BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.5.8//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news1071@zasb.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20200811T101832 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20190909 SUMMARY:Summer School: "The Value(s) of Science. The normative order of Afr ican Studies" DESCRIPTION:The Basel Summer School in African Studies 2019 addresses the issue of the normative order in African Studies. According to received wis dom\, values would appear to play no role in science. At any rate\, it is assumed that the role played by values should be a limited one. The episte mological background to this assumption is the perennial distinction betwe en objectivity and neutrality. In this connection\, it is argued that prop er knowledge production is only possible if researchers and scholars preve nt their values and interests from influencing their work. The best way to accomplish this consists in adhering to strict standards of objectivity m aking the validity of scientific claims a function of methodology and logi c\, rather than a function of the normative commitments of knowledge produ cers. Yet\, it is fair to argue that debates in the methodology of the soc ial sciences over the past two hundred years have revolved around these as sumptions. Debates between opposing fields\, i.e. those who claim that sci ence should be value free and those who counter that science is never valu e free on account of how science has been deployed to pursue the interests of some over others have fired the imagination of those participating in the discussions.\\r\\n African Studies is a field where this issue is of p articular interest. The field came into being as part of the European colo nial project. In this sense\, knowledge production on and in Africa has al ways been tied to the political\, economic and cultural interests of the n ations funding it. Even in our days\, when African nations are independent \, have their own researchers and seek to produce knowledge themselves\, i t appears to be the case that values and interests continue to play a role . The requirement\, for example\, that research is made relevant to policy in the context of development concerns seems to secure a place for the va lues and interests of dominant nations in that development is a concept co njuring up normative expectations concerning the right way to live. The gr and narrative of the Enlightenment bearing on how reason could ensure prog ress and human improvement lurks beneath the call for policy relevance.\\r \\n There is a sense in which calls for the decolonization of the African mind are reactions to how Africanist scholars perceive the role of values in science. When African scholars doubt whether scientific knowledge drawi ng from what they assume to be a “Western” epistemology is able to ren der African worlds intelligible\, they may be expressing a discomfort with the extent to which the knowledge produced might be speaking to a normati ve order laid down by “European” values. While this may sound ideologi cal\, there possibly is a methodological argument behind it. Accounts of t he world are as much about concrete phenomena as they are about unspoken a spects of those phenomena. The key finding\, for example\, that corruption undermines African development is an apt description and explanation of s tate fragility in Africa. At the same time\, however\, it suggests that – all things being equal (i.e. global structural conditions) and the his tory that constituted most African countries as developing nations – wit hout corruption things might look different. Alas\, it is clear that no co mprehensive understanding of Africa’s development challenges is possible without taking history into account. The ceteris paribus clause does not hold much water\, either. The methodological challenge here is that the co nceptual categories through which we seek to retrieve the world direct our attention to the data lending them substance when the challenge in fact i s to critically engage with the categories themselves.\\r\\n Engaging with conceptual categories means to uncover their normative foundations. Scien ce is a highly normative enterprise in that its ultimate goal\, producing knowledge to render the world intelligible\, constitutes a broad commitmen t to some notion of a better world. Part of the challenge of doing African Studies\, therefore\, should be a commitment to uncovering the values und erlying science not to dispose of them\, but to harness them to even bette r research. The title of the Summer School is cast purposefully in an ambi guous way. On the one hand\, it speaks to the fundamental value of science and\, on the other hand\, to how interests come together to lend legitima cy and purpose to science.  \\r\\nKey questions\\r\\nThe basic goal of t he Summer School is to address this ambivalence by inviting proposals whic h look into “the value(s) of science” from several angles:\\r\\nWhich values underlie development research and how do they affect methodological choices?How do ethical commitments shape how researchers frame their rese arch?Is there a politics of Western epistemology and\, if so\, what would be a scientific African Studies’ approach to problematize it?What is the precise methodological argument behind decolonial calls for delinking?How do the values of science inform its value?What role is played by ideologi cal commitments in the validation of knowledge?How do ideas of a better li fe or world inform research projects?\\r\\nAdvanced Study Skills workshop: Composing Attractive Abstracts  \\r\\nTo draw readers to publications or gain access to conferences\, writers need to compose attractive abstracts that spark interest in their research. The Advanced Study Skills workshop offers guidance on the content\, structure and language conventions of co nference and research article abstracts in the social sciences and humanit ies. At the end of the workshop\, participants are expected to have gained independence in writing ready-to-submit abstracts for conferences or jour nals. \\r\\n The Advanced Study Skills workshop covers:\\r\\nContent: how to organize informationConciseness: how to meet the word limitCohesion: ho w to guide readers from opening to conclusionClaims: how to sound objectiv e and believable.\\r\\nIn addition to these core points\, issues identifie d in participants’ own writing may be addressed. \\r\\nFaculty\\r\\nConv eners\\r\\nElísio Macamo\, Professor of African Studies at the University of Basel\\r\\nRalph Weber\, Assistant Professor of European Global Studie s at the University of Basel\\r\\nAdditional resource persons who will fac ilitate specific sessions.\\r\\nAdvanced Study Skills\\r\\nStephan Meyer\, lecturer for English for academic purposes and Deputy Director of the Lan guage Center of the University of Basel (TBC)\\r\\n Application \\r\\nPart icipants will be selected on the strength and merits of a two-page applica tion in which they choose one of the key questions listed above and explai n how their research relates to it. In addition\, applications should incl ude a CV of the applicant. \\r\\nThe deadline for application is extended to 15 August 2019. \\r\\nPractical information\\r\\nThe summer school is open for PhD students enrolled in Switzerland and abroad. \\r\\nThe fee fo r participation is CHF 100. It includes snacks and lunch at the course day s. Transportation and accommodation is not included. X-ALT-DESC:The \;Basel Summer School in African Studies 2019 addresses the issue of the normative order in African Studies. According to received wisdom\, values would appear to play no role in science. At any rate\, it is assumed that the role played by values should be a limited one. The ep istemological background to this assumption is the perennial distinction b etween objectivity and neutrality. In this connection\, it is argued that proper knowledge production is only possible if researchers and scholars p revent their values and interests from influencing their work. The best wa y to accomplish this consists in adhering to strict standards of objectivi ty making the validity of scientific claims a function of methodology and logic\, rather than a function of the normative commitments of knowledge p roducers. Yet\, it is fair to argue that debates in the methodology of the social sciences over the past two hundred years have revolved around thes e assumptions. Debates between opposing fields\, i.e. those who claim that science should be value free and those who counter that science is never value free on account of how science has been deployed to pursue the inter ests of some over others have fired the imagination of those participating in the discussions.\n African Studies is a field where this issue is of p articular interest. The field came into being as part of the European colo nial project. In this sense\, knowledge production on and in Africa has al ways been tied to the political\, economic and cultural interests of the n ations funding it. Even in our days\, when African nations are independent \, have their own researchers and seek to produce knowledge themselves\, i t appears to be the case that values and interests continue to play a role . The requirement\, for example\, that research is made relevant to policy in the context of development concerns seems to secure a place for the va lues and interests of dominant nations in that development is a concept co njuring up normative expectations concerning the right way to live. The gr and narrative of the Enlightenment bearing on how reason could ensure prog ress and human improvement lurks beneath the call for policy relevance.\n There is a sense in which calls for the decolonization of the African mind are reactions to how Africanist scholars perceive the role of values in s cience. When African scholars doubt whether scientific knowledge drawing f rom what they assume to be a “Western” epistemology is able to render African worlds intelligible\, they may be expressing a discomfort with the extent to which the knowledge produced might be speaking to a normative o rder laid down by “European” values. While this may sound ideological\ , there possibly is a methodological argument behind it. Accounts of the w orld are as much about concrete phenomena as they are about unspoken aspec ts of those phenomena. The key finding\, for example\, that corruption und ermines African development is an apt description and explanation of state fragility in Africa. At the same time\, however\, it suggests that – al l things being equal (i.e. global structural conditions) and the history t hat constituted most African countries as developing nations – without c orruption things might look different. Alas\, it is clear that no comprehe nsive understanding of Africa’s development challenges is possible witho ut taking history into account. The ceteris paribus clause does not hold m uch water\, either. The methodological challenge here is that the conceptu al categories through which we seek to retrieve the world direct our atten tion to the data lending them substance when the challenge in fact is to c ritically engage with the categories themselves.\n Engaging with conceptua l categories means to uncover their normative foundations. Science is a hi ghly normative enterprise in that its ultimate goal\, producing knowledge to render the world intelligible\, constitutes a broad commitment to some notion of a better world. Part of the challenge of doing African Studies\, therefore\, should be a commitment to uncovering the values underlying sc ience not to dispose of them\, but to harness them to even better research . The title of the Summer School is cast purposefully in an ambiguous way. On the one hand\, it speaks to the fundamental value of science and\, on the other hand\, to how interests come together to lend legitimacy and pur pose to science. \; \;\n
Key questions
\nThe basic goal of the Summer School is to address this ambivalence by inviting proposals whi ch look into “the value(s) of science” from several angles:\n\n

Advanced Study Skills workshop: Comp osing Attractive Abstracts \;

\nTo draw readers to publications o r gain access to conferences\, writers need to compose attractive abstract s that spark interest in their research. The Advanced Study Skills worksho p offers guidance on the content\, structure and language conventions of c onference and research article abstracts in the social sciences and humani ties. At the end of the workshop\, participants are expected to have gaine d independence in writing ready-to-submit abstracts for conferences or jou rnals. \n The Advanced Study Skills workshop covers:\n\nIn addition to th ese core points\, issues identified in participants’ own writing may be addressed. \n

Faculty

\n
Conveners
\nElísio Macamo\, Professor of African Studies at the University of Basel\nRalph Weber\, Assistant Professor of European Global Studies at the University of B asel\nAdditional resource persons who will facilitate specific sessions.\n
Advanced Study Skills
\nStephan Meyer\, lecturer for Englis h for academic purposes and Deputy Director of the Language Center of the University of Basel (TBC)\n

Application

\nParticipants will be se lected on the strength and merits of a two-page application in which they choose one of the key questions listed above and explain how their researc h relates to it. In addition\, applications should include a CV of the app licant. \nThe deadline for application is extended to 15 August 2019.&n bsp\;\n

Practical information

\nThe summer school is open for P hD students enrolled in Switzerland and abroad. \nThe fee for participatio n is CHF 100. It includes snacks and lunch at the course days. Transportat ion and accommodation is not included. DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20190913 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR