Summer School programm
The Summer School programm consist of four courses, each course is 4 Credits/ECTS. The Credits can be awarded in the following modules: B.Pol.800, B.Pol.800c, B.Soz.701, B.Soz.17b, B.Soz.17c, B.Soz.17e, SQ.Sowi.13. There are further options for credit recognition available for students of the University of Göttingen in the fields of Ethnology, Gender Studies or Modern Indian Studies, please contact your program coordinator accordingly.
Migration, Islands and Climate Change
Teacher: Dr. Klöck (geb. Betzold), Carola, Department Political Science
This course explores migration in the context of small islands, with a focus on climate change. While migration and mobility has traditionally been part of the island way of life, migration has become a negative narrative of "climate refugees", "evacuating" and their "sinking islands". This is too simplistic a story. Migration has many causes, the legal status of climate "refugees" unclear, and islanders themselves reject the term. Who then migrates, and why? How does migration, how does climate change impact islands? Dose migration constitute adaptation, or is it the result of failed adaptation?
Migration, Refuge and Religious Pluralization
Teacher: Prof. Alexander K. Nagel, Chair for Social Scientific Studies of Religion
The course will focus on the nexus of (both labor and refuge) migration and religious pluralization in Germany and beyond. On the conceptual level we will critically examine imaginaries and metaphors which are used to conceive of migrant self-organization, such as "parallel society", "mobility trap", "ethnic colony" and "cultural enclave". On a more empirical level we will deepen our knowledge on a) religious immigration profiles of different European countries, b) the potential effects of religious pluralization on the German religious landscape and state-church relations, c) religious and cultural diversity as a challenge for public institutions, such as refugee camps and hospitals d) measures of interreligious and intercultural 'dialogue' as attempts to cultivate religious and cultural diversity and finally e) the transnational and virtual dimension of religion and migration. Didactically, the course will be based on the joint discussion of (a limited number of) core texts, combined with small group work along the thematic lines mentioned above.
"Immigrant Incorporation - the Case of Refugees"
Teacher: Jan-Philip Steinmann, Research assistant to Prof. Silke Hans (Chair for Migration and Ethnicity)
This course will focus on the perspectives of refugees after their arrival in the (sometimes temporary) host country. While most theories of and empirical work on migration and immigrant incorporation focus on voluntary migrants and on those who are likely to live in the host country permanently, our knowledge of processes of incorporation among refugees is quite limited. After an overview of current processes of refugee migration, we will discuss both theoretical approaches and empirical studies that deal with the cultural, structural, social and emotional dimensions of adaptation and incorporation in the case of refugees. Students will also learn about relevant data available to researchers who aim to explore such processes.
Language, Power and Migration - Linguistic diversity in a globalized world
Teacher: Dr. Susanne Becker, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
The course will engage from a sociological perspective with the following questions: What does linguistic diversity mean? How is it different from multilingualism? Why is it an important topic when we think about migration in a globalized world?
While linguistic diversity has been the norm in postcolonial contexts for centuries, the idea that one country speaks only one language shaped Europe and North America in the last centuries. Although de facto linguistic diversity has always been reality in Europe and North America, migration and globalization has added a new dimension to European and North American linguistic diversity.
In this course, we will discuss global power structures and their impact on beliefs about different ways of speaking. Additionally we will engage with empirical studies to learn more about linguistic diversity in different contexts and learn about theoretical conceptualizations of linguistic diversity. Important aspects of the nexus of migration and linguistic diversity are linguistic stratification and language-induced discrimination. The seminar will also look into these mechanisms on a global level. Additionally we will discuss different methodological tools to research linguistic diversity including linguistic landscapes, language portraits and linguistic ethnography. We will undertake different exercises to practices those methods. By the end of the course, students will have learned how migration, linguistic diversity and globalization are connected and will have practised themselves how to research linguistic diversity in glocalised contexts.
To undertake the required visual methods exercises a digital camera or a mobile phone with camera are necessary in the seminar.