The day’s programme \;will \;reinvigorate the Colla boratory’s mission to make visible the diversity of urban studies schola rship across Swiss institutions. \;This year’s meeting \;will br ing \;into conversation urban scholars whose disciplinary specialisati on does not usually bring them into sustained conversation. \;It begin s with \;two plenary sessions: the first is led by Kenny entitled\,&nb sp\;“Planetary Repairs: Extractivism\, Ecology\, and Restitutive Researc h”. The second\, will be led by Jon Schubert and is entitled “from pla tform capitalism to techno-authoritarianism”. \;After \;lunch\, is a city tour focusing on ongoing urban re-generation initiative run by B asel’s planning department. We will end in the usual spirit of networkin g and getting to know each other in a relaxed setting at a catered \;a pero.
\nWarm regards from the organisers and the City Collaboratory\ ,
\nErnest Sewordor\, Gadsiah Ibrahim\, &\; Diogo Faria
\nF or more details about the City Collaboratory initiative\, please visit citycollaboratory.ch< /a>.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1755@dgw.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260813T135127 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260925T090000 SUMMARY:Writing 9 to 5 DESCRIPTION:There will be some snacks and all day for writing together!\\r\ \nAll the dates: \\r\\nFridays from 9:00-17:00: 25. September\, 23. Octo ber\, 20. November\, and 18. December X-ALT-DESC:There will be some snacks and all day for writing together!\n
All the dates: \;
\nFrida ys from 9:00-17:00: \;25. September\, 23. October\, 20. November\, and 18. December
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260925T170000 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1905@dgw.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260820T094700 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260930T161500 SUMMARY:The Weight of Waiting: Aluminum Pans\, Contemporary Coloniality and Porter Labor in Ghana DESCRIPTION:AbstractThis presentation examines aluminum pans as a prostheti c of infrastructure and intimacy in Ghana’s market landscapes. Drawing o n research from her recently published book\, Headstrong: Women Porters\, Blackness\, and Modernity in Accra\, Bowles explains how porter work is go verned by feminized regimes of obligation\, patience\, and care. Centering the everyday use of aluminum pans and the scientific history of aluminum\ , this lecture traces how an ordinary object can mediate power relationshi ps between traders and the state\, facilitate modes of protection and mutu ality among workers\, and re-enact colonial legacies of racial capitalism and uneven accumulation. Bowles also explores how intimacy functions as et hnographic method that reveals how porter work is a prototype of the globa l gig economy that animates the racial logics of coloniality and the impro visational strategies of precarious workers.\\r\\nBioLaurian Bowles is Ass ociate Professor of Anthropology at the Davidson College. She is a cultura l and visual anthropologist who researches\, writes and teaches about soci al mobility and the visual economies of women’s labor in Ghana and the A frican Diaspora. X-ALT-DESC:Abstract
This presentation examines aluminum p
ans as a prosthetic of infrastructure and intimacy in Ghana’s market lan
dscapes. Drawing on research from her recently published book\,
Headstrong: Women Porters\, Blackness\, and Modernity in Accra\, Bowle
s explains how porter work is governed by feminized regimes of obligation\
, patience\, and care. Centering the everyday use of aluminum pans and the
scientific history of aluminum\, this lecture traces how an ordinary obje
ct can mediate power relationships between traders and the state\, facilit
ate modes of protection and mutuality among workers\, and re-enact colonia
l legacies of racial capitalism and uneven accumulation. Bowles also explo
res how intimacy functions as ethnographic method that reveals how porter
work is a prototype of the global gig economy that animates the racial log
ics of coloniality and the improvisational strategies of precarious worker
s.
Bio
Laurian Bowles is Associate Professor
of Anthropology at the Davidson College. She is a cultural and visual ant
hropologist who researches\, writes and teaches about social mobility and
the visual economies of women’s labor in Ghana and the African Diaspora.
Abstract
In this talk\, I plead for an anthrop
ology of law attuned to the analytical and political challenges of an incr
easingly authoritarian climate in liberal constitutional settings. Drawing
on my book\, Drugs\, Race\, and the Politics of Modern Slavery Law (to be
published with OUP in February 2026)\, I examine a new precedent in the m
aking—namely\, the application of UK ‘slavery laws’ to manage and pu
nish its marginalised working-class and racialised populations. Originally
conceived in the context of debates around international human traffickin
g\, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 became ‘domesticated’ as police and th
e courts\, over the last ten years\, have applied it to those at the botto
m rung of the street-level drugs economy within the country’s borders. D
rawing on ethnography with police\, the courts\, and crucially the familie
s affected\, and situating this within histories of empire and their after
lives\, I reflect on how a juridical project in the making has become a po
litical project\, as logics of liberal saviourism and the image of ‘slav
e and ‘slave master’ have been projected onto the bodies of Black work
ing class youth. In what ways has juridical victimhood become a site for t
he remaking of political statecraft in times of liberal and economic crisi
s? How do attempts to work against the liberal anti-racist grain become we
aponised by unexpected publics\, generating backlash from both far-right a
nd liberal audiences? To what extent are my ethnographic observations and
their reception indicative of a liberal legal crisis in European metropole
s writ large? And what chllenges do they pose for the anthropologist of la
w to reconceive of ethnography not just as analytical work but as a form o
f political labour?
Bio
Insa Lee K
och is Professor for British Cultures at the HSG St. Gallen. She is an interdisci
plinary scholar who works ethnographically and collaboratively on question
s of intersecting inequalities\, political economy and the state.
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261021T180000
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:news1754@dgw.philhist.unibas.ch
DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260813T135048
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261023T090000
SUMMARY:Writing 9 to 5
DESCRIPTION:There will be some snacks and all day for writing together!\\r\
\nFridays from 9:00-17:00: 25. September\, 23. October\, 20. November\, a
nd 18. December
X-ALT-DESC:
There will be some snacks and all day for writing together!\n
Fridays from 9:00-17:00: \;25. September\, 23. October\ , 20. November\, and 18. December
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261023T170000 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1908@dgw.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260820T100034 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261103T181500 SUMMARY:Öffentliche Antrittsvorlesung Doris Leibetseder DESCRIPTION:PD. Dr. Doris Leibetseder\\r\\nPrivatdozentin für Gender Studi es/Geschlechterforschung\\r\\n"Queer and Trans Reproduction with Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) in Europe" X-ALT-DESC:PD. Dr. Doris Leibetseder\nPrivatdozentin für Gender Studies/Ge schlechterforschung\n"Queer and Trans Reproduction with Assisted Reproduct ive Technologies (ART) in Europe" END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1907@dgw.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260820T094928 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261104T161500 SUMMARY:Taste as Infrastructure: hunting\, landscape and human-animal relat ions in Greenland DESCRIPTION:AbstractThe idea that Inuit hunt primarily for calories and phy sical survival remains one of the most enduring narratives about the Arcti c. Another familiar narrative centres on souls and the belief that animals never truly die\, but instead reincarnate when treated properly by humans . While neither of these understandings is entirely misplaced\, both tend to frame Inuit hunting through rather utilitarian or essentialist lenses\, making it difficult to account for the complexities of contemporary Anthr opocene land- and seascapes.\\r\\nDrawing on long-term ethnographic resear ch conducted across different regions of Greenland\, this presentation exp lores how taste (the taste of animals\, of places\, and of seasons) can be understood as a form of infrastructure through which hunters and their fa milies navigate\, experience\, and make sense of both landscapes and the a nimals they hunt. Attending to taste in this way opens up new perspectives on how human–animal relations are shaped and continually reconfigured a mid changing environmental and political conditions\, including thinning s ea ice\, declining wildlife stocks\, pollution\, and increasingly regulate d hunting.\\r\\nBioJanne Flora is associate professor at the department of anthropology at Aarhus University and centre leader at AUNA: Centre for N orth Atlantic and Arctic Research. She has carried out research in Greenla nd for more than two decades\, in recent years on questions relating to hu man-aninmal relations in hunting communities. X-ALT-DESC:Abstract
The idea that Inuit hunt prima
rily for calories and physical survival remains one of the most enduring n
arratives about the Arctic. Another familiar narrative centres on souls an
d the belief that animals never truly die\, but instead reincarnate when t
reated properly by humans. While neither of these understandings is entire
ly misplaced\, both tend to frame Inuit hunting through rather utilitarian
or essentialist lenses\, making it difficult to account for the complexit
ies of contemporary Anthropocene land- and seascapes.
Dr awing on long-term ethnographic research conducted across different region s of Greenland\, this presentation explores how taste (the taste of animal s\, of places\, and of seasons) can be understood as a form of infrastruct ure through which hunters and their families navigate\, experience\, and m ake sense of both landscapes and the animals they hunt. Attending to taste in this way opens up new perspectives on how human–animal relations are shaped and continually reconfigured amid changing environmental and polit ical conditions\, including thinning sea ice\, declining wildlife stocks\, pollution\, and increasingly regulated hunting.
\nBio
Janne Flora is associate professor at the department of anthropology at
Aarhus University and centre leader at AUNA: Centre for North Atlantic and
Arctic Research. She has carried out research in Greenland for more than
two decades\, in recent years on questions relating to human-aninmal relat
ions in hunting communities. \;
There will be some snacks and all day for writing together!\n
All the dates: Friday\, 13 March\, 10 April &\; 8 May 2026
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261120T170000 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1909@dgw.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260820T100536 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261208T181500 SUMMARY:Öffentliche Antrittsvorslesung Matthias Leanza DESCRIPTION:PD. Dr. Matthias LeanzaPrivatdozent für SoziologieIm Schatten der Imperien: Wie die Dekolonisation die Sozialwissenschaften veränderte X-ALT-DESC:PD. Dr. Matthias Leanza
Privatdozent für Soziologie
Im Schatten der Imperien: Wie die Dekolonisation die Sozialwissenschafte
n veränderte
«Sicherheit» und «Sorge» werden im Kontext queer-feminist
ischer Demokratietheorie oft gegenläufig
verwendet. «Sicherheit» e
rscheint primär als politisches Konzept\, mit dem auf nationaler und glob
aler
Ebene die Militarisierung der Gesellschaft und der Einsatz staat
licher Gewalt gegen soziale Minderheiten
und die politische Oppositio
n gerechtfertigt werden kann. In diesen Sicherheitsdiskursen artikuliert s
ich
ein Verständnis von Politik\, das auf dem Prinzip von Kampf\, Be
drohung und Verteidigung basiert und die
Macht patriarchaler\, cis-he
teronormativer und ethno-nationalistischer Normen verstärkt. Im Gegensatz
dazu gilt «Sorge» resp. «Care» aus queer-feministischer Perspekt
ive als ein ethisch-politisches Konzept\,
das eine Vision gerechter\,
solidarischer und nachhaltiger gesellschaftlicher Verhältnisse denkbar m
acht
und in der alltäglichen Praxis verankert. Statt wie im Sicherhe
itskonzept auf Prinzipien von Kampf und
Konflikt basiert Care auf dem
Primat und der Anerkennung sozialer Bezogenheit.
In dieser Gegenübe
rstellung geht allerdings verloren\, dass auch «Sicherheit» aus queer-fe
ministischer
Perspektive eine grundlegende normative Referenz darstel
lt. Sicherheit erscheint unverzichtbar\, um das
Grundrecht aller Gesc
hlechter und Sexualitäten zu garantieren\, frei von Gewalt\, Unterdrücku
ng\, Einschüchterung
und Prekarität zu leben und sich individuell u
nd gemeinschaftlich entfalten zu können.
Beide Konzepte\, Sicherheit
und Sorge\, bieten demnach queer-feministischer Politik und Ethik eine
normative Orientierung. Statt die Begriffe als Gegensätze zu konzipier
en\, erscheint es hilfreicher\, sie
zueinander in ein Verhältnis zu
setzen. Wie verändert sich die Bedeutung von Sicherheit\, wenn sie als
Sorgepraxis gedacht wird? Und wie lässt sich Sorge auf die Bereitstell
ung von Sicherheit ausrichten?
Sind die Konzepte von Sicherheit und S
orge systematisch ko-konstitutiv? Und wie lassen sie sich als
demokra
tische Praktiken bestimmen? Diese Fragen eröffnen einen Raum\, um Sorge u
nd Sicherheit
konsequent in ihren demokratietheoretischen und normati
ven Dimensionen zu reflektieren und für eine
queer-feministische Vis
ion einer gerechten Gesellschaft und demokratischen Politik zu nutzen.
Anmeld
ung: ggsb-genderstudies@unibas.ch
There will be some snacks and all day for writing together!\n
All the dates: Friday\, 13 March\, 10 April &\; 8 May 2026
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20261218T170000 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR