Middle-classness in Asia - Detailseite

Rather than assuming a linear process or teleological history of middle classes, Liechty and others argue that classes and their histories are „unique manifestations of local material and social conditions - the socioeconomic conditions of possibility“ (Liechty 2012:275). However, as there are many similarities and „déja-vu moments“ in the ways in which people recurrently behave in „class ways“, transnational comparative studies help us identify certain „regularities of response to analogous situations“ (ibid.:276). While their social lives, political affiliations and value orientations may differ quite drastically (Saavala 2010; Fernandes 2006), Saavala and others thus argue that we need to examine and compare how the „stylised images of the ‚Other’“ - the West, the poor as well as the rich - are constructed for the purpose of creating class difference, or, in Liechty’s words, the „discursive and performative production of middleness“ (Liechty 2012:271).

In this lecture series, the four overlapping lenses of

1) Family life, Bio Politics and Reproduction

2) Spatial Organization and Power Relations,

3) Middle-class Moralities, and

4) Relationships with the State

shall serve to analyse some of the key aspects of changing social relations, formations and practices of individuals or groups in Asia who understand themselves or aim to become „middle-class“. Scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds will shed light on the practices of middle-classness in Asia.

16.04        Einführung in das interdisziplinäre Forschungsfeld der "Asian Middle Class Studies"

                Prof. Dr. Nadja-Christina Schneider (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

23.04        Ehe und Partnerschaft: Kontinuität und Wandel in der indischen Mittelschicht

                Dr. Fritzi-Marie Titzmann (Universität Leipzig) 

30.04        Middle class pious Muslims and their spatial practices in urban Malaysia and Indonesia

                Dr. Hew Wai Wenig (Zentrum Moderner Orient Berlin)

07.05        Familienangelegenheiten: Die Visualisierung pro-nataler Technologien in Indien

                Prof. Dr. Nadja-Christina Schneider (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

21.05        Die schwierige Geburt einer neuen sozialen Schicht - Die Bhadralok von Kolkata

                Dr. Melitta Waligora (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

28.05        Property and propriety: Religious segregation in urban India

                Dr. des. Raphael Susewind (Universität Bielefeld)

04.06        Narrating Danger: Contemporary Discourses of Gendered Safety in India

                Dr. Shilpa Phadke (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)

11.06        Community and Religion in the Making of Middle-Class Moralities in South India and

                 Sri Lanka

                Prof. Dr. Torsten Tschacher (Freie Universität Berlin)

18.06        "Mittelklasse"-Frömmigkeit und ‚Dubai Boom’: Islamische Konsumkultur im urbanen

                Tadschikistan

                Prof. Dr. Manja Stephan-Emmrich (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

25.06        The Battlefields of Love: Public space and moral policing in urban India

                Prof. Dr. Christiane Brosius (Universität Heidelberg)

02.07        Chinas Mittelschicht zwischen Staat und Markt

                Prof. Dr. Björn Alpermann (Universität Würzburg)

09.07        Wield the Brooom! Curative Democracy and the Promise of "New Politics" in India.

                Prof. Dr. Srirupa Roy (Universität Göttingen)

INTERESSIERTE SIND HERZLICH EINGELADEN!