Published by Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
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“Talk On — Debates in Anthropology” is a podcast of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale), Germany. In each episode of this podcast, one of our three hosts, Christoph Brumann, Xenia Cherkaev, or Jovan Maud, talks to the guest about their publications, research, and current debates in social anthropology.
In this Episode of Talk On, Jagat Sohail discusses his research on the experience of refugees in Germany during and after the "long summer of migration" in 2015. His research sheds light on the unexpected wave of hospitality towards refugees that characterised that summer, the subsequent turnaround in the public eye, and the rise of anti-immigrant, right-wing populism. As a researcher from India, Sohail inverts the classic dynamic of anthropologists from Europe and the US researching in the Global South, reflecting on the significance of this perspective and the methodological implications of such vantage points for ethnographers.
In this episode, Xenia Cherkaev speaks with Alice von Bieberstein about her book ‘Temptations in Ruin: Sovereign Accumulation and the Making of Post-Genocide Turkey’. The book develops the concept of sovereign accumulation to analyse the political-economic afterlife of the Armenian genocide under conditions of 21st-century neoliberal extractivism and ongoing counterinsurgency warfare against the Kurdish freedom movement. It does so ethnographically through the story of an urban regeneration scheme in the historically Armenian quarters of the city of Muş in what is today far-eastern Turkey, but which is also part of Northern Kurdistan and was once part of the heartland of Western Armenia. Following the quarter’s demolition, residents moved on to dig the foundations of their homes in search of what is locally known as ‘Armenian’ treasures or gold. Some individuals and groups also developed ideas and concrete projects of heritagization. The book thus looks at how Armenian material remains are targeted in different modalities of value-extraction, stewardship, and care in ways that re-animate the 1915 genocide against Armenians in its specificity as a moment of primitive accumulation that brought into being a racialized property regime that continues to reflect in different positionalities today. Cherkaev and von Bieberstein discuss how the history of sovereign violence continues to shape relations between state, capital, and citizens in this predominantly Kurdish region of Turkey; how this history becomes recursive and itself a kind of necro-economic frontier; and how these broader analytical insights point beyond Turkey to illiberal undercurrents structuring logics of accumulation in the 20th and 21st centuries.
In this episode, Jovan Maud talks to Anna-Lena Wolf about her book *Labor on the Line — Justice at Work at Tea Plantations in Assam, India*. The book examines the concept of justice in the context of tea plantations in Assam, India, and how different actors—including workers, managers and activists—have differing notions of justice. Anna-Lena conducted long-term field research in Assam, where she observed the complexity of notions of justice and how these are negotiated between different actors. She argues that justice functions differently at various levels, from the plantation to the nation-state, and that agency is not only about rebelling against oppressive structures but also about making decisions within them. During the discussion, Anna-Lena highlights the changes on the plantations, including the abolition of the Plantation Labour Act and the rise of smaller producers, which may not please workers employed on several plantations. Anna-Lena concludes by examining the wider implications of her research, including the potential to apply the concept of workplace justice to contexts beyond Assam's tea plantations.
In this episode, Jovan Maud speaks with Jeremy Rayner about his co-edited publication 'Back to the ‘30s? – Recurring Crises of Capitalism, Liberalism and Democracy', that explores the political and economic dynamics of the 1930s and their relevance to contemporary issues. The discussion delves into the rise of authoritarianism, neoliberalism, and the role of economic power in shaping political landscapes today. Rayner reflects on how the legacies of the 1930s continue to influence current debates, particularly around democracy, governance, and the environment. Drawing on various interdisciplinary perspectives, he emphasizes the importance of a nuanced understanding of history, highlighting the similarities and differences between past and present struggles. The conversation offers a thought-provoking take on how historical insights can inform our understanding of today's complex global challenges. Rayner argues for a nuanced understanding of history that recognizes both continuities and critical differences with the past, while warning that once authoritarian figures gain control, they rarely give it back. The conversation underscores the importance of historically informed political analysis as we navigate increasingly complex global issues.
In this episode, Christoph Brumann speaks with Xenia Cherkaev about her book 'Gleaning for Communism', which Focaal: The Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology has listed among their "One Hundred Indispensable Works for Thinking in Our Times." The book is a historical ethnography of Soviet-era collectivist economies and their lasting legacy. It examines its object through a conceptual lens informed by everyday recollections of pilfering industrial scrap home from the work to make useful things, and by Soviet legal scholars' theories of the state as a "socialist household," characterized by shared resources and communal ethics. Cherkaev and Brumann unpack how these ideas played out in practice—ranging from the Stalin-era personal redistribution around the plan to the tensions between collective interests and personal ownership during Gorbachev’s perestroika. Delving into the ethics of exchange, the concept of gleaning, and the symbolic relationship between socialist ideals and individual responsibility, they discuss the broader implications of these ideas for understanding modern economies and the role of the state in balancing public and private interests.
In this episode, Christoph Brumann talks to Julia Vorhölter about her research on sleep and sleeplessness. Julia's personal struggle with insomnia led her to investigate why sleep, despite being essential, is under-explored in anthropology. They discuss the challenges of studying sleep, a private and indirect experience that is difficult to observe or communicate. Julia's fieldwork in sleep labs examines the relationship between subjective sleep experiences and objective data. She contrasts sleep apnea, which is measurable, with insomnia, which is harder to diagnose and often dismissed by doctors despite its significant impact. Her research also explores sleep's political, economic, and social dimensions.
In this episode, Christoph Brumann talks to Philipp Demgenski about his book "Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City". The conversation centers around Demgenski's fieldwork in the Qingdao neighborhood of Dabaodao, a former German colony, where he explores the transformation from a slum to a heritage site. Demgenski's research aims to answer a crucial question: why do urban redevelopment projects in China often go wrong, stagnate, or fail? His book delves into this issue, focusing on the city's urban redevelopment projects that have stalled due to a preservation mandate imposed by the government. Through ten years of ethnographic fieldwork, Demgenski sheds light on the diverse experiences of residents, migrant workers, preservationists, and government officials, revealing a bureaucracy that is often scattered and ineffective, leading to deadlocks and stalled redevelopment projects.
In this episode of Talk On, host Jovan Maud talks to his guest Marek Mikuš about a topic concerning (almost) everyone: Debt and how people understand, manage, and live with it. They discuss Marek Mikuš's work in the Emmy Noether Group "Peripheral Debt", his research in the field, and how his forthcoming article "Tracking mortgage pathways in Zaghreb: Everyday economics of debt, housing wealth and debtors agency in a European semi-periphery" came to be. In this article, Marek sheds some light on the financial peculiarities of housing mortgages and how these peculiarities, i.e. the pegging of the mortgage to the Swiss currency instead of the Croatian, can work against debtors and their dream of home ownership. The two talk about debtors' movements, political and legal battles, and a Croatian couple struggling to pay their soaring principles but persisting, even against the hurdles built up by creditors.
In this episode, Christoph Brumann talks to Mario Schmidt about his research that led to his book 'Migrants and masculinity in High-Rise Nairobi: the pressure of being a man in an African city'. Among other things, they talk about how many male migrants design their future on trajectories of personal and economic growth but have to adjust or indefinitely postpone their plans once they arrive in Kenya's capital. They also talk about the pressure these men feel to succeed, the pressure that comes from romantic partners, spouses, relatives in the country, and children. Because of this pressure, they create homosocial spaces in which they participate, where a sense of brotherhood arises and their sense of pressure is alleviated. They also describe how male migrants model their financial, physical, and mental well-being in three different masculine spaces - an ethnically homogenous investment group, an interethnic gym, and the semi-digital sphere of self-help books, workshops, and motivational trainings on man- and fatherhood. The book is available for open access: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/86009
In this episode, Jovan Maud talks to Annika Lems about her book "Frontiers of Belonging. The Education of Unaccompanied Refugee Youth" published by Indiana University Press. During the conversation, they address the specifics of Swiss integration policy. Which is comparable to the refugee policies of many other European countries. But how well does this system work?
In this episode, Christoph Brumann talks to Mascha Schulz about her research on nonreligion in Bangladesh. Further, they discuss the special issue "An Anthropology of Nonreligion?" published in the Berghan journal "Religion and Society" edited by Mascha and Stefan Binder. They touch on topics like why Anthropology is a latecomer in Nonreligious Studies, why it is no less important, forms of organised nonreligion, and the Satanic Temple. https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/religion-and-society/14/1/religion-and-society.14.issue-1.xml
In this episode, Jovan Maud talks to Romm Lewkowicz about his research on how migration specifically in Europe became a laboratory for experimentation in documentation and documentation technologies.
In this episode, Christoph Brumann talks to our director Biao Xiang about his bestselling book 'Self as Method — Thinking through China and the World'. During the conversation, they touch on topics such as Chinese youth, the gentry, Hannah Arendt, how failure can lead to success, why language is more important than theory, and why everyone is a stranger.
