Übersicht
The Visegrád Anthropologists’ Network (V4 Net) was launched in October 2017 at the Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology on the initiative of Chris Hann. Its main purpose is to contribute to a better understanding of contemporary social phenomena in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia (the V4) by applying the theories and methods of anthropology, broadly defined. A second goal, especially important when many educational institutions in the V4 face severe pressures, is to consolidate the standing of the discipline, in fruitful conversations with fluid adjacent fields of the social sciences and the humanities.
The first conference of V4 Net will tackle very broad themes pertaining to “belonging”: from face-to-face communities and regional identifications to loyalties to larger imaginary constructions such as the nation. Beyond the nation-state, does the V4 itself generate sentiments of belonging, and if so, how are these effects achieved? How can anthropologists illuminate current tensions between national belonging and larger entities such as the EU, or a Christian European civilization? In addition to all these forms of collective belonging, other forms may also be explored: to one’s family or larger kin groups, to workplaces, secular associations, religious congregations etc. In all cases, acts of categorization and processes of boundary construction result in exclusions, with implications for social relations and their imagination.
For attending the workshop please register until 4 June via email to Anke Meyer: meyer@eth.mpg.de
