Terminologies of Asymmetrical Dependencies
This working group highlights different interdisciplinary approaches to asymmetrical dependencies, especially as they related to terminologies that are used to describe dependency relations, both in our sources and as analytical vocabulary.
This working group met regularly from early 2020 to mid-2022 to exchange ideas about different interdisciplinary approaches to asymmetrical dependencies, especially as they related to terminologies that are used to describe dependency relations, both in our sources and as analytical vocabulary. The working group is currently on hiatus, but its ideas form an important basis for the new "RA A Forum Asymmetrical Dependencies" that has been convening since January 2023.
What we did
Each session focused on a specific methodological and/or theoretical problem or approach and was organized by one or several of the participants. Discussions were based on readings and on short writing exercises (2–3 pages), where participants collected some of their thoughts on the texts and pondered their usefulness for their own research.
Sessions: We hosted a number of sessions over two years, for example on James Coleman’s Foundations of Social Theory, Mary Douglas' How Institutions Think, Miers & Kopytoff’s Concept of Slavery as Social Marginalization, the Role of Metaphors, the Politics of Language, Dependency and Disability Studies, Property and Slavery, the relationship between Asymmetrical Dependency and Dependency Theory, the relationship between slavery and prisons, or how to deal with contradictions in texts.
Organizers: Jeannine Bischoff, Jutta Wimmler
