Paper short abstract:

desiguALdades.net is a research network on social inequalities in Latin America that emphasizes global configurations of inequalities and their multidimensional nature. Its innovations include the integration of an ecological perspective and close cooperation between area studies and other disciplines.

Paper long abstract:

desiguALdades.net is an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research network dedicated to the study of interdependent social inequalities in Latin America. Its specific research profile emphasizes multidimensionality (gender, race, ethnicity, etc.) as an important approach to the analysis of social inequalities in the region and the global configurations in which social inequalities in Latin America are embedded. It also makes an important contribution by underscoring the importance of ecology in the creation and reproduction of social inequalities.

Building on the findings of the first phase (2009-2014), a second phase of the project (2014-2016) will highlight the discrepancy between global configurations of social inequalities and national bargaining processes concerning social inequalities. It will pay special attention to three thematic foci: categories of social stratification, limits to redistribution and the global valorization of nature.

Another strategic goal of desiguALdades.net is to move area studies into a much closer cooperation with other academic disciplines and with researchers in Latin America. It also takes seriously approaches to social inequalities developed in Latin America.

The International Research Network desiguALdades.net is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) in its funding line for area studies.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation relies on the experiences and approaches of two research projects sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, namely: The project „The Americas as Space of Entanglement“ hosted at the Center for InterAmerican Studies (CIAS) at Bielefeld University and the Research Network „Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Belonging in Latin America“ organized by the Universities of Köln, Bonn, Münster, Hannover and Bielefeld.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation relies on the experiences and approaches of two research projects sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, namely: The project „The Americas as Space of Entanglement“ hosted at the the Center for InterAmerican Studies (CIAS) at Bielefeld University and the Research Network „Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Belonging in Latin America“ organized by the Universities of Köln, Bonn, Münster, Hannover and Bielefeld.

In this talk I would like to present some elements for a re-thinking, or un-thinking, of traditional area studies. In doing so I explore the the following complementary questions: How do hemispheric spaces of entanglements come to be within transversal (i.e. translocal, transnational and transregional) dynamics? And how are these entangled spaces increasingly becoming a central framework for socio-cultural, economic, political and environmental action?

In order to illustrate the approach I rely basically on examples related to new conceptualizations and dynamics in regard to ethnicity, citizenship and belonging.

After this re-thinking of area studies I point out some ideas for a translation of academic ideas into other area of practice, such as the field of education.

Paper short abstract:

Based on the experience of the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, which integrates institutes on Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, the presentation will reflect on the promises and possibilities, but also on some of the problems of a comparative area studies approach for research on Latin America.

Paper long abstract:

While area studies have great assets in their in-depth regional knowledge and their interdiscipinary approaches, traditionally their standing in the systematic disciplines has not been an easy one. Area studies scholars have forcefully rejected a generalized critique of supposed “parrochialism” voiced against them and underscored the important contributions of area studies to key debates of the past decades. However, also an important process of self-reflection has developed in the field. Historically, area studies have developed as single-area studies: As communities of knowledge on specific regions. Due to limited interaction with the scholarship on other world regions, these not always have lived up to their full potential.

As a result, area studies scholars have sought new paradigms to insert their regional expertise into a wider context by advancing global studies or by highlighting the links and inter-relations, which are brought to center stage in trans-national and trans-regional approaches. Another conceptual approach to overcome some of the limitations of single-county or single-region studies and to better link area studies to the broader disciplinary debates has emerged under the label of Comparative Area Studies (CAS).

The presentation will present this approach and reflect on the experience of the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, which integrates institutes on Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, and which has adopted a Comparative Area Studies perspective as a key for integrating research across these areas along thematic lines. It will sketch the promises and possibilities of this endeavor, but also address some of the problems and challenges of a comparative area studies approach for research on Latin America.