As one of the research projects supported by the Federal Ministry of Education
and Research, "The Americas as Space of Entanglement(s)" and the
Center for
Inter-American Studies is hiring for 3 post-doctoral, and 10 PhD positions
.
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Raussert (1st Director), Prof. Dr. Angelika Epple
(2nd Director), Prof. Dr. Christian Büschges and JProf. Dr. Olaf
Kaltmeier constitute the executive committee of the research project
"The Americas as Space of Entanglement(s)".
Please find the detailed advertisement of the posts
here.
Please find the detailed description of the Work Groups and
Project Lines here.
The 3,500-kilometer-long militarized border between the USA and Mexico, which is crossed daily by streams of goods and people, paradoxically stands for both the territorial partitioning and merging of the north and the south. Simultaneously both continents which comprise the Americas are being shaped within the scope of the present trans-nationalization processes by manifold dynamics of entanglement(s) which bring with them sweeping, conflicting and often discrepant consequences for society, culture, politics and the environment. The trans-border connections range from massive migratory movements and new forms of communalization to the accelerated circulation of media, goods and ideologies in the communication age and the constitution of geopolitical imaginaries to the political and economic developmental dynamics and regulation regimes as well as transformation of the natural environment attached to that. These dynamics are embedded within a history of interdependence and a mutual observation of the other side of the border between the north and the south, which has its origins in the conquering and simultaneous "discovery of America" by the European colonial powers.
The CIAS Project Group has made its goal to research the continued growth of these entangling phenomena within the society, culture, politics, law, environment and economy of the Americas. The focus here is on the current acceleration of the processes of transnational communalisation, development, regulation and communication. This focus is supplemented with a diachronic consideration of mid- and long-term integration and disjunction dynamics. In this context, the question that guides the research becomes: to what extent did bolstered inter- and trans-regional forces on the two American continents gain momentum in the 19th century next to the transatlantic relations, which constituted the Americas as Space of Entanglement(s) that then becomes a central geopolitical frame of reference for political, societal, cultural and economic action in the region?
The acutely asymmetric interdependence between the north and the south leads to the fact that entangelement needs to be examined not only in its integration dynamics but also in its potential for conflict and the regional, national or (trans)local strategies for resistance - for example against the hegemony in the north or the insidious "latinization" of the north by the south.
The geopolitical turmoil from the 18th to the 19th century marked a turning point for the Americas during which the dismantling of transatlantic colonial structures and the foundation and geographical expansion of nation-states was accompanied by interaction and reciprocal observation between the north and the south. This time period set the stage for regional, trans-regional and Pan-American imaginaries such as the Bolivian Panamericanism and the Monroe Doctrine, which acted as springboards for the understanding of increasing processes of the negotiation of trans-regional integration and disjunction. Accompanied by open or hidden political, economic and military interventions, the further history of the Americas is distinguished by a series of pushes for the institutionalisation of inter-American internal relations. The continuing institutional integrations processes, which began with the Congress in Panama in 1826 initiated by Simón Bolívar and cover the Panamerican Conferences of the 19th and 20th centuries to the founding of the Organization of American States in 1948, the Inter-American Development Bank in 1959 and the Summits of the Americas in the 1990s and 2000s, demonstrate the scope of the dynamics of entanglement(s) within the Americas. There are furthermore numerous coalitions and agreements of regional scope such as ALBA, Mercosur, UNASUR, some of which position themselves critically to the hegemonic status of the north. These processes of inter-American institutionalization and their corresponding regulations regimes are currently visible especially within the framework of a far-reaching comprehension of developmental actions, which not only includes the liberalization of the flow of goods but also the fight against poverty, sustainable policies for the environment, good governance, human rights questions as well as cultural rights. Despite the claims on regulation between nations, these institutional integration dynamics portray only the surface of the extensive inter-American dynamics of entanglement(s), which simultaneously in complementary or contradictory forms sprawl over trans-border communalization, the emergence of transnational political cultures, communication spaces and transverse consumer cultures. In order to be able to grasp the complexity of these societal, cultural, political, legal and economic phenomena, the CIAS Project Group focuses on the entanglement(s) of the macro-level strategies of national and supranational actors with the meso-level social movements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), actors within the media and economy and the micro-level daily experiences and communication. In line with the trans-disciplinarity of Area Studies, the Project Group brings together a broad spectrum of discourse analytical approaches from the departments of history and cultural studies, systematic descriptions from political science and law as well as system ecology, ethno-methodological surveys of daily experiences from social anthropology, qualitative and quantitative approaches from linguistics and media studies - all working together on a mutual research topic, and reflections on the methods and theories taking into account difference theoretical discourses such as gender, race, class and age.
In order to guide the research on the inter-American phenomena of entanglement(s) in an effective and focused way, three work groups are being established under the headings of "Transnational Flows", "Geopolitical Imaginaries", and "Social Production of Environment". Each of these three work groups contains three to four project lines. The interdisciplinary work on terms, methods and theories as well as the networking of the work groups is coordinated by a post doctoral position per work group, who also organize the synthesis within the complete project. A diachronic perspective on the genealogy of the inter-American as Space of Entanglement(s) will be taken by each work group, by which the view will be fixed upon the historical conjunctures of entanglement(s) from the era of independence onward.
At the core of the work group "Transnational Flows" lies the question: how does a transnational Space of Entanglement(s) develop out of material and immaterial flows, which increasingly serves as an areal frame of reference and orientation for societal, cultural and political action? Thus this work group is involved with the accelerated trans-border mobilization and circulation of people, goods, codes and media. Due to the societal consequences of deterritorialization, this has become both one of the central topics in current trans-nationalization research and also an urgent topic of political debate
Transborder Media Flows in the US Culture Industry - Post-Doc (E13): Disciplinary Focus: American StudiesHere the negotiation of cultural difference, transversal cultural identities as well as trans-border forms of communalization are the focus of the research. Characterized by extensive hybridization processes and a growing politicization, the borderlands are a crossroads and an asymmetrical blend of the dominant flows of the US-American culture industry and the counter-flows coming from the Mexican side are reaching a growing Latino audience in the USA. Here, television combines its traditional role as a homogenizing medium of the mainstream - with the associated standardized codes of representation - together with a growing diversification which, can provide answers to cultural heterogeneity in the form of niche offerings for trans-local and transversal audience segments in the scope of the digital revolution (e.g.: specific (trans-)regional programming for larger diaspora groups). Along with the analysis of media content, the aspect of consumerism and the related cultural translation and acquisition throughout the different audience segments should be examined according to the precepts of cultural studies. The spotlight here will especially be on those media contents that address the emergence of transnational communalization and the contradictory dynamics of fragmenting (hybridization, violence, cultural differences, racism, etc.)
Economic Flows and Spacial Order in the 19th Century - Post-Grad (E13/60%): Disciplinary Focus: HistoryThis project line examines how North American economic and military expansion within the Americas began to compete with the transatlantic dynamics of entanglement(s) and pushed these back during the course of the 19th century. As an object of study, the trade in "bastard swords", machetes, sabers and side arms which were not only central economic goods for the plantation economy but were also of great importance for the troubled times of postcolonial unrest and wars. Since the 17th century and even more in the 19th century melee weapons and knives would be supplied from the German and British hinterlands particularly in the Caribbean to the West Indies, Brazil and Mexico - but also into the American north. In the second half of the 19th century, the production met with heavy competition from the United States. This project line is thus set up comparatively and contrasts the transatlantic trade from European hinterland regions - Solingen, Sheffield, Birgmingham - with the growing inter-American (post-)colonial trade (starting from Collinsville, CT, USA). The key questions here are, how the regional and trans-regional economic spaces were constituted through economic, technological and financial flows and which interdependencies existed within the 19th century geopolitical spaces consolidated in the Americas?
Transmigration of Women and Children in Mesoamerica - Post-Grad (E13/60%): Disciplinary Focus: Sociology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Social WorkThe focus of this project line is on children and women as actors in (trans-)migration in Mesoamerica. From a social anthropological-social sciences vantage point, how these groups actively shape their biographies and interact with other actors in the field of migration. The research is regionally-oriented on the routes of children's and women's migration out of Middle America over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and Tijuana through to the USA, where migrants are taken in and supported by diverse health, human rights and social projects. How the migrants develop their journeys in the framework of migration flows as a biographical project and communicate their futures is the topic of this research. An important part of the research work also consists of the development of research processes which are child and (trans-)gender friendly, and with which the interaction processes and interaction dynamics of the actors within the social and socio-political organizations can be reconstructed.
Linguistic Perspectives on Migration and Diaspora - Post-Grad (E13/60%): Disciplinary Focus: LinguisticsThis project line asks the question: how do migrants and subjects in the diaspora negotiate linguistic categories for regional, trans-regional and deterritorialized identities in the communicative networks of the World Wide Web? The focal point here is on the Latin American and Caribbean migration to North America (USA and Canada), i.e. multilingual contexts in the adaptation processes of the migrants are carried out within the framework of forced language and education policies of assimilation. Research will concentrate on how networks of so-called communities of practice, which are characterized by language construction processes in a multilingual environment, emerge out of the migration experience in the glow of communication in everyday language use. At the same time, as the share situation a geographic proximity are backgrounded in favor of virtual communication spaces, purely linguistic strategies of symbolic order co-construction and structures of meaning become more important. These are the object of corpus-based analyses, which should be supplemented with qualitative, socio-linguistic interviews with the actors within the communities of practice in the World Wide Web.
"Geopolitical Imaginaries" - the key concept of the second work group - are especially important in those historical phases in which territorial points of reference are being questioned and replaced with or superimposed by new points of reference. How are transborder or fluid spatial relationships politically controlled, economically useful or culturally applicable by way of geopolitical imaginaries? The community building effects of geopolitical imaginaries as well as their strategic application in political disagreements about how to shape the inter-American future are of special interest here.
Geopolitical Imaginaries from the Development between the USA and the Other Space - Post-Doc (E13): Disciplinary Focus: HistoryThis project line examines the importance of the imaginaries of development and progress for the discursive construction of unity and difference in the Americas from the 1920s to the 1970s. At the end of the First World War, the USA became the main trading partner for Latin America and an outstanding model for social modernization. At the same time, the institutionalization of Panamericanism entered its decisive phase. In particular, the 1920s/30s and the 1960s/70s are marked by a U.S. American shift away from traditional strategies of unilateral economic, political and military intervention (dollar diplomacy, big stick policy) born out of the legacy of manifest destiny. In contrast, during these periods various programs for political, social and economic integration and development were launched (Good Neighbor Policy, Alliance for Progress). Different nation-state reforms and modernization initiatives (New Deal, industrialization and urbanization programs, agrarian reform, etc.) can be found at the same time in the U.S. and elsewhere on the two American continents, which spawned many transnational dynamics of entanglement(s) within the framework of mutual observation and cooperation. Against this background, this line of research examines the models of political, economic and social integration of the Americas in the 1920s/30s and the 1960s/70s 1920/30er conceived by different actors and at the same time looks into the attendant supranational institutionalization processes. The main focus of the investigation is on the ideas of development and progress formed within these geopolitical imaginaries and transnational institutionalization processes.
Geopolitics and Strategic Regionalization of the Sub-Polar and Polaren Regions in the Americas - Post-Grad (E 13/ 60%); Disciplinary Focus: Political Science, Political GeographyThis project line examines the significance of the Polar Regions for the current reconstitution of geopolitical paradigms in the Americas. Against the backdrop of global competition for scarce energy resources and in response to the emerging consequences of global climate change, the Sub-Polar and Polar Regions of the Americas and adjacent Polar Regions are increasingly becoming the subject of political conflicts. While these conflicts have thus far mostly been carried out as international legal disputes (particularly the issue of the range of the continental shelf according to the Law of the Sea Convention), the military is beginning to play a growing role (re-equipping special forces for use in colder regions, the symbolic occupation of Hans Island, etc). While the political and legal literature about these conflicts has in a narrower sense been extensively studied, so far there has been little work on the extent to which a much stronger orientation towards the polar regions, in particular for Canada, the U.S., Chile and Argentina, leads to paradigm changes by which the geopolitical models which serve their own political identities are "repositioned" and recreated.
Missions, Religious Habitus and Geopolitical Imaginaries - Post-Grad (E 13/ 60%); Disciplinary Focus: Theology, Sociology of ReligionThis project investigates the constitution of inter-American networking and communication processes based on religious semantics as well as the formation of geopolitical imaginaries within conflicting local, hemispheric and global flows. In the 20th Century, there are observable accelerated and transverse expansionist movements in particular those of Protestantism in the Americas, based on a transnational interdependence of specialists, migration and communication, which is the focus of this project line. The decisive factor is that since about the 1980s, a reversal of the previous alignment in the missions began, so that today both Catholic-charismatic and Protestant-Pentecostal flows from Latin America to Anglo America became dominant; all these new developments strongly changed the everyday practice of religion. The research here will examine the context in which religious habitus and strategies within the formation of trans-regional geopolitical imaginaries (Universal Church, World Mission, the global spirit of the Pentecostal movement, etc.) and the ritual connection back to the religious' space of places '(Castells) (local and national saints, ritual locality of indigenous religions, etc.) have emerged for the period since the 1980s. The project is designed with multi-sited anthropology in mind and examines the opposing processes of the mission in the Pentecostal churches in North-South and South-North directional flows based on case studies from the U.S. and Central America.
Industrial Development and Trans-border Entanglement(s) in the Automobile Industry between the USA and Canada (1900-1970) - Post-Grad (E 13/ 60%); Disciplinary Focus: HistoryThe question being examined here from a social and economic historical perspective is how dynamics of trans-border economic and social entanglement(s) emanate from a central economic site; for example in the American-Canadian border region of Detroit-Ontario. The boom in the automobile industry in Detroit set transnational flows of migration in motion - particularly from the other bank of the Detroit River in Windsor, Canada, which was also a major industrial city. The question is to what extent economic trans-border regionalization is shaped given that the U.S. and Canada had quite different, rival political cultures and regimes, for example in regard to the question of race, (especially after the "Great Migration" in the northern industrial cities in the USA). This line of research first examines the industrialization and urbanization process of this border area and looks closely at interdependencies and migration flows as well as competition and differentiation from a long-term perspective (ca. 1909 to 1970). Apart from the historical - economic dimension, the project examines ethnic settlement patterns in the region and the accompanying processes of cultural convergence as well as the search for identity through discrimination and hybridization in the US-Canadian border region.
The relationships between the environment and social development is a vicious circle and represents one of the most pressing problems in the Americas. This is why the following question is at the center of the work group "Social Production of Environment": To what extent does the environment contribute to the constitution of a space of transnational entanglement(s) while being physically reshaped as well as medially, legally, economically and politically re-appropriated and reconstructed? The issues raised by these phenomena can hardly be conceived of in limited territory anymore. Therefore, the focus of the third group is on the one hand, the transnational processes of appropriation and transformation of the environment and, on the other hand, the repercussions of natural disasters and the environment on the Space of Entanglement(s).
Development and the Environment in Inter-American Integration in the Case of Mesoamerica - Post-Doc (E 13); Disciplinary Focus: History, Sociology, Political ScienceFrom the mid-20th Century onward, large-scale regional land development strategies set environmental protests and regulation mechanisms in motion with their associated massive encroachments on natural spaces. Among the largest and currently most consequential international infrastructure projects in the region of the Americas is Proyecto Mesoamerica (2008) out of Mexico and several Central American countries initiated in 2001 as Plan Puebla-Panamá, which is the focus of this project line. From the perspective of the central political actors, it is precisely the expansion of infrastructure that represents the material basis for trans-areal integration, for Mesoamerica acts as a bridge between North and South America in the inter-American Space of Entanglement(s). A political debate focused on the environment, which constituted an inter-American communications space of the political, was sparked based on the ecological consequences of the targeted colonization and regulation of aquatic spaces. The interaction of different actors such as NGOs, environmental groups, business associations, transnational organizations, mass media and national governments will be examined in this project line within the scope of two constellation analyses of infrastructure projects. The focus is on strategies of environmental mobilization and conflict regulation, on economic advocacy groups and - because of their strong influence in the environmental field of conflict - also on the media coverage of these policies. This project line will shed light on how fields of conflict in environmental policy have shifted from having clear battle lines to a complex mix of different modes of interpretation about environmental policies and programs.
The Social Interpretation of Natural Disasters in the Caribbean - Post-Grad (E 13/ 60%); Disciplinary Focus: History, Sociology, Political ScienceThe Caribbean coastal regions (especially in the USA, the Antilles and Central America) represent an environmental space visited by recurring natural disasters - such as the Hurricanes Mitch (1998) and Katrina (2005) - that affect states which are politically and economically very different. This project will shed light on trans-regional interaction and the discursive framework of interpretation in the relationship between environment and society using the cases of these two natural disasters. In both cases - despite all national differences - similar topics determined the political agenda: the proliferation of climate change, limits on the societal appropriation of the environment as well as the vulnerability of different social groups, particularly in terms of gender, class, ethnicity and age. A wide range of different participants were featured here from international organizations to the media, experts, NGOs on to local and diasporic social movements. Analyzing the interaction of transnational interpretive framework of "global climate change" and traditional, culturally and locally specific patterns of thinking is of particular interest here. Beyond the question of interpretation, each of the interventional frames should also be examined, which are pertinent to the issues of configurability, predictability and controllability of the changing relationship between society and the environment. Furthermore, there is the question of to what extent the experience of environmental disasters is interpreted as a common and shared experience and thus leads to the formation of trans-local solidarities.
Immigration and Naturalization of Neophytes and their Relation to Social Developments in the Americas in the 19th century - Post-Grad (E 13/ 60%); Disciplinary Focus: Biology / HistoryGiven the proliferation of global flows of goods, the appearance of invasive animal and plant species (neophytes or neozoon) disseminated by human hand has been the subject of intense vegetation ecology and population biology research around the world for many years. This project line pursues the colonization of the environment of the Americas in this context given the targeted introduction of pasture grasses as neophytes in the North American prairie in the 19th Century, and so this research is located somewhere between ecosystem biology, environmental history and social history. Shortly after the onset of westward expansion and the development of the agrarian frontier, it became apparent that many of the native prairie grasses were unable to accommodate the increased grazing levels of imported cattle herds. In order to expand the livestock industry in response to massive colonization, urbanization and industrialization, new grass species (Agropyron desertorum) from Eurasia were introduced, which largely displaced the native grasses. Here, the correlation of ecological interdependence and societal development will be explored based on the historical and ecological consequences of this premeditated change in the environmental space.
The Regulation of the Environment and Political Integration of the Americas - Post-Grad (E 13/ 60%); Disciplinary Focus: LawThe focus of this project line will be the regulation processes that establish the institutional framework for the management of biodiversity. Regulation is seen here as one of the current, centralized control mechanisms of state, regional and trans-regional actors. The project line will not only examine the institutionalization of the concept of the environment, but also the regulation processes lead to international contract law to the entanglement(s) of multiple jurisdictions of varying scopes, through which new regional and transnational spaces of entanglement(s) are created. Especially in the field of environmental law, transnational environmental regulation systems (global climate agreement post-Kyoto and biodiversity conventions, global commons) have to be balanced with national legal systems in connection with the trans-areal integration in the Americas. There are currently also diverse legal norms from various regional alliances in which environmental considerations increasingly play a role in the inter-American Space of Entanglement(s). The legal project line will first examine the coexistence and cooperation, the parallelism and overlap between the different contracts as a specific legal form of interdependence, and then sift through the environmental relevant legal regulations in those contracts, in order to compare and normatively evaluate them.
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