The research department Glocal Junctions at PRIF is organizing a workshop on ethnographic methods in political science in cooperation with the DVPW theme group ethnographic methods on 20 and 21 June.
The workshop will begin with a public lecture by Anna Leander, Graduate Institute, entitled:
Destabilizing Definitions: The Challenge of Doing Ethnographic Concept Work in International Relations
A constant and recurring difficulty and challenge for scholars writing ethnography in International Relations is that the understanding of what “definitions” are and how they should be dealt with in ethnography are at odds with what is usually assumed in IR. “What is your definition of this concept?” is a standard question in IR. Many IR methods textbooks instruct their readers to define their core concepts at the outset of their research and in the beginning of their texts. By contrast, in much ethnography, the focus is to explore a conceptual universe and the definition of the core concept studied is therefore necessarily suspended to the end of the research. It is the outcome of the research process, not the starting point. It belongs towards the conclusion of texts. Even more fundamentally, the notion of what a concept is changes. This talk puts the spotlight on this specific tension. It clarifies its character, its implication for how we relate to definitions in our writing and suggests ways of working with it. It does so connecting examples from ethnographic writing in International Relations with Ann Laura Stoler’s notion of concept work.
Anna Leander is Professor of International Relations/Political Science at the Graduate Institute Geneva and Professor of International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Leander’s work cuts across political science, organization and management studies, sociology, law, anthropology, and design. She has explored the politics of commercializing security institutions, risk-modelling, regulatory arrangements, expertise and technologies, as well as the politics of commercial security aesthetics in marketing and social media. She has also developed the conceptual and methodological tools for exploring such topics.
When: June 20, 2022, 6.00 – 8.00 pm
Where: "Normative Orders" building, Max-Horkheimer-Str. 2, 60323 Frankfurt am Main
The event is subject to “2G-COVID 19-Rules”: Persons who recovered from COVID 19 or fully vaccinated persons are admitted; 1.5 M distancing applies and wearing of masks is compulsory.