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| Semester | fall semester 2021 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Giorgio Miescher (giorgio.miescher@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Raffaele Perniola (raffaele.perniola@unibas.ch) |
| Content | During most of the 20th century South Africa’s economy was built on the exploitation of millions of migrant workers from South Africa and its neighbouring territories. These migrant workers received limited contracts (usually 9-12 months) after which they had to return to the areas where they had been conscripted. Migrant workers were neither allowed to bring their families nor to change their employers. In the racist system of South Africa, so-called Contract Labourers were relegated to the lowest rank of the social hierarchy. South Africa’s migrant (or contract) labour system became synonymous with the apartheid regime’s rule. However, this system was not unique to South Africa, nor the colonized world, but also existed for instance in Switzerland, here in form of the legal framework of the “Saisonnierstatut” between 1931 and 2002. The parallel between South Africa’s contract labour system and the Swiss “Saisonnierstatut” has first been drawn during the campaign surrounding the so-called Schwarzenbach Initiative in 1970. The Schwarzenbach Initiative aimed at restricting the percentage of immigrants allowed into Switzerland. An acceptance of the initiative would have resulted in the expulsion of circa 300’000 people, mainly from Italy. The influx of cheap labour needed by the Swiss economy, would have instead been regulated by keeping-up and strengthening the system of conscription of migrant labourers, so-called “Saisonniers”. The Schwarzenbach Initiative thus aimed at securing the Swiss economy through the exploitation of migrants, while at the same time ‘preserving’ Switzerland’s culture against what supporters believed to be an “Überfremdung” of Switzerland. In this seminar (Übung) we discuss these systems of labour conscription in their historical contexts in both countries and their enduring legacies of underlying xenophobia and/or racism, cultural essentialism and nationalism. |
| Comments | This course is postponed to the automn semester 2021. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 14.00-16.00 | Rheinsprung 21, Seminarraum 00.004 |
| Modules |
Electives Bachelor History: Recommendations (Bachelor's degree subject: History) Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Europäisierung und Globalisierung (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Modul: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Arbeit, Migration und Gesellschaft (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Wahlbereich Master Geschichte: Empfehlungen (Master's degree subject: History) |
| 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 | Zentrum für Afrikastudien |