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| Semester | spring semester 2021 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Jürg Schneider (juerg.schneider@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Why would anybody be interested in old family photographs? In addition, from families that are not necessarily our own? Why invest time and energy in working with the (seemingly) most mundane examples of historical photography? The course will answer such questions. Drawing on a small collection of photographs from two Cameroonian families from the period 1920 to 1990 students are given the opportunity to deal practically with methodical and theoretical challenges in working with photo sources such as the relationship between individual images and series or the question of how to create meaningful and relevant narratives with limited information that surpass the biographical in the narrower sense. Working with the families’ photographic material (supplemented by some non-photographic sources) opens up unexpected thematic fields and takes the students far beyond the national borders of Cameroon. This is a truly transnational und transdisciplinary project. Students from all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences are explicitly invited to take part in the course. Research work carried out can serve as a basis for a later Ba or MA thesis. The language of instruction is German and English, but basic knowledge of French would be helpful and facilitate access to additional resources. |
| Learning objectives | Understanding the potential and limits of working with visual sources. Understanding the interconnectedness and conditionalities of different levels and dimensions in researching family photographs: global and local, micro and macro, private and public, cultural and political, etc. Tracing anti-colonialism and anti-racism in the West African diaspora cultural movements in France. |
| Bibliography | Campt, Tina M. 2012. Image Matters. Archive, Photography, and the African Diaspora in Europe. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Lawrance, Benjamin N., Osborn, Emily Lynn, and Roberts, Richard L., ed. 2006. Intermediaries, Interpreters, and Clerks. African Employees in the Making of Colonial Africa. Edited by David Henige Thomas Spear, Michael Schatzberg, Africa and the Diaspora. History, Politics, Culture. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. Aitken, Robbie, and Eve Rosenhaft. 2013. Black Germany. The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora Community, 1884-1960. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jules-Rosette, Bennetta. 2000. Black Paris. The African Writers' Landscape. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. |
| Weblink | African Photography Initiatives |
| Admission requirements | Students from all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences are explicitly invited to take part in the course. The course is especially interesting for students who wish to write their thesis based on a photographic source material. |
| Course application | In addition to the formal course registration please introduce yourself to the course convenor by email (juerg.schneider@unibas.ch) with a short note explaining your motivation to take this course. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
| Comments | First session (preparatory) on Wednesday 10 March 2020, 12:15-13:45 via Zoom, four block sessions on Saturday 17 and 24 April, 8 and 29 May (9:15-12:00, 13:15-16:00), if the conditions allow, on site. |
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Archive / Medien / Theorien (Bachelor's degree subject: History) Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Media and Imagination (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Interdisciplinary and Applied African Studies (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Praxis (Master's degree subject: History) Modul: Transfer: Archivpraxis (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Active participation with written assignments based on individual research. |
| 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 | Zentrum für Afrikastudien |