Ethnographies of Struggle

Dr. A&lio Bernasconi

a&lio.bernasconi@yale.edu
230 Prospect Street, office 207

EP&E, ANTH, CLAIS, AAS

Spring 2024 / Tu 9.25-11.15am

Course Descrip,on
Struggle is a transversal noPon in contemporary ethnographies and poliPcal theory. Struggle is
present in ontological debates, as well as in the everyday pracPces of people or social movements
that suffer from injusPce or acPvely struggle against it. In this course, we examine the different
dimensions of struggle and what this means for ethnographic research.

In the first half of the semester we focus on the tensions created by the capitalist mode of
producPon, and how they affect the lives of people who find themselves forced to struggle to defend
their subsistence economies, their natural resources, or their access to them. Although these
struggles are present everywhere, the examples discussed are located in the so called 'global South.'
In the second half of the course, we examine in the role of the ethnographer. We discuss the possible
tensions between the struggles that the ethnographer sets out to study, and the struggle of the
ethnographer as an actor in her/his fieldwork. Thus, the topics discussed are those of access,
engagement, and posiPonality – including issues related to race and gender. Part of the discussions
revolve around the lecturer’s ongoing research on the ELN guerrilla movement in Colombia.

Learning Objec,ves
A]er the a^endance of the course, students will be able:
- To identify and critically evaluate struggles faced by people and social movements in the
'global South;'
- To recognize possible struggles between the ethnographer and her/his fieldwork;
- To discuss the limits and possibilities for ethnography to disrupt the normative pull of
conventional academic research;
- To critically assess an academic paper;
- To share and discuss their criticism in public

Assessment details
Final grades will be assigned based on the following assignments:

Active Participation 20%

Weekly Response papers 25%
Leading Class Discussion & Presentations 25%
Final Papers 30%

Active Participation: This is a discussion-based class. Careful preparation for each of the seminars
and informed contribution is expected. Always bring an electronic or print copy of that day’s
readings, your reading notes, and your weekly response papers (see below) to class. Come to the
seminar ready to share your reflections and critique, raise questions, and engage graciously in a
conversation with your peers.
Attendance to all sessions is mandatory. If you will be missing class, please let me know by email at
least 24h in advance.

*Readings: Each week includes about 100 pages of readings. Please take notes on the points that
most inspire and/or provoke you. AcPve, careful, and schemaPc reading will be of enormous help to
you in wriPng your weekly response papers.

Weekly Response papers: These 2 -page (font size 12, line spacing 1.5) papers give you an
opportunity to react to and reflect on the assigned readings. On the first page of the paper you
should provide a summary of the reading, explaining its main arguments and key points. In the
second part of the paper (which must be at least twice as long as the summary part) it is expected
that each of you will develop your own preferred style for writing a reflection on the readings. For
example, you can select one or a few quotes (or a short paragraph) that draws your attention, then
analyze them, either on their own terms or by comparing them to other readings covered in this (or
other) class that address similar issues. Beginning with the second week of the course, response
papers should be submitted via email by 12am (midnight) on the Sunday preceding Tuesday’s class.

Leading Class Discussion & Presentations: Each week two students will initiate discussion by raising a
set of issues and questions related to the readings. Students will briefly introduce some of the main
points of the readings assigned for that day and pose some questions for class discussion. Then, they
will contribute to the discussion by raising new questions and critical points.
There will also be three group presentations (4 or 5 people depending on the number of students)
during the semester. These are 12-15 minute presentations with power point. I require everyone to
actively participate, during the in-class presentation as well as in the preparation of the latter.

Final Papers: In the middle of the semester and at the end of the semester, students are required to
submit a Final Paper. The two final papers are 8 pages long (font size 12, line spacing 1.5). In these
papers students define an ethnographic case-study of their choice and analyze it with the theoretical
tools learned in class, thus referencing the readings as well as my lectures.

Midterm Feedback: Weekly response papers, class participation, and week 6 presentation are the
criteria that will be adopted to provide students with midterm feedback. This written feedback will
be given to students during week 7. Should a student have negative feedback, it will be important
that they contact me immediately to personally discuss and assess the situation and find the best
possible solution and support.

*A Word About Academic Integrity: Plagiarism is the act of using the ideas or words of others
without giving proper credit. It is a serious academic offense that undermines the integrity of
scholarship and research. In this course, all work submitted by students must be their own original
work. Any use of the ideas or words of others must be properly cited and credited. Plagiarism
includes, but is not limited to, copying and pasting text from sources without proper citation, using
someone else's ideas without proper attribution, and submitting work that has been previously
submitted in another course. If a student is found to have plagiarized, they will be subject to
disciplinary action, which may include a failing grade for the assignment or the course. Students are
encouraged to seek guidance from the instructor or writing center if they have any questions about
proper citation and attribution.
For further informaPon, please consult the Center for Teaching and Learning’s website on citaPon
pracPces: h^p://ctl.yale.edu/wriPng/wr-instructor-resources/addressing-academic-integrity-and-
plagiarism

COURSE SCHEDULE

Week 1: January 16
Course Introduc,on

Week 2: January 23
Capitalist Developments (the capitalist mode of producPon, the dependency theory, and the world
system theory)

Cadena, Marisol de la, and Mario Blaser, eds. 2018. A World of Many Worlds. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press. Introduc2on

Galeano, Eduardo 1973. Open Veins of La2n America; Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Con2nent.
New York: Monthly Review Press. Introduc2on; Chapter 1: Pp. 21-42; Chapter 2: Pp. 145-148;
Chapter 3: Pp. 149-154, 172-182; Chapter 4: Pp. 219-224; Chapter 5: 265-268

Wolf, Eric R. 2010. Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chapter 3: Pp. 73-79 ; Chapter 10; Chapter 11: Pp. 310-317, 350-353

Week 3: January 30
Poli,cal Ecology (the origins of poliPcal ecology, deep vs. social ecology, the myth of the wild, the
four thesis of poliPcal ecology)

Marfurt, F. 2023. ParPcipatory Guarantee Systems in Senegal: Shi]ing Labour Dynamics in

Agroecology. Journal of Peasant Studies: 1-29.

Ruiz-Serna, Daniel. 2023. When Forests Run Amok: War and Its AUerlives in Indigenous and Afro-
Colombian Territories. Durham: Duke University Press. Introduc2on: Pp. 1-30; Chapter 2; Chapter 3

Week 4: February 6
Environmental Racism and “Natural” Disasters (case-study: La Toma, Colombia, Sri Lanka, HaiP)

Fakier, K. (2018). Women and Renewable Energy in a South African Community: Exploring Energy
Poverty and Environmental Racism. Journal of Interna2onal Women's Studies, 19(5), 165-176.

Gilmore, Ruth Wilson. 2022. Aboli2on Geography: Essays Towards Libera2on. Edited by Brenna
Bhandar and Alberto Toscano. London New York: Verso. Chapter 2 & 6.
Okafor-Yarwood, Ifesinachi, and Ibukun Jacob Adewumi. 2020. “Toxic Waste Dumping in the Global
South as a Form of Environmental Racism: Evidence from the Gulf of Guinea.” African Studies 79 (3):
285–304.

Van Sant, Levi, Richard Milligan, and Sharlene Molle^. 2021. “PoliPcal Ecologies of Race: Se^ler
Colonialism and Environmental Racism in the United States and Canada.” An2pode 53 (3): 629–42.

Week 5: February 13
Tourism and (post-)Development (4s vs. 3f tourism, anthropology of post-development)

Devine, Jennifer, and Diana Ojeda. 2017. “Violence and Dispossession in Tourism Development: A
CriPcal Geographical Approach.” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 25 (5): 605–17.

Escobar, A. (2011). Encountering Development : The Making and Unmaking of the Third World.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Preface; Chapter 6

Loperena, Christopher. 2022. The Ends of Paradise: Race, Extrac2on, and the Struggle for Black Life in
Honduras. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Chapter 2, 3, Conclusion

Week 6: February 20
Class Discussion/Presenta,ons PART I

Week 7: February 27
Life and Debt, Documentary, 2001, 1h26

Anders, Gerhard. 2008. “The NormaPvity of Numbers: World Bank and IMF CondiPonality.” PoLAR:
Poli2cal and Legal Anthropology Review 31 (2): 187–202.

Johnson, Lauren C. 2014. “Work at the Periphery: Issues of Tourism Sustainability in Jamaica.” Culture
Unbound 6 (5): 949–62.

Week 8: March 5
Life and Debt, Discussion on the documentary

*** Easter Break***

Week 9: March 25
Anthropology of Violence

Khayyat, Munira. 2022. A Landscape of War: Ecologies of Resistance and Survival in South Lebanon.
Introduc2on, Chapter 4, Conclusion

Schmidt, Be&na, and Ingo Schroeder, eds. 2001. Anthropology of Violence and Conflict. 1st ediPon.
London: Routledge. Chapter 7

Skurski J. & Coronil F. (2006). States of Violence. Introduc2on: States of Violence and the Violence of
States. Pp. 1-31

Week 10: April 2

Anthropology of Peace
Burnyeat, Gwen. 2022. The Face of Peace: Government Pedagogy amid Disinforma2on in Colombia.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. IntroducPon; Chapter 4; Conclusion

Lederach, Angie. 2023. Feel the Grass Grow: Ecologies of Slow Peace in Colombia. Stanford: Stanford
University Press. Chapter 1 & 2

Santos, B. S. (2017). Colombia Between Liberal Peace and DemocraPc Peace. In Fac2s Pax, 11(2), 41-
62.

Week 11: April 9

An Intersec,onal Ethnography I

Biehl, J. 2013. “Ethnography in the Way of Theory.” Cultural Anthropology 28 (4): 573–97.

Boeri, Miriam, and Rashi K. Shukla, eds. 2019. Inside Ethnography: Researchers Reflect on the
Challenges of Reaching Hidden Popula2ons. Chapters 1; 10; 11; 12; Conclusion

Week 12: April 16

An Intersec,onal Ethnography II

Berry M. J., Chávez Argüelles C., Cordis S., Ihmoud S., and Velásquez Estrada E. 2017. “Toward a
FugiPve Anthropology: Gender, Race, and Violence in the Field.” Cultural Anthropology 32 (4): 537–
65.

Bernasconi, A. “Building territoriality in the aquaPc space: An ethnography of the ELN’s fluid
governance in the Colombian Pacific Region.” Journal of La2n American Studies

Escobar, Arturo. 2020. Pluriversal Poli2cs: The Real and the Possible. Durham, NC: Duke University
Press. Chapters 4 & 5

Week 13: April 23

Class Discussion/Presenta,ons PART II