Universität Wien

080009 VU B420 Theories of Culture: The Gut -Approaching the gut as an epistemic subject in cultural studies (2024S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 8 - Kunstgeschichte und Europäische Ethnologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle
Fr 24.05. 13:00-16:00 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

ACHTUNG: der Termin am Freitag 19.04.2024 13:00 - 16:00 findet in der Pramergasse 9 am Institut für Soziologie (Standort 2) statt!

Friday 08.03. 10:00 - 15:30 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
Saturday 09.03. 10:00 - 15:30 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
Friday 19.04. 13:00 - 16:00 Ort in u:find Details
Monday 24.06. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
Monday 24.06. 11:00 - 12:30 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
Monday 24.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse
Tuesday 25.06. 12:45 - 14:15 Seminarraum 1 (2.Stock, rechts) EE Hanuschgasse

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course consists of two parts. In the first part, we will explore cultural perspectives of sensory perception. We will dive into cultural theories of the so-called five-sense sensorium, interrogate visual perception as a dominant form of everyday perception (e.g. ocularcentrism) and move through sonic, olfactory, tactile and synaesthetic experiences in everyday life. In doing so, we will also question audiovisual media and their possibilities and limitations as multisensory modalities. Focusing on everyday sensory practices with or without audiovisual media, we will perform sensory exercises, watch documentary films, listen to audio recordings and have a guest who will present a sonic academic research. We will read texts from theoretical fields such as anthropology of the senses, empirical cultural studies and film and media studies, and analyse methodological interrogations on sensory ethnography. The aim is to understand the cultural contexts, racialised and gendered assumptions of meanings constructed through the senses and sensory perception and to extend everyday sensory observations.

In the second part, we will discuss how feelings and emotions are made, and what they do and explore theoretically the interrelatedness of discourse and feelings in relation to hierarchical social ordering categories such as class and gender. Based on practice-theoretical, affect-theoretical and emotion-anthropological approaches, the analytical distinction between affect, feeling and emotion will be discussed based on various empirical studies in the field of european ethnology, cultural anthropology and sociology. The theoretical foundation serves as a toolbox to distinguish between different dimensions of emotions but also to critically question dichotomies. On the one hand, we deal with emotions that are rather attributed to the individual and personal, such as intuition or gut feeling, and on the other hand with emotions that are experienced collectively, such as ecstasy or rage. Furthermore, the legitimacy of emotions and their scientific and socio-historical perspective up to the so-called "emotional turn" and "affective turn" will be critically reflected.

This seminar will be held bilingually in English and German. The texts and the teaching language of the first part are in English, but the discussions can also be held in German if required. You can write your assignments in English or German.

Assessment and permitted materials

Active participation in the seminar
Weekly reading and Moodle assignments
Development of two research proposals

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Die Lehrveranstaltung ist prüfungsimmanent. Das Versäumen von zwei Einheiten (à 90 min) ist unentschuldigt möglich.
Für den erfolgreichen Abschluss der LV sind zumindest 51 von 100 möglichen Punkten zu erreichen. Alle Teilleistungen sind zu erbringen.

Notenskala:
> = 92 sehr gut (1)
> = 80 gut (2)
> = 65 befriedigend (3)
> = 51 genügend (4)
< 51 nicht genügend (5)

Examination topics

Reading list

Literatur (wird noch ergänzt):

Benezra, Amber. 2023. Gut Anthro: An Experiment in Thinking with Microbes. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Hey, Maya. 2020. ‘Against Healthist Fermentation’. Critical Dietetics 5 (1): 1222. https://doi.org/10.32920/cd.v5i1.1334.

Laursen, Camilla Brændstrup, Lotte Meinert, and Lone Grøn. 2022. ‘Alien Guts? Exploring Lives of and with Irritable Bowels in Denmark’. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 36 (1): 13954. https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12669.

Leser, Julia. 2022. ‘State Sensorium: Rethinking the Role of Senses and Affects in Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Discretion’. PoLAR Political and Legal Anthropology Review, December.

Lipp, Carola. 1993. ‘Alltagskulturforschung Im Grenzbereich von Volkskunde, Soziologie Und Geschichte. Aufstieg Und Niedergang Eines Interdisziplinären Forschungskon- Zeptes.’ Zeitschrift Für Volkskunde, 1-33.

Møhl, Perle. 2022. ‘Biometric Technologies, Data and the Sensory Work of Border Control’. Ethnos 87 (2): 24156. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2019.1696858.

Munch-Jurisic, Ditte. 2022. Perpetrator Disgust: The Moral Limits of Gut Feelings.

Nading, Alex. 2016. ‘Evidentiary Symbiosis: On Paraethnography in HumanMicrobe Relations’. Science as Culture 25 (4): 56081. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2016.1202226.

Quiring, Ana. 2022. ‘Going with the Gut: Fatness and Erotic Knowledge in Black Feminist Theories of the Body’. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 50 (12): 86102. https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.2022.0006.

Reosti, Anna. 2020. We Go Totally Subjective: Discretion, Discrimination, and Tenant Screening in a Landlord’s Market. Law & Social Inquiry 45 (February): 140. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2019.81.

Rosen, Eva, Philip M. E. Garboden, and Jennifer E. Cossyleon. 2021. ‘Racial Discrimination in Housing: How Landlords Use Algorithms and Home Visits to Screen Tenants’. American Sociological Review 86 (5): 787822. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224211029618.

Scheer, Monique. 2016. ‘Emotionspraktiken: Wie Man Über Das Tun an Die Gefühle Herankommt.’ In Emotional Turn?! Europäisch Ethnologische Zugänge Zu Gefühlen & Gefühlswelten: Beiträge Der 27. Österreichischen Volkskundetagung in Dornbirn Vom 29. Mai-1. Juni 2013, edited by Matthias Beitl and Ingo Schneider, 1537. Buchreihe Der Österreichischen Zeitschrift Für Volkskunde, neue Serie, Band 27. Wien: Selbstverlag des Vereins für Volkskunde.

Spissinger, Florian, and Julia Leser. 2021. ‘Die Übersetzung situativer ‚Bauchgefühle‘ in eine Analyse politischer Affekte: Potentiale ethnografischer Affektforschung für die Untersuchung von rechter Politik’. Gesellschaft unter Spannung. Verhandlungen des 40. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie 2020 40 (August).

Stoler, Ann Laura. 2018. The Politics of Gut Feelings: On Sentiment in Governance and the Law. KNOW: A Journal on the Formation of Knowledge 2 (2): 20728. https://doi.org/10.1086/699009.

Sutter, Ove. 2016. ‘Alltagsverstand. Zu Einem Hegemonietheoretischen Verständnis Alltäglicher Sichtweisen Und Deutungen (Common Sense. Hegemonic Theory and an Understanding of Common Sense Perspectives and Interpretations.)’ 70 (January): 4170.

Wilson, Elizabeth A. 2015. Gut Feminism. Next Wave: New Directions in Women`s Studies. Durham: Duke University Press.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 17.04.2024 13:25