240007 VO Anthropology of Organisations and Bureaucracy (2022W)

Is bureaucracy the art of making possible impossible? Is good policy unimplementable? Are all bureaucrats incompetent villains who never answer a phone? This course will not give you a ready-made recipe to successfully navigate University administration or social welfare services. It will not teach you how to fill out the forms and make successful claims in public and private institutions. However, it will help you to better understand the socio-cultural mechanisms that drive and shape modern institutions and organisations. Using political and organisational anthropology we will unpack such notions as transparency, accountability, audit cultures and other bureaucratic utopias.

Ziele, Inhalte und Methoden der Lehrveranstaltung
At the end of this course, students should
be familiar with contemporary debates in anthropological studies regarding bureaucracy.
be able to identify and explain mechanisms governing modern institutions; be able to explain how bureaucratic regimes influence not only how people see the state and public institutions, but how they act in it; They should be able to illustrate their points by using cross-cultural examples;
have the ability to independently analyse social lives of bureaucratic institutions; be able to explain how bureaucratic institutions, their representatives and clients are influenced by particular social structures and wider socio-cultural phenomena (for instance modernity, globalisation, post-colonialism, post-socialism);
be able to make connections between theories explaining bureaucractic and organizational lives and other relevant debates in social sciences (for instance on social and political trust, class, power, nationalism).
General academic and transferable skills gained:
Increased confidence in analysing texts, reading comprehension. Strengthened cross-cultural comparison skills. Improved verbal and written communication skills, group work, critical thinking. Increased ability to apply theory to observed reality, ability to communicate complex academic concepts to lay public.

Content:
Selected topics provided insight into the world of bureaucratic institutions. In the course, we will study mechanisms of policy-making and policy implementation and have a closer look at bureaucratic materiality and affects. We will also ask about power, agency and ownership in the institutions. The class will offer an insight into a diverse worlds of bureaucratic institutions, exploring perspectives of street-level bureaucrats, state administrators or members of transnational institutions. It will also offer insights into diverse geographical areas.
The course will not only explore classical and contemporary anthropological theory. It will also provide students with practical knowledge on doing research in, with and for institutions in order to prepare them for conducting research for action and work with state institutions, NGOs and private organisations.
Methods:
Traditional lectures and seminars. Both will include mixed methods: in-class activities, individual and group work, debates. Class readings and discussions are complemented by assignments offering students the opportunity to conduct their own original research using anthropological methods and perspectives.

This course requires active participation of students both in the lectures and in seminars. The goal is to hold in person classes but students unable to attend in person due to current pandemic measures will be provided with an opportunity to attend on-line. There is a possibility to adjust teaching methods depending on the pandemic regulations.

The course is supported by an accompanying tutorial.
Tutor: Julia Petron

Tutorial dates:
13 October 1:15 pm HS A
20 October 4:45 pm HS A
27 October 1:15 pm SR D
3 November 4:45 pm HS C
10 November 1:15 pm HS A
17 November 1:15 pm HS A
24 November 1:15 pm HS C
1 December 3:00 pm HS A
15 December 3:00 pm Übungsraum
12 January 1:15 pm SR A
20 January 9:45 am to 1:00 pm HS A