BA (MA) Sachbereichs-/Regionalübung: Demos, ethnos, populus: An Anthropology of (il/liberal) democracy
Dienstag, 05.12.2023
In recent years, democracy has been an export good that legitimizes intervention, a ritualized confirmation of rule, but also, time and again, a vision of hope for a more just political order. Witnessing the storming of the US Capitol, of Brasília, and of other authoritarian spectacles of the people’s will, the hopes and aspirations of the Arab spring, of Tahrir, Gezi Park, and Al-Hasakah appear to be from another era. Described by some as the new opium of the people, sought by others as a means of controlling power, democracy oscillates between a public spectacle that legitimizes rule and a medium of politicization and critique of rule. In the seminar we discuss different theoretical approaches to democracy, liberal and illiberal, as well as anthropological perspectives on populism and the new fascisms of our time. We examine the concepts of ‘the people’, ‘the crowd’, ‘the public’ and ‘the population’ and examine how democratic norms and promises activate demos, ethnos or populus. We turn to post-colonial critiques of liberal democracy to discuss in what way electoral democracy can or does effect changes in relations of inequality, or whether and how it stabilises them by its very norms and procedures. We will democratically decide whether we lay a particular focus on the recent and ubiquitous trend towards what has been called illiberal democracy, populist authoritarianism and fascism and to take the upcoming Indian national elections (May 2024) as a shared entry into these questions.
| Veranstaltungsart: | Vorlesung/Seminar |
|---|---|
| Dozierende(r): | Prof. Dr. Julia Eckert |
| 05.12.2023: | 14:15 - 16:00 |
| Ort: |
Unitobler Lerchenweg 36 3012 Bern 2. Etage, S 221 |
Sie können diese Veranstaltung in ihrer persönlichen Agenda speichern. In Ihrer persönlichen Veranstaltungsübersicht finden Sie alle relevanten Detailinformationen zu Ihren gespeicherten Veranstaltungen zum Ausdrucken.