International Summer School/ Ph.D. - Forum

“Classifications and the Construction of Belongings”

September 20th to 23rd 2011

Download of the program

The Summer School is organized jointly between the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Prof. Dr. Anja Weiß), the Department of Social Science at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Prof. Dr. Ludger Pries), and the Essen College of Gender Studies (Dr. Maren A. Jochimsen ). It is funded by the organizers and the main research area "Change in contemporary societies" of the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (Essen).

Objectives:

Belongings are intensively debated in the public sphere. Belonging to specific social groups and spaces is crucial for human beings. Belonging is the outcome of on-going processes of (1) self-ascription and ascription/recognition by others and (2) claims making/resource mobilization according to layers like ethnicity, religion/believes, sex/gender, social class, residential area, citizenship or common social values/identity in general (like human rights).

Belongings are cultural categories whose meaning changes through processes of making and pointing at (socially constructed) differences, of ascribing and being ascribed, and of claiming rights and other resources. Belongings are formed on the basis of personal and collective self-identification and they are incorporated and become part of the habitus. While some classifications such as ethnicity, religion and gender are very prominent in public discourse, other categories such as class, region or milieu may be as important in their impact on belongings and on social structure. Using classifications is a particular challenge for scholars of migration as presumably scientific categories tend to interact with normatively loaded ascriptions in the highly contentious field of migration politics.

The international summer school will provide insights into theoretical concepts and empirical research on the topic. The focus is on classifications and belongings which tend to change or at least to become debated in the course of migration, such as civil, ethnic and religious identities, gender and class. We will look at the negotiation of classifications and belongings in the spheres of discourse, politics, public and private statistical data-collection, life-worlds and biographies.

During the Summer School lectures of renowned scholars will give an overview on the state of the art research in the field. In addition, qualitative as well as quantitative research methods are introduced and discussed in more detail in small working groups. Overall, the program offers Ph.D. and some advanced M.A. students the opportunity to present and discuss their research projects in a professional environment of scholars and experts.

Abstracts:

• Anne Juhasz: Reconstructing narratives of belonging: second generation youth in Europe
• Prof. Dr. Ludger Pries: Classifications in migration research: ethnicity, roots and other pitfalls
• Ralf Bohnsack: Constructing Typologies
• Janine Dahinden: Categorizations, belonging and other challenges for qualitative migration research
• Claudia Diehl: Quantitative research on migration and ethnicity: data sources and data problems

Program:

The program consists of a mixture of plenary lectures and parallel workshops. All scholars will present their Ph.D. projects in a plenary and poster session. In addition, many projects will be discussed in depth during two parallel workshops.

Download of the program

History of the International Summer Schools:

• 2010
• 2009
• 2008

Application Process:

Please apply via an application form available on this website shortly by June 15th, 2011 and submit an abstract of 300 words as well as a short letter of motivation. Additionally, the preferred workshop should be indicated. The language of the International Summer School will be English.
A general participation fee will be raised. Much to our regret, we must inform you that neither travel costs nor accommodation costs are included within the fee and therefore cannot be refunded. Information regarding accommodation facilities and conference details are available on our website.

Participation Fee:

• 200 € Ph.D. students whose scholarship provides for conference travels will be charged this amount
• 50 € all other participants

Location:

Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities
(KWI, Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen)
Goethestraße 31
45128 Essen
Germany

How to get there:

The next airport is Düsseldorf-International. You can take the SkyTrain to get to the „Bahnhof Düsseldorf-Flughafen“ railway station. The journey takes about 7 minutes.

The train tickets are sometimes included in the airfare. If not, you will need a C-zone ticket costing 9,60 €, which is valid for the SkyTrain as well as for any regional train to Essen. It can be purchased from a ticket machine at one of the SkyTrain stops.

At the railway station, trains depart for Essen about four times per hour. Depending on the train you take, the trip will take another 20 to 30 minutes. We recommend regional trains (RE) or the S-train as they are cheaper and almost as fast as EC, IC and ICE-Trains. If you still want to use the latter, you will have to buy a K-zone ticket for the SkyTrain and a separate railway ticket at the station.

For more information please visit the airport website.

Please visit the KWI-website for further route descriptions.

Accomodation:

Accommodations in Essen

International Summer School/ Ph.D. - Forum

“Classifications and the Construction of Belongings”

September 20^th to 23^rd 2011

Friday 23^rd

9.⁰⁰ - 13.⁰⁰

Contact: Linda Wotzlaw, Essen College of Gender Studies
University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstraße 12,45117 Essen, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)201 183-4931, Fax: +49 (0)201 183-4432, E-Mail: geschlechterkolleg@uni-due.de

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