Ethnographies of the far right
Dozent:innen: Dr. Konstanze N'GuessanKurzname: FarRight
Kurs-Nr.: 07.798.278
Kurstyp: Hauptseminar
Inhalt
From Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, Hindu ultra-nationalists in India and xenophobia in West and South Africa to the mainstreaming of far-right discourses and movements in Europe: the far right in its diverse shapes seems not only to be well and alive, but even on the rise. The seminar tackles the phenomenon of a rising and increasingly mainstreaming far-right from an anthropological perspective and through three complementary angles.First, we will systematically disentangle the meandering and often-times confusing multiplicity of concepts to describe and define the far right and related terms such as radical right, extremism, ultranationalism, right-wing populism and so forth.
Next, we will zoom in on different socio-cultural contexts and shapes of far-right movements, ideologies and practices. Building on the conceptual work of the first part of the seminar we will analyze a wide range of ethnographic studies, thus addressing the phenomenon of the far right through a comparative approach.
Finally, we will ask why anthropology has for a long time largely neglected the study of the far right – with a few notable exceptions – and how this relates to anthropology’s epistemic and normative underpinnings in a more general sense. These reflections will include the question of how to approach and study the far right and how to tackle ethical and methodological challenges and risks.