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75945-01 - Lecture: Thinking (Further) Through Materialities (2 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Alain Müller (alain.mueller@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Marion Schulze (marion.schulze@unibas.ch) |
| Content | The lecture series “Thinking (further) Through Materialities” builds on the 2023 edition "Thinking through Materialities: Insights from and for Gender Studies and Cultural Anthropology". It continues to explore how "matter comes to matter," and related questions: How can social scientific thinking (re)engage with materialities and repopulate the social with what has long been its "missing masses"? How can practices—such as sciences, crafts, or arts—that are both enacting and embedded within materialities, inform new approaches within the social sciences? And more fundamentally, how can they contribute to reflect upon the often-unrecognized materialities in which social scientific thinking itself is embedded? Program: September 24, 2025 Introduction: Presentation of the program and instructions for validating the course (for registered students) October 15, 2025 Sophie Woodward (University of Manchester, UK) «Dormant Things: The Vital Materiality of the Unnoticed Everyday» October 22, 2025 Astrid Schrader (University of Exeter, UK) «Caring with Haunted Marine Microbes» October 29, 2025 Maya Hey (University of Helsinki, FI) «Microbes, Embodied Knowing, and the Materiality of Fermentation» November 5, 2025 Joseph Dumit (University of California, Davis, USA) «Substance as Method, Material Bodies» November 12, 2025 Sarine Waltenspül (University of Lucerne, CH) & Mario Schulze (University of Basel, CH) «String Figures: A Cultural, Material, Collaborative Practice» November 19, 2025 Tutorial Lesson for registered students November 26, 2025 Noortje Marres (University of Warwick, UK) «What Is Social about AI? Lessons from the Street» December 03, 2025 Işıl Karataş (University of Vienna, AT) «Eco-Aesthetic Entanglements in Filmmaking: The Materiality of Sound and Image» December 10, 2025 * Fernando Domínguez Rubio (University of California, San Diego, USA) «Avowing Loss» * starts at 16:55 December 17, 2025 Tutorial Lesson for registered students |
| Learning objectives | Students are introduced to contemporary research tackling the issue of materialities from an interdisciplinary social science perspective through engaging and interactive 45min - 1hr lectures given by internationally renowned researchers. Students learn to engage with the lecturers by asking questions. |
| Bibliography | To be announced at the beginning of the semester. |
| Comments | September 24th: Information session for students. |
| Course application | Belegen über services.unibas.ch |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Wednesday | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 24.09.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 15.10.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 22.10.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 29.10.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 05.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 12.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 19.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 26.11.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 03.12.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 10.12.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Wednesday 17.12.2025 | 16.15-18.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 116 |
| Modules |
Modul: Einführung in Theorien der Geschlechterforschung (Bachelor's degree subject: Gender Studies) Modul: Grundlagen der Kulturanthropologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Materialitäten (Master's degree program: Cultural Techniques) Modul: Methoden und Felder der Kulturanthropologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Research Lab Kulturanthropologie (Master's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Sachthemen der Ethnologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Theorien der Geschlechterforschung (Master's degree subject: Gender Studies) Modul: Theorien der Kulturanthropologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Theorien und Methodologien der Kulturanthropologie (Master's degree subject: Cultural Anthropology) Modul: Vertiefung Themenfelder der Geschlechterforschung (Master's degree subject: Gender Studies) Module: Changing Societies Lab (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | Regular and active participation; Mandatory reading and writing assignments. Course Evaluation: In order to successfully pass the course and earn the 2 ECTS allocated to it, students will be expected to complete the following activities: Attendance and participation Students are expected to take part in the lectures on a regular basis (a maximum of 2 missed lectures is tolerable and does not require teachers to be notified), and are strongly encouraged to actively engage with the lectures and ask questions to the speakers. Homework assignments Assigned reading materials should be read prior to each lecture, with the exception of the introduction (see required readings listed above). In addition, students must prepare for at least 6 lectures (2 missed lectures allowed) two questions or remarks for the guest lecturer, based on the article read in preparation. They upload these questions/remarks to ADAM until 12:00pm latest of the day of the concerning lecture. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | one repetition, repetition counts |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie |