Alternative Legitimacies. Explorations of Right Kinds of Wrong

PhD Course

Alternative Legitimacies

18-19 June 2013

Eric Hobsbawn’s has defined “social banditry” as a conscious challenge to prevailing social political orders and values occurring when there is a conflict of laws and often entailing a distinct element of social protest. The literary figure Robin Hood is an example of such a bandit who manages to convert officially illicit activities into a moral standpoint where doing wrong is seen as a legitimate alternative. But how do quests for alternative forms of legitimacy play out in the social world today? Arthur Kleinman has argued that the malleability of leading a moral life is a general human condition. But what is at stake in instances where alternative legitimacies come into being and what are their effects and outcomes? How are we to understand situations where individuals or groups creatively play with the limits of legality and seek to reshape wrongdoing into a socially accepted form? Whether in relation to corruption, informality and alternative economies, or politics, group formations and marginality, this seminar will explore the formation and role of alternative legitimacies as they exist in various cultural and social contexts, and the ambiguities and ambivalences often surrounding them.

Lecturers

  • Steffen Jensen (Senior Researcher, Dignity Institute). Author of Gangs, Politics, and Dignity in Cape Town. Chicago University Press.
  • Esther Fihl (Professor, Center for Comparative Cultural Studies University of Copenhagen). Co-editor of A Comparative Ethnography of Alternative Spaces. Palgrave
  • Martin Demant Frederiksen (External Lecturer, Center for Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen). Author of Young Men, Time, and Boredom in the Republic of Georgia. Temple University Press.

Venue: to be announced

Requirements: Mandatory readings and active participation in seminar discussions. Participants are further encouraged to present some of their work in the seminar (10-15 pages essays and 15 minutes oral presentations are expected)

ECTS: 2,7 ECTS for preparation and participation with paper presentation and 1,2 ECTS for preparation and participation.

Deadline for submission of applications (letter of motivation, CV and paper/PhD abstract) is 1 May 2013, deadline for papers 1 June 2013 to mdemant@hum.ku.dk

Readings

Eric Hobsbawn (2001) Bandits. Abacus

Arthur Kleinman (2007) Introduction in: What Really Matters – Living a Moral Life amidst Uncertainty and Danger. Oxford University Press.

Jens Dah & Esther Fihl (2013). Introduction in: A Comparative Ethnography of Alternative Spaces. Palgrave

Janet Roitman (2006) “Ethics of Illegality in the Chad Bassin”. In: Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff (eds) Law and Disorder in the Post Colony. Chicago University Press.

Sasha Newell (2006) “Estranged Belongings - A Moral Economy of Theft in Abidjan“ Anthropological Theory Vol. 6(2).

https://ccrs.ku.dk/research/phd/phdevents/phdcoursesccrs/