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| Semester | fall semester 2020 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Charles Heller (charles.heller@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Areas of mobility conflicts erupt across the globe – wherever the movements of migrants clash with bordering practices. They are most intense along the fault lines of the world system, where economic inequality and racialized difference overlap. These mobility conflicts precaritize migrants’ journeys, and structurally generate large-scale borders deaths. The IOM has counted more then 30.000 deaths globally since 2014 – and many more lives are lost leaving no other trace than the absence that haunts their families. The Mediterranean is the epicentre of this global deathscape. This seminar will introduce students to the causes and shifting modalities of border violence, focusing specifically on the Mediterranean frontier, and the way spatial analysis can be used to document and contest this violence. After introducing students to the “forensic turn” in human rights practice and social sciences – the use of novel techniques to make traces of violence emerge and present them in various forums – and the critical forensic practice pioneered by Forensic Architecture, it will focus specifically on the research conducted within the Forensic Oceanography project, all the while unpacking theoretical and methodological challenges that resonate far beyond migration and bordering at sea. Drawing from the disciplines of geography, architecture, media studies, political science, history, and anthropology, the aim of this course is to introduce students to the conceptual and methodological innovations spurred by critical forensic practice, so that students can experiment with them in turn. By sharing the research conducted by Forensic Oceanography, the course will allow students to address a wide range of questions such as: how can we understand and register violence in its many different guises? How does border violence operate and how are geophysical environments harnessed within it ? How can we navigate complex regimes of (in)visibility, in which deaths can be hidden but also spectacularised? What is the politics of different technologies and methods used to reconstruct cases of violence? What are the potentials, limits and ambivalences of strategic litigation and the language of the law? By exploring these questions, the course will equip students with the conceptual tools to navigate the complexities of politically engaged, research based, spatial practice. The seminar will be structured into five intensive sessions, involve a lecture, the screening of videos in relation to the investigation of specific cases, extensive discussions with students that will be based on readings and reading notes prepared by the students. The last two sessions will be centred on student presentations. |
| Learning objectives | - An understanding of contemporary debates and approaches in relation to mobility, borders, spatial practice and the critical forensic approach - An ability to understand how the production of space shapes violence and how spatial analysis in turn can offer a unique edge in analyzing and contesting it - An ability to conduct individual and collaborative spatial interdisciplinary research combining humanities and social science methods with creative practice and visual representation - An ability to raise and discuss inextricably theoretical, political and methodological questions in relation to the different tools and methods used to register traces of violence - An ability to reflect critically on the potentials, limits and ambivalences of the law |
| 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: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Themen der Near & Middle Eastern Studies (Master's degree subject: Near & Middle Eastern Studies) Module: Migration, Mobility and Transnationalism (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Module: Projects and Processes of Urbanization (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms (Start of studies before 01.08.2020)) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Arbeit, Migration und Gesellschaft (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| 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 Urban Studies |