Dear all,

please find below a call for participation for a workshop in Munich on **

**

"Anthropologists Struggling with Neo-Nationalism and Authoritarianism:

Challenges for Ethnography in Turbulent Times"

**

Workshop of the dgv working group “Europeanization_Globalization. 
Ethnographies of the Political”, in cooperation with the Department of 
Intercultural Communication at LMU Munich and the Petra Kelly Foundation

with Nitzan Shoshan (Centro de Estudios Sociológicos, El Colegio de México)

Munich, 27 & 28 June 2019

Right-wing populism and extremism are increasingly setting the political 
and societal tone and agenda throughout Europe. These current 
developments are leading to the “mainstreaming” of far-right ideas. 
Language, signs, and imaginations are taken over by parties of the 
center, and they become part of mainstream media and everyday discourse 
in ways that only a few years ago would not have been conceivable. This 
resurgence of the varied manifestations of the far right – from extreme 
right grassroots movements to right-wing populist parties – across the 
world have, unsurprisingly, been attracting more and more attention from 
anthropologists. Anthropologists have turned their focus to right-wing 
groups because they form part of larger phenomena that have the capacity 
to transform the societies we live in. In the workshop, we are 
interested in the continuum of right-wing ideology and practices, i.e. 
from right-wing sympathizers to the extreme right. It is here where we 
see how right-wing ideology and discourse are seeping into mainstream 
discourse.

The workshop expands on these basic assumptions and seeks to stimulate 
discussions and facilitate exchanges among scholars from anthropology 
and related disciplines conducting research in this field. We aim at 
discussing research on neo-nationalism and authoritarianism both from an 
analytical and a methodological angle, since we assume that these 
phenomena pose a significant challenge for anthropology and ethnography. 
The workshop thus seeks to engage with anthropologists’ struggle with 
neo-nationalism and authoritarianism by sharpening our terminologies and 
theoretical avenues, discussing our conceptual frameworks, and 
reflecting on experiences we encounter during empirical research, also 
with regard to their ethical dimension. The questions we ask in the 
workshop include, but are not confined to:

-How do neo-nationalist and authoritarian ideas and imaginations speak 
to actors? How do they become “truth”?

-How are neo-nationalism and authoritarianism linked to emotional and 
affective politics?

-What are the implications for the wider study of socio-cultural change 
and social cohesion?

-How can ethnography and anthropology help to understand the current 
crises of democracy and political representation?

-How do we distinguish between different actors on the “far right”, and 
how do we make sense of their multiple overlaps and interconnections?

-Which practical problems do ethnographers face, ranging from problems 
of field access to questions of collaboration and intimidation? How to 
deal with emotional difficulties regarding one’s own (political) 
positioning in the field?

-And finally, what can political anthropology, or anthropology more 
generally, contribute to the study of neo-nationalism and authoritarianism?

The workshop will be complemented by a keynote by Nitzan Shoshan (Centro 
de Estudios Sociológicos, El Colegio de México), author of “The 
Management of Hate: Nation, Affect, and the Governance of Right-Wing 
Extremism in Germany” (Princeton University Press 2016). He will also 
contribute comments and join our discussions throughout the workshop.

The workshop shall function as a forum for scholars with an interest in 
the study of neo-nationalism and authoritarianism. We invite 
participants to send short statements (not exceeding 1 page) explaining 
their interest in the workshop topic, including a short bio, until 30 
April 2019 to Esin Göksoy ([log in to unmask]). We particularly 
invite early-career scholars and PhD students to present and discuss 
their ongoing research.

Venue: Richard-Wagner-Str. 27, 80333 München

The workshop is jointly organized by Alexandra Schwell (LMU Munich), 
Patrick Wielowiejski (HU Berlin) and Stefan Wellgraf (Hamburg 
University) within the framework of the dgv working group 
“Europeanization_Globalization. Ethnographies of the Political”, in 
cooperation with the Department of Intercultural Communication at LMU 
Munich and the Petra Kelly Foundation.


*************************************************************
*           Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
*  http://www.anthropologymatters.com            *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal,    *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources  *
* and international contacts directory.               *
* To join this list or to look at the archived previous       *
* messages visit:                                             *
* https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/Anthropology-Matters   *
* If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all    *
* those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to:   *
*        [log in to unmask]                  *
*                                                             *
*       Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new        *
*       CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com        *
*    an international directory of anthropology researchers *

To unsubscribe please click here:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=ANTHROPOLOGY-MATTERS&A=1

***************************************************************