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74741-01 - Seminar: Power of Ignorance: Politics, History, Critique (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Maria Birnbaum (maria.birnbaum@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Ignorance can be part of oppressive social, political, and epistemic systems. It can at the same time be an instrument of emancipation, self-preservation, and social peace. This seminar takes an interdisciplinary approach studying the multiple meanings and roles of ignorance, investigating its history as well as its philosophical and political implications. It looks particularly at ignorance and epistemic injustice produced by hierarchies of race and gender as well as the specific pratices of ignorance and non-knowledge in politics, history, and anthropology. The seminar’s aim is to offer insight into particular historical and contemporary examples of ignorance and reflect on their theoretical and epistemological implications. It extends the range of analysis by studying ignorance both as the lack of knowledge but also as a specific kind of knowledge, thereby opening up for an analysis of the power of ignorance, strategic unknowns, and determined ambiguity. The seminar is aimed at MA students and PhD researchers with a background in political science, law, anthropology, history, and gender studies. |
| Bibliography | Introduction • Gross, Matthias, McGoey, Linsey, 2015 : Introduction, in: Handbook of Ignorance Studies, Routledge, 1-14 • Proctor, Robert N.: Agnotology: A Missing Term to Describe the Cultural Production of Ignorance (And Its Study), in: Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, Stanford: Stanford UP, 1-33 • Sullivan/Tuana: Introduction, in: Tuana Nancy and Sullivan Shannon (eds.), Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance Ignorance, 1-11 History • Schiebinger, Londa, 2008: West Indian Abortifacients and the Making of Ignorance, in: Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, Stanford: Stanford UP, 149-162 • Fricker, Miranda 2016, “Epistemic Injustice and the Preservation of Ignorance” In: Peels, R. and Blaauw, M., (eds.) The Epistemic Dimensions of Ignorance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 144-159. Anthropology • Chua, Liana, 2012: Anthropological perspectives on ritual and religious ignorance, in: Handbook of Ignorance Studies, Routledge, 247-255 • High, Casey, 2012: Between Knowing and Being: Ignorance in Anthropology and Amazonian Shamanism, in: The Anthropology of Ignorance, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 119-135 • Mair, Jonathan, Ann H. Kelly, and Casey High, 2012: Introduction: Making Ignorance an Ethnographic Object, in: The Anthropology of Ignorance, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1-32 Sociology/Politics • McGoey, Linsey 2012: Strategic unknowns: Towards a sociology of ignorance, in: Economy and Society 41(1): 1-16 • Aaradau, Claudia, 2017: Assembling (Non)Knowledge: Security, Law, and Surveillance in a Digital World, in: International Political Sociology, 11: 327-342 Race • Mills, Charles, 2007, “White Ignorance”, in: Tuana Nancy and Sullivan Shannon (eds.), Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, 13-38. • Hill Collins, Patricia, 2002, “Black Feminist Epistemology” (chap. 11), in: Black Feminist Thought, 251-271. • Du Bois, W.E.B., 1996 (orig. 1935) “The Propaganda of History”, in: Sundquist, Eric (ed.). The Oxford W.E.B. Dubois reader, 438-454. |
| Comments | Attention: All Seminars will be graded in the Department of Political Science. Grading scale 6.0 to 1.0, whereupon 4.0 is a pass. The number of participants will be limited. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to students of Political Science. |
| Admission requirements | Attention: All Seminars will be graded in the Department of Political Science. Grading scale 6.0 to 1.0, whereupon 4.0 is a pass. The number of participants will be limited. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to students of Political Science. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 20.02.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 27.02.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 06.03.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 13.03.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Fasnachstferien |
| Thursday 20.03.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 27.03.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 03.04.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 10.04.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 17.04.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Ostern |
| Thursday 24.04.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 01.05.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Tag der Arbeit |
| Thursday 08.05.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 15.05.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 22.05.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Bernoullistrasse 14/16, Kleiner Seminarraum 02.001 |
| Thursday 29.05.2025 | 10.15-11.45 | Auffahrt |
| Modules |
Modul: Erweiterung Gesellschaftswissenschaften M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Regionaler Fokus M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Vertiefung Politikwissenschaft M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) Module: Conflicts and Peacebuilding (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Specialization Module Global Europe: Peace and Conflict Studies (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Written assignments: There are two required written assignments: 1. Each seminar participant will write an abstract or collect notable quotes from one reading for each class, due on mid-day the day before class 2. Essay 2000-3000 words. Detailed description of requirements for paper will follow in class. Evaluation: Final grades will be based upon 1) attendance and participation (25%); 2) written abstracts (25%); 3) essay (50%). |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,5 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Politikwissenschaft |