Entretejemos arte, cultura e investigación para explorar en clave interdisciplinaria y transcultural las transformaciones y diversificaciones que se producen en las prácticas sociales y expresiones artísticas que simbolizan, denuncian y resignifican el dolor producido por los atropellos a los derechos fundamentales en América Latina. Reflexionamos sobre diferentes modalidades y textualidades que despliegan múltiples formas de testimoniar, gestionar, documentar y poner en público las experiencias traumáticas producidas por violencias pasadas y presentes a lo largo y ancho del continente. Incluimos en el debate los espacios, las acciones y redes de escucha que han consolidado procesos colectivos de empatía y participación ciudadana en la búsqueda de justicia y verdad en el plano transnacional. Nos proponemos nutrir el diálogo entre obras, procesos y experiencias en torno al tejido, la costura y otras expresiones textiles, cinematográficas y narrativas que participan en la construcción de memorias y la documentación del dolor, el vacío, pero también colaboran con la reconstrucción del tejido social de los pueblos.  

La Plataforma se realizará del 6 al 8 de septiembre 2022 en la Sala de Juntas 2 del Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, campus Belenes, de la Universidad de Guadalajara.

La asistencia es libre y gratuita.

Descarga el programa 

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Entretejemos arte, cultura e investigación para explorar en clave interdisciplinaria y transcultural las transformaciones y diversificaciones que se producen en las prácticas sociales y expresiones artísticas que simbolizan, denuncian y resignifican el dolor producido por los atropellos a los derechos fundamentales en América Latina. Reflexionamos sobre diferentes modalidades y textualidades que despliegan múltiples formas de testimoniar, gestionar, documentar y poner en público las experiencias traumáticas producidas por violencias pasadas y presentes a lo largo y ancho del continente. Incluimos en el debate los espacios, las acciones y redes de escucha que han consolidado procesos colectivos de empatía y participación ciudadana en la búsqueda de justicia y verdad en el plano transnacional. Nos proponemos nutrir el diálogo entre obras, procesos y experiencias en torno al tejido, la costura y otras expresiones textiles, cinematográficas y narrativas que participan en la construcción de memorias y la documentación del dolor, el vacío, pero también colaboran con la reconstrucción del tejido social de los pueblos.  

La Plataforma se realizará del 6 al 8 de septiembre 2022 en la Sala de Juntas 2 del Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, campus Belenes, de la Universidad de Guadalajara.

La asistencia es libre y gratuita.

Descarga el programa 

.

Entretejemos arte, cultura e investigación para explorar en clave interdisciplinaria y transcultural las transformaciones y diversificaciones que se producen en las prácticas sociales y expresiones artísticas que simbolizan, denuncian y resignifican el dolor producido por los atropellos a los derechos fundamentales en América Latina. Reflexionamos sobre diferentes modalidades y textualidades que despliegan múltiples formas de testimoniar, gestionar, documentar y poner en público las experiencias traumáticas producidas por violencias pasadas y presentes a lo largo y ancho del continente. Incluimos en el debate los espacios, las acciones y redes de escucha que han consolidado procesos colectivos de empatía y participación ciudadana en la búsqueda de justicia y verdad en el plano transnacional. Nos proponemos nutrir el diálogo entre obras, procesos y experiencias en torno al tejido, la costura y otras expresiones textiles, cinematográficas y narrativas que participan en la construcción de memorias y la documentación del dolor, el vacío, pero también colaboran con la reconstrucción del tejido social de los pueblos.  

La Plataforma se realizará del 6 al 8 de septiembre 2022 en la Sala de Juntas 2 del Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, campus Belenes, de la Universidad de Guadalajara.

La asistencia es libre y gratuita.

Descarga el programa 

.

En América Latina durante los últimos años los procesos electorales han dado lugar a la legitimación política de actores y fuerzas que impulsan discursos y valores antidemocráticos. Aunque en diferentes grados y a pesar de dinámicas muy variadas nacionales y regionales, funcionarios elegidos democráticamente han promovido un giro autoritario en las relaciones sociales institucionalizadas, el Estado. El problema de la coexistencia entre procesos democráticos y prácticas autoritarias también encuentra su expresión empírica en la reestructuración de los sistemas electorales para asegurar los intereses elitistas a largo plazo, el dictado de decretos presidenciales y leyes que limitan la libertad de prensa, o la libertad de reunión y/o coalición.  El uso de fuentes legales e incluso constitucionales para neutralizar la oposición parlamentaria y la manipulación del poder judicial para excluir a los opositores de ciertos mandatos es otra muestra de la integración de elementos autoritarios en la democracia.

Los defensores del giro autoritario, según el nivel y el tipo de radicalismo, sugieren tratar a los opositores mediante leyes que limitan su acción, pero la mayoría de las veces, promoviendo abiertamente el encarcelamiento político o el empleo de la violencia física, incluidas fantasías de destrucción y aniquilación. La construcción de las imágenes de "amenaza" así como la persecución y el asesinato de líderes políticos y activistas sociales o ambientales dista mucho de ser incidental, casual o esporádica. Por el contrario, estos fenómenos han venido desarrollando un sistema de interconexión ideológica, política y, en algunos casos, organizativa en gran medida inexplorado. Esta red emergente de sentimiento y acción antidemocráticos no se detiene en la frontera nacional; sus rastros políticos son más bien transnacionales en cuanto a su calidad y alcance. Con este telón de fondo, es analíticamente inadecuado comprender la relación entre la democracia y el autoritarismo exclusivamente dentro de las fronteras del Estado-nación y solamente a partir de la actual coyuntura política.

Esta Plataforma para el Diálogo propone explorar la relación entre la crisis de la democracia en América Latina y las políticas de reajuste y privatización de las últimas tres décadas, desde perspectivas transregionales. El objetivo central es desarrollar un espacio de diálogo, reflexión y análisis desde diferentes enfoques, metodologías y disciplinas sobre la convergencia entre democracia y elementos autoritarios en términos de sus conexiones transregionales y su alcance escalar. Se estudian los espacios de interdependencia que buscan o aborden deliberadamente el diálogo multidisciplinario entre la ciencia política, la geografía, la sociología (urbana) e historia global con base empírica. También se analizan las estrategias de movimientos sociales, iniciativas y actores no-estatales, para afrontar las múltiples formas que toma el nuevo autoritarismo, estrategias que muchas veces van más allá del estado nacional.

La Plataforma se realizará del 20 al 22 de septiembre de 2022 en el Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, campus Belenes, de la Universidad de Guadalajara.

Descarga el programa 

En América Latina durante los últimos años los procesos electorales han dado lugar a la legitimación política de actores y fuerzas que impulsan discursos y valores antidemocráticos. Aunque en diferentes grados y a pesar de dinámicas muy variadas nacionales y regionales, funcionarios elegidos democráticamente han promovido un giro autoritario en las relaciones sociales institucionalizadas, el Estado. El problema de la coexistencia entre procesos democráticos y prácticas autoritarias también encuentra su expresión empírica en la reestructuración de los sistemas electorales para asegurar los intereses elitistas a largo plazo, el dictado de decretos presidenciales y leyes que limitan la libertad de prensa, o la libertad de reunión y/o coalición.  El uso de fuentes legales e incluso constitucionales para neutralizar la oposición parlamentaria y la manipulación del poder judicial para excluir a los opositores de ciertos mandatos es otra muestra de la integración de elementos autoritarios en la democracia.

Los defensores del giro autoritario, según el nivel y el tipo de radicalismo, sugieren tratar a los opositores mediante leyes que limitan su acción, pero la mayoría de las veces, promoviendo abiertamente el encarcelamiento político o el empleo de la violencia física, incluidas fantasías de destrucción y aniquilación. La construcción de las imágenes de "amenaza" así como la persecución y el asesinato de líderes políticos y activistas sociales o ambientales dista mucho de ser incidental, casual o esporádica. Por el contrario, estos fenómenos han venido desarrollando un sistema de interconexión ideológica, política y, en algunos casos, organizativa en gran medida inexplorado. Esta red emergente de sentimiento y acción antidemocráticos no se detiene en la frontera nacional; sus rastros políticos son más bien transnacionales en cuanto a su calidad y alcance. Con este telón de fondo, es analíticamente inadecuado comprender la relación entre la democracia y el autoritarismo exclusivamente dentro de las fronteras del Estado-nación y solamente a partir de la actual coyuntura política.

Esta Plataforma para el Diálogo propone explorar la relación entre la crisis de la democracia en América Latina y las políticas de reajuste y privatización de las últimas tres décadas, desde perspectivas transregionales. El objetivo central es desarrollar un espacio de diálogo, reflexión y análisis desde diferentes enfoques, metodologías y disciplinas sobre la convergencia entre democracia y elementos autoritarios en términos de sus conexiones transregionales y su alcance escalar. Se estudian los espacios de interdependencia que buscan o aborden deliberadamente el diálogo multidisciplinario entre la ciencia política, la geografía, la sociología (urbana) e historia global con base empírica. También se analizan las estrategias de movimientos sociales, iniciativas y actores no-estatales, para afrontar las múltiples formas que toma el nuevo autoritarismo, estrategias que muchas veces van más allá del estado nacional.

La Plataforma se realizará del 20 al 22 de septiembre de 2022 en el Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, campus Belenes, de la Universidad de Guadalajara.

Descarga el programa 

En América Latina durante los últimos años los procesos electorales han dado lugar a la legitimación política de actores y fuerzas que impulsan discursos y valores antidemocráticos. Aunque en diferentes grados y a pesar de dinámicas muy variadas nacionales y regionales, funcionarios elegidos democráticamente han promovido un giro autoritario en las relaciones sociales institucionalizadas, el Estado. El problema de la coexistencia entre procesos democráticos y prácticas autoritarias también encuentra su expresión empírica en la reestructuración de los sistemas electorales para asegurar los intereses elitistas a largo plazo, el dictado de decretos presidenciales y leyes que limitan la libertad de prensa, o la libertad de reunión y/o coalición.  El uso de fuentes legales e incluso constitucionales para neutralizar la oposición parlamentaria y la manipulación del poder judicial para excluir a los opositores de ciertos mandatos es otra muestra de la integración de elementos autoritarios en la democracia.

Los defensores del giro autoritario, según el nivel y el tipo de radicalismo, sugieren tratar a los opositores mediante leyes que limitan su acción, pero la mayoría de las veces, promoviendo abiertamente el encarcelamiento político o el empleo de la violencia física, incluidas fantasías de destrucción y aniquilación. La construcción de las imágenes de "amenaza" así como la persecución y el asesinato de líderes políticos y activistas sociales o ambientales dista mucho de ser incidental, casual o esporádica. Por el contrario, estos fenómenos han venido desarrollando un sistema de interconexión ideológica, política y, en algunos casos, organizativa en gran medida inexplorado. Esta red emergente de sentimiento y acción antidemocráticos no se detiene en la frontera nacional; sus rastros políticos son más bien transnacionales en cuanto a su calidad y alcance. Con este telón de fondo, es analíticamente inadecuado comprender la relación entre la democracia y el autoritarismo exclusivamente dentro de las fronteras del Estado-nación y solamente a partir de la actual coyuntura política.

Esta Plataforma para el Diálogo propone explorar la relación entre la crisis de la democracia en América Latina y las políticas de reajuste y privatización de las últimas tres décadas, desde perspectivas transregionales. El objetivo central es desarrollar un espacio de diálogo, reflexión y análisis desde diferentes enfoques, metodologías y disciplinas sobre la convergencia entre democracia y elementos autoritarios en términos de sus conexiones transregionales y su alcance escalar. Se estudian los espacios de interdependencia que buscan o aborden deliberadamente el diálogo multidisciplinario entre la ciencia política, la geografía, la sociología (urbana) e historia global con base empírica. También se analizan las estrategias de movimientos sociales, iniciativas y actores no-estatales, para afrontar las múltiples formas que toma el nuevo autoritarismo, estrategias que muchas veces van más allá del estado nacional.

La Plataforma se realizará del 20 al 22 de septiembre de 2022 en el Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, campus Belenes, de la Universidad de Guadalajara.

Descarga el programa 

The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CALAS), the Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI PRO) at UC Berkeley, and the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1288 “Practices of Comparing” at Bielefeld University invite doctoral students with an interest in history from any field, including history, literary studies, geographies, environmental humanities, sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, economics, or legal studies, to apply to attend an international summer school that will be convened from September 25 to 30, 2022, at CALAS (Guadalajara, Mexico) on the theme of

Environments of Inequality: Crises, Conflicts, Comparisons

Rationale

Unequal access to power, natural resources, or welfare have always characterized the Americas. Some of these inequalities go back to the “discovery” of North and South America and the ensuing power of coloniality. Other inequalities are based on gender, race, social class, age, or legal status; often more than one of these categories is at work. Frequently, these inequalities are related to or inscribed not only in the social space of human interactions but also in the physical environments. Extractivism and use of resources, risks of pollution and disasters, patterns of consumption and ecological footprints, and different concepts of “nature” reveal the multiple articulations of social inequalities and “natural” environments.

The summer school Environments of Inequality, thus, will examine topics related to different formations and expressions of environments of inequality from the early modern, colonial period to the present age of the Anthropocene with a strong (but not exclusive) focus on the Americas from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.

The summer school will be divided into three interconnected streams that address crises, conflicts, and comparisons across time and space. These different thematic blocs will be facilitated by experts in the respective fields and include short lectures as well as discussions of assigned theoretical and empirical readings. Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own work. We are particularly interested in exploring the following sets of questions, which might well overlap empirically:

1. Crises: In this first stream, we will focus on historical circumstances in which social routines become disrupted and social actors identify a crisis situation. We will explore the kinds of social actors – social movements, media, cultural producers, millennial religious movements, etc. – begin to speak of crisis. Ultimately, geologists and earth scientists have emphasized the idea that a profound crisis in earth systems led to the invention of a new historical age, the Anthropocene. But also in previous historical periods we find multiple actors that have advanced the notion of crisis in regard to environments of inequality, ranging from the Andean-indigenous concept of pachakutic (crisis and renewal) to the critique of racist environments as expressed in Caribbean risk-escapes from New Orleans to Haiti.

2. Conflicts: In the second stream, we will focus on proactive forms of organization and protest that communities and movements have developed to address environments of inequality. For example, we wish to discuss, in particular, how environments of inequality can be studied in situations of uncertainty and conflict, but also how crises and conflicts can open new opportunities to challenge or to reinforce existing inequalities. Such situations may include the revolutions in the Greater Caribbean, the “second slavery,” challenging state building processes, contemporary environmental crises and natural disasters, or the current Covid crisis in Latin America.

3. Comparisons: In the third stream, we will introduce the perspective of comparisons in two ways. First, we will approach the abovementioned themes from a comparative angle and discuss how different countries and regions in the Americas, in particular, but also in other world regions deal with similar crises and conflicts, and how these situations may increase or overcome inequalities. Here we will aim to discuss new comparative approaches. Second, we will introduce the methodological approach of studying “practices of comparing.” This approach focuses on the question of what actors do when they make comparisons and how practices of comparing used by historical and contemporary actors reveal, create, or may overcome social, economic, gender, or environmental inequalities. This will be done beyond the scope of the Americas.

The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CALAS), the Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI PRO) at UC Berkeley, and the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1288 “Practices of Comparing” at Bielefeld University invite doctoral students with an interest in history from any field, including history, literary studies, geographies, environmental humanities, sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, economics, or legal studies, to apply to attend an international summer school that will be convened from September 25 to 30, 2022, at CALAS (Guadalajara, Mexico) on the theme of

Environments of Inequality: Crises, Conflicts, Comparisons

Rationale

Unequal access to power, natural resources, or welfare have always characterized the Americas. Some of these inequalities go back to the “discovery” of North and South America and the ensuing power of coloniality. Other inequalities are based on gender, race, social class, age, or legal status; often more than one of these categories is at work. Frequently, these inequalities are related to or inscribed not only in the social space of human interactions but also in the physical environments. Extractivism and use of resources, risks of pollution and disasters, patterns of consumption and ecological footprints, and different concepts of “nature” reveal the multiple articulations of social inequalities and “natural” environments.

The summer school Environments of Inequality, thus, will examine topics related to different formations and expressions of environments of inequality from the early modern, colonial period to the present age of the Anthropocene with a strong (but not exclusive) focus on the Americas from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.

The summer school will be divided into three interconnected streams that address crises, conflicts, and comparisons across time and space. These different thematic blocs will be facilitated by experts in the respective fields and include short lectures as well as discussions of assigned theoretical and empirical readings. Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own work. We are particularly interested in exploring the following sets of questions, which might well overlap empirically:

1. Crises: In this first stream, we will focus on historical circumstances in which social routines become disrupted and social actors identify a crisis situation. We will explore the kinds of social actors – social movements, media, cultural producers, millennial religious movements, etc. – begin to speak of crisis. Ultimately, geologists and earth scientists have emphasized the idea that a profound crisis in earth systems led to the invention of a new historical age, the Anthropocene. But also in previous historical periods we find multiple actors that have advanced the notion of crisis in regard to environments of inequality, ranging from the Andean-indigenous concept of pachakutic (crisis and renewal) to the critique of racist environments as expressed in Caribbean risk-escapes from New Orleans to Haiti.

2. Conflicts: In the second stream, we will focus on proactive forms of organization and protest that communities and movements have developed to address environments of inequality. For example, we wish to discuss, in particular, how environments of inequality can be studied in situations of uncertainty and conflict, but also how crises and conflicts can open new opportunities to challenge or to reinforce existing inequalities. Such situations may include the revolutions in the Greater Caribbean, the “second slavery,” challenging state building processes, contemporary environmental crises and natural disasters, or the current Covid crisis in Latin America.

3. Comparisons: In the third stream, we will introduce the perspective of comparisons in two ways. First, we will approach the abovementioned themes from a comparative angle and discuss how different countries and regions in the Americas, in particular, but also in other world regions deal with similar crises and conflicts, and how these situations may increase or overcome inequalities. Here we will aim to discuss new comparative approaches. Second, we will introduce the methodological approach of studying “practices of comparing.” This approach focuses on the question of what actors do when they make comparisons and how practices of comparing used by historical and contemporary actors reveal, create, or may overcome social, economic, gender, or environmental inequalities. This will be done beyond the scope of the Americas.

The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CALAS), the Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI PRO) at UC Berkeley, and the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1288 “Practices of Comparing” at Bielefeld University invite doctoral students with an interest in history from any field, including history, literary studies, geographies, environmental humanities, sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, economics, or legal studies, to apply to attend an international summer school that will be convened from September 25 to 30, 2022, at CALAS (Guadalajara, Mexico) on the theme of

Environments of Inequality: Crises, Conflicts, Comparisons

Rationale

Unequal access to power, natural resources, or welfare have always characterized the Americas. Some of these inequalities go back to the “discovery” of North and South America and the ensuing power of coloniality. Other inequalities are based on gender, race, social class, age, or legal status; often more than one of these categories is at work. Frequently, these inequalities are related to or inscribed not only in the social space of human interactions but also in the physical environments. Extractivism and use of resources, risks of pollution and disasters, patterns of consumption and ecological footprints, and different concepts of “nature” reveal the multiple articulations of social inequalities and “natural” environments.

The summer school Environments of Inequality, thus, will examine topics related to different formations and expressions of environments of inequality from the early modern, colonial period to the present age of the Anthropocene with a strong (but not exclusive) focus on the Americas from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.

The summer school will be divided into three interconnected streams that address crises, conflicts, and comparisons across time and space. These different thematic blocs will be facilitated by experts in the respective fields and include short lectures as well as discussions of assigned theoretical and empirical readings. Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own work. We are particularly interested in exploring the following sets of questions, which might well overlap empirically:

1. Crises: In this first stream, we will focus on historical circumstances in which social routines become disrupted and social actors identify a crisis situation. We will explore the kinds of social actors – social movements, media, cultural producers, millennial religious movements, etc. – begin to speak of crisis. Ultimately, geologists and earth scientists have emphasized the idea that a profound crisis in earth systems led to the invention of a new historical age, the Anthropocene. But also in previous historical periods we find multiple actors that have advanced the notion of crisis in regard to environments of inequality, ranging from the Andean-indigenous concept of pachakutic (crisis and renewal) to the critique of racist environments as expressed in Caribbean risk-escapes from New Orleans to Haiti.

2. Conflicts: In the second stream, we will focus on proactive forms of organization and protest that communities and movements have developed to address environments of inequality. For example, we wish to discuss, in particular, how environments of inequality can be studied in situations of uncertainty and conflict, but also how crises and conflicts can open new opportunities to challenge or to reinforce existing inequalities. Such situations may include the revolutions in the Greater Caribbean, the “second slavery,” challenging state building processes, contemporary environmental crises and natural disasters, or the current Covid crisis in Latin America.

3. Comparisons: In the third stream, we will introduce the perspective of comparisons in two ways. First, we will approach the abovementioned themes from a comparative angle and discuss how different countries and regions in the Americas, in particular, but also in other world regions deal with similar crises and conflicts, and how these situations may increase or overcome inequalities. Here we will aim to discuss new comparative approaches. Second, we will introduce the methodological approach of studying “practices of comparing.” This approach focuses on the question of what actors do when they make comparisons and how practices of comparing used by historical and contemporary actors reveal, create, or may overcome social, economic, gender, or environmental inequalities. This will be done beyond the scope of the Americas.

The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CALAS), the Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI PRO) at UC Berkeley, and the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1288 “Practices of Comparing” at Bielefeld University invite doctoral students with an interest in history from any field, including history, literary studies, geographies, environmental humanities, sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, economics, or legal studies, to apply to attend an international summer school that will be convened from September 25 to 30, 2022, at CALAS (Guadalajara, Mexico) on the theme of

Environments of Inequality: Crises, Conflicts, Comparisons

Rationale

Unequal access to power, natural resources, or welfare have always characterized the Americas. Some of these inequalities go back to the “discovery” of North and South America and the ensuing power of coloniality. Other inequalities are based on gender, race, social class, age, or legal status; often more than one of these categories is at work. Frequently, these inequalities are related to or inscribed not only in the social space of human interactions but also in the physical environments. Extractivism and use of resources, risks of pollution and disasters, patterns of consumption and ecological footprints, and different concepts of “nature” reveal the multiple articulations of social inequalities and “natural” environments.

The summer school Environments of Inequality, thus, will examine topics related to different formations and expressions of environments of inequality from the early modern, colonial period to the present age of the Anthropocene with a strong (but not exclusive) focus on the Americas from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.

The summer school will be divided into three interconnected streams that address crises, conflicts, and comparisons across time and space. These different thematic blocs will be facilitated by experts in the respective fields and include short lectures as well as discussions of assigned theoretical and empirical readings. Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own work. We are particularly interested in exploring the following sets of questions, which might well overlap empirically:

1. Crises: In this first stream, we will focus on historical circumstances in which social routines become disrupted and social actors identify a crisis situation. We will explore the kinds of social actors – social movements, media, cultural producers, millennial religious movements, etc. – begin to speak of crisis. Ultimately, geologists and earth scientists have emphasized the idea that a profound crisis in earth systems led to the invention of a new historical age, the Anthropocene. But also in previous historical periods we find multiple actors that have advanced the notion of crisis in regard to environments of inequality, ranging from the Andean-indigenous concept of pachakutic (crisis and renewal) to the critique of racist environments as expressed in Caribbean risk-escapes from New Orleans to Haiti.

2. Conflicts: In the second stream, we will focus on proactive forms of organization and protest that communities and movements have developed to address environments of inequality. For example, we wish to discuss, in particular, how environments of inequality can be studied in situations of uncertainty and conflict, but also how crises and conflicts can open new opportunities to challenge or to reinforce existing inequalities. Such situations may include the revolutions in the Greater Caribbean, the “second slavery,” challenging state building processes, contemporary environmental crises and natural disasters, or the current Covid crisis in Latin America.

3. Comparisons: In the third stream, we will introduce the perspective of comparisons in two ways. First, we will approach the abovementioned themes from a comparative angle and discuss how different countries and regions in the Americas, in particular, but also in other world regions deal with similar crises and conflicts, and how these situations may increase or overcome inequalities. Here we will aim to discuss new comparative approaches. Second, we will introduce the methodological approach of studying “practices of comparing.” This approach focuses on the question of what actors do when they make comparisons and how practices of comparing used by historical and contemporary actors reveal, create, or may overcome social, economic, gender, or environmental inequalities. This will be done beyond the scope of the Americas.

The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CALAS), the Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI PRO) at UC Berkeley, and the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1288 “Practices of Comparing” at Bielefeld University invite doctoral students with an interest in history from any field, including history, literary studies, geographies, environmental humanities, sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, economics, or legal studies, to apply to attend an international summer school that will be convened from September 25 to 30, 2022, at CALAS (Guadalajara, Mexico) on the theme of

Environments of Inequality: Crises, Conflicts, Comparisons

Rationale

Unequal access to power, natural resources, or welfare have always characterized the Americas. Some of these inequalities go back to the “discovery” of North and South America and the ensuing power of coloniality. Other inequalities are based on gender, race, social class, age, or legal status; often more than one of these categories is at work. Frequently, these inequalities are related to or inscribed not only in the social space of human interactions but also in the physical environments. Extractivism and use of resources, risks of pollution and disasters, patterns of consumption and ecological footprints, and different concepts of “nature” reveal the multiple articulations of social inequalities and “natural” environments.

The summer school Environments of Inequality, thus, will examine topics related to different formations and expressions of environments of inequality from the early modern, colonial period to the present age of the Anthropocene with a strong (but not exclusive) focus on the Americas from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.

The summer school will be divided into three interconnected streams that address crises, conflicts, and comparisons across time and space. These different thematic blocs will be facilitated by experts in the respective fields and include short lectures as well as discussions of assigned theoretical and empirical readings. Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own work. We are particularly interested in exploring the following sets of questions, which might well overlap empirically:

1. Crises: In this first stream, we will focus on historical circumstances in which social routines become disrupted and social actors identify a crisis situation. We will explore the kinds of social actors – social movements, media, cultural producers, millennial religious movements, etc. – begin to speak of crisis. Ultimately, geologists and earth scientists have emphasized the idea that a profound crisis in earth systems led to the invention of a new historical age, the Anthropocene. But also in previous historical periods we find multiple actors that have advanced the notion of crisis in regard to environments of inequality, ranging from the Andean-indigenous concept of pachakutic (crisis and renewal) to the critique of racist environments as expressed in Caribbean risk-escapes from New Orleans to Haiti.

2. Conflicts: In the second stream, we will focus on proactive forms of organization and protest that communities and movements have developed to address environments of inequality. For example, we wish to discuss, in particular, how environments of inequality can be studied in situations of uncertainty and conflict, but also how crises and conflicts can open new opportunities to challenge or to reinforce existing inequalities. Such situations may include the revolutions in the Greater Caribbean, the “second slavery,” challenging state building processes, contemporary environmental crises and natural disasters, or the current Covid crisis in Latin America.

3. Comparisons: In the third stream, we will introduce the perspective of comparisons in two ways. First, we will approach the abovementioned themes from a comparative angle and discuss how different countries and regions in the Americas, in particular, but also in other world regions deal with similar crises and conflicts, and how these situations may increase or overcome inequalities. Here we will aim to discuss new comparative approaches. Second, we will introduce the methodological approach of studying “practices of comparing.” This approach focuses on the question of what actors do when they make comparisons and how practices of comparing used by historical and contemporary actors reveal, create, or may overcome social, economic, gender, or environmental inequalities. This will be done beyond the scope of the Americas.

The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CALAS), the Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI PRO) at UC Berkeley, and the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1288 “Practices of Comparing” at Bielefeld University invite doctoral students with an interest in history from any field, including history, literary studies, geographies, environmental humanities, sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, economics, or legal studies, to apply to attend an international summer school that will be convened from September 25 to 30, 2022, at CALAS (Guadalajara, Mexico) on the theme of

Environments of Inequality: Crises, Conflicts, Comparisons

Rationale

Unequal access to power, natural resources, or welfare have always characterized the Americas. Some of these inequalities go back to the “discovery” of North and South America and the ensuing power of coloniality. Other inequalities are based on gender, race, social class, age, or legal status; often more than one of these categories is at work. Frequently, these inequalities are related to or inscribed not only in the social space of human interactions but also in the physical environments. Extractivism and use of resources, risks of pollution and disasters, patterns of consumption and ecological footprints, and different concepts of “nature” reveal the multiple articulations of social inequalities and “natural” environments.

The summer school Environments of Inequality, thus, will examine topics related to different formations and expressions of environments of inequality from the early modern, colonial period to the present age of the Anthropocene with a strong (but not exclusive) focus on the Americas from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.

The summer school will be divided into three interconnected streams that address crises, conflicts, and comparisons across time and space. These different thematic blocs will be facilitated by experts in the respective fields and include short lectures as well as discussions of assigned theoretical and empirical readings. Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own work. We are particularly interested in exploring the following sets of questions, which might well overlap empirically:

1. Crises: In this first stream, we will focus on historical circumstances in which social routines become disrupted and social actors identify a crisis situation. We will explore the kinds of social actors – social movements, media, cultural producers, millennial religious movements, etc. – begin to speak of crisis. Ultimately, geologists and earth scientists have emphasized the idea that a profound crisis in earth systems led to the invention of a new historical age, the Anthropocene. But also in previous historical periods we find multiple actors that have advanced the notion of crisis in regard to environments of inequality, ranging from the Andean-indigenous concept of pachakutic (crisis and renewal) to the critique of racist environments as expressed in Caribbean risk-escapes from New Orleans to Haiti.

2. Conflicts: In the second stream, we will focus on proactive forms of organization and protest that communities and movements have developed to address environments of inequality. For example, we wish to discuss, in particular, how environments of inequality can be studied in situations of uncertainty and conflict, but also how crises and conflicts can open new opportunities to challenge or to reinforce existing inequalities. Such situations may include the revolutions in the Greater Caribbean, the “second slavery,” challenging state building processes, contemporary environmental crises and natural disasters, or the current Covid crisis in Latin America.

3. Comparisons: In the third stream, we will introduce the perspective of comparisons in two ways. First, we will approach the abovementioned themes from a comparative angle and discuss how different countries and regions in the Americas, in particular, but also in other world regions deal with similar crises and conflicts, and how these situations may increase or overcome inequalities. Here we will aim to discuss new comparative approaches. Second, we will introduce the methodological approach of studying “practices of comparing.” This approach focuses on the question of what actors do when they make comparisons and how practices of comparing used by historical and contemporary actors reveal, create, or may overcome social, economic, gender, or environmental inequalities. This will be done beyond the scope of the Americas.