In the summer school, we bring to your attention the role of knowledge and imagination in political debates and policymaking in the times of crisis and ask:
-What is known and ignored?
-What are the ways of naming and classifying social actors (e.g. illegal immigrant, welfare tourist)?
-What affects collective imagination?
-Do knowledge and imagination deal with crisis – or construct it?
The tool-box we will offer the students contains conceptual categories and methods of anthropology, international relations, political psychology, migration studies, sociology, discourse analysis, racial and ethnic studies.
We focus on the migratory processes in Europe and the rise of populist politics. Our case studies are the so-called refugee crisis of 2015, bordering processes in the EU, post-2004 migratory process within Europe, marginalized and silenced aspects of crisis as well as the Brexit referendum. The emphasis is put on hope and fear as the figures that frame European politics and public discourse today.