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| Semester | spring semester 2019 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Brigit Obrist van Eeuwijk (brigit.obrist@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Over the past decades, historians, anthropologists and other scholars have scrutinized medical research in Africa. Many of them came up with sophisticated criticisms of modernization narratives, development paradigms and disciplinary regimes shaping knowledge production during colonial and post-colonial times up to now. Others have questioned the impact of biomedicine on Africa and examined the impact of Africa on the closely related disciplinary fields of botany, zoology, medicine and pharmacology. In this seminar we explore how we can move beyond dualistic arguments and connect our current work to the past, present and future, to global-local entanglements, to those using technopower, “weapons of the weak” (Scotch 1985) and spiritual power, to those who develop global utopias and to those who dream about diverse African modernities. What was the role of Swiss science and development in the context of African decolonization – and up to now? How has traditional medicine become constructed as a viable category of research and policy-making, by whom and why? Based on past and ongoing research projects, we shall engage with these and related topics, questions and debates. |
| Learning objectives | The aim of the seminar is to historicize biomedicine and to develop critical perspectives on the life sciences in general: - Have Western values and virtues been internationalized through biomedicine? - Have the new life sciences come to fundamentally challenge our understanding of being human - also in Africa? - How can we situation biomedicine in particular historical, cultural, economic and political contexts? - How can we expose the moral assumptions underpinning biomedical research and interventions? |
| Bibliography | Lock Margaret and Vinh-Kim Nguyen (2018) An Anthropology of Biomedicine. Wiley Blackwell. Hunt Nancy Rose (2013) Suturing New Medical Histories of Africa. Lit Verlag. (Carl Schlettwein Lectures, Bd. 7) Wenzel Geissler Paul, Rottenburg Richard and Julia Zenker, eds. (2012) Rethinking Biomedicine and Governance in Africa. Contributions from Anthropology. Transcript Verlag. David Baronov (2008) The African transformation of Western medicine and the dynamics of global cultural exchange. Temple University Press. |
| Admission requirements | The number of participants is limited to 30 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 |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
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: Sachthemen der Ethnologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Theory and General Anthropology (Master's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Wissenschaftliche Vertiefung in der Ethnologie: Sachthemen (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Active participation in discussios, and writing a reading response paper, a course diary or a commentary (3 KP). It is possible to write a seminar paper (5 KP). |
| 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 |