefung Themenfelder der Geschlechterforschung (Master's degree subject: Gender Studies) Modul: Wissenschaftliche Vertiefung in der Ethnologie: Ethnographien (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Preparatory reading, active participation, discussion of key texts and oral/written contributions based on selected ethnographic case studies will be mandatory for all participants. If you additionally would like to write a seminar paper in this course, please contact Michelle Engeler before the beginning of the semester (michelle.engeler@unibas.ch). |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Ethnologie |