On 17-21 August 2015 the fourth Lova International Summer School was held. This year the focus was on Art in Anthropology – Ethnographies on the Move of People in Queer, Gender and Feminist Studies. We tried to combine the way anthropologists deal with ‘on the move of people/people on the move – migration, transnationalism and diasporas’ with a methodological focus on the art forms as ethnographic tools. We created an arena for scholars to present their recent works on immigrants, emigrants, voyagers, travellers and all beings that like or are forced to move in a very broad sense. We dare say that without the movement of people across the globe there would not be any growth, development or change.
We discussed how scholars from various fields of social science and the humanities access topics such as migration, movement and/or art (or through art). Next to lectures and workshops students were confronted with various forms of art, like in visuals, dance, music, and theatre performances. Our ‘learning by doing’ approach was again central in this year’s school. The ‘hands on’ approach implied that we also had small field trips and excursions.
The tutors were encouraged to use interactive and unorthodox teaching methods. All of the exercises, lectures and workshops were meant to assist the participants to focus on their research projects, their outlook, their bodies and the wider social, cultural, economic, political, and – this time even more so – aesthetic world. By lectures about ‘people on the move’ and the various workshops we learned how art can be a magical way to reach out to respondents and to an audience.
The school was designed for students (BA, MA, PhD) and life long learners with an interest in anthropology, ethnographic fieldwork and gender studies.
Organising committee
Academic Director: Reinhilde Sotiria König
Creative Directors: Nathalie Roos and Carola Lammers
Chair LOVA: Marina de Regt
lova.summerschool@lovanetwerk.nl
Additional film/photo Workshop
This year we offered also a film/photo-workshop to learn more about the possibilities of filming and taking pictures in the real and digital world. The workshop of 24-25 August 2015 was also open for non-participants of the Summer School. An separate fee was requested for this event.
Programme
Lectures
Inessa Kouteinikova (Curator of the 19th and early 20th art and architectural historian) Central Asian ethnographic photography
Maria Hlavajaova (BAK, University of Utrecht) Collective struggle of refugees. Lost. In Between. Together
Edmée van Rijn (Social anthropologist and photojournalist) Deadly beautiful: Martyrdom in Palestine
Eva-Maria van Straaten (Musicologist/anthropologist, University of Göttingen) Parody and satire: Politicisations of musical humor on the move
Rhoda Woets (Anthropologist, VU University Amsterdam) Textiles on the move: The aesthetics and narratives of Vlisco fabrics in different socio-cultural Settings
Ashley Witcher (Anthropologist and activist) Bare Life: Ethnographic research about liminality, violence, and vulnerability among sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco
Workshops
Marie José de Abreu (Anthropologist, Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Berlin) Modern times: Revolution, reproducibility, and the optical unconscious
Sara Blom (Visual anthropologist, documentary maker) You, yourself … and the other
Marije Janssen (Feminist, activist, curator) Sexuality, (feminist) pornography and representation in the media
Paul Mepschen (Social anthropologist, University of Leiden) Migration, nationalism and sexuality in western Europe
Linda Paganelli (Visual anthropologist and filmmaker) Identification through art: Creation of a short movie
Marina de Regt (Anthropologist, VU University Amsterdam) Filming migrant women in Ethiopia
Arjanne Schaaf (Visual anthropologist, University of Leiden) and Rosemarie Houniet (Visual artist/historian, Gerrit Rietveld Academie/University of Western Cape) (Com-) position of the photographic self-portrait: An anthropological and artistic way of looking at ‘selfies’
Marianne Selleger (Vocal coach; opera singer) Opera for beginners: Vocal lessons
Lilith Turk (Yoga teacher, Active Health Centre, Amsterdam) Therapeutic stretching
Movies
Dimitris Dalakoglou (Anthropologist, VU University Amsterdam) Athens: Social meltdown, landscapes of emergency and future suspended. Documentary.
Anja Hiddinga (medical anthropologist & filmmaker) ‘I sign I live’ or ‘Bewogen (Moved) – Poems in sign language
Arda Nederveen (Filmmaker, director) and Marina de Regt (Anthropologist, VU University Amsterdam) Young and Invisible: African domestic workers in Yemen. Documentary
Marco Speroni (Filmmaker) and Marina de Regt (Anthropologist, VU University Amsterdam) Time to look at Girls – Migrants in Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Documentary
Excursions
Reinhilde Sotiria König Guided tour at exhibition ‘Once Ships Were Build Here’ in behalf of AmsterdamSail2015
Carola Lammers (Anthropologist, teacher cross cultural communication, and tour guide anthropologist/guide) Guided tour at Vincent van Gogh Museum or Rijksmuseum.
Nathalie Roos (Anthropologist, Institute for the Contemporary, BAK) Guided tour at Stedelijk Museum
Practical matters
Venue
Oudemanhuispoort building of University of Amsterdam in the historic city centre of Amsterdam
Tuition fees
€285 for early birds (apply before 1 March)
€285 for LOVA members
€385 for non-funded BA/MA/PhD students and life-long learners
€485 for funded PhD Students and other academics
Note: extra administration fee €15.
Number of paying participants
17; from the Netherlands (8, one from Italy originally), Bangladesh (2), Canada (3), Denmark, Japan, UK (2).