University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
17.– 18. March 2026, at University of Agder, Kristiansand
8. April 2026, on Zoom
Organizers
Prof. Dr. Christa Wirth (CW), Professor of History (1750-Present), Department of Religion, Philosophy and History, UiA (christa.wirth@uia.no)
Prof. Dr. Nils H. Korsvoll (NHK), Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Religion, Philosophy and History, UiA (nils.h.korsvoll@uia.no)
Guest Lecturer
Prof. Dr. Tarun Khaitan, Professor (Chair) of Public Law, LSE Law School (t.khaitan@lse.ac.uk)
Tarun Khaitan is the Professor (Chair) of Public Law at the LSE Law School and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School. Previously, he has been the Head of Research at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights (Oxford), the Professor of Public Law and Legal Theory (Oxford), Vice Dean (Faculty of Law, Oxford), and a Visiting Professor of Law (Chicago, Harvard, and NYU law schools).
Timeframe all days
09.15 – 16.00:
Literature
All texts can be found on Canvas
DAY 1 (Kristiansand) March 17
9.15 – 9.30: Welcome and overview of program (CW; NHK)
9.30 – 10.30: Introducing ourselves: research, expectations of the class
10.30 – 10.45: Break
10.45 – 11.30: Input Lecture (CW): Academic Writing and Thinking in Our Time
Humanities in times of social and environmental change. How do we write with an awareness of larger societal processes such as decolonization, but also right-wing resurgences and fervent nationalism? What are the current developments in the humanities? How is it impacting the use of theory? We will discuss the following areas and institutions of knowledge making: general epistemologies, archives, terminology, literature canon, interviews (Oral History) and field work.
11.30 – 12.30: Lunch
12.30 – 16.00: (Break at ca. 14.00 – 14.20)
Discussion 1: Canon and the Classics – What are they good for?
• Benton, Adia. Reading the Classics: Ideology, Tautology, and Memory. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7 (3), 2017, pp. 29 – 33.
• Bonilla, Yarimar. Unsettling the Classics: On Symptomatic Readings and Disciplinary Agnosticism. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7 (3), 2017, pp. 23 – 28.
• Da Col, Giovanni, Sopranzetti, Claudio. Preface: Why do We Read the Classics? HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7 (3), 2017 pp. 2 – 6.
• Myers, Fred. Rant or Reason: Old Wine and New Bottles in Anthropology. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7 (3), 2017, pp. 8 – 12.
Exercise I: Think individually about your cannon, theory, and methods, then share in plenum
Discussion 2: Writing and Collecting Data Across Differences: Should we do it? How do we do it?
• Dewan, Mayukh, Understanding Ethnography: an “Exotic” Ethnographer’s Perspective. Asian Qualitative Research in Tourism, pp. 185-203.
• Long, Colin, Labadi, Sophia. Introduction. In: Long, Colin, Labadi, Sophia (eds.). Heritage and Globalisation. London, New York 2010, pp. 1-16.
• Lorde, Audre. The Masterʼs Tools Will Never Dismantle the Masterʼs House. 2018 (1984), pp. 16-21.
• Olson, Karen, Shopes, Linda. Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges: Doing Oral History among Working-Class Women and Men. In: Berger Gluck, Sherna, Patai, Daphne (eds.). Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History. New York, London 1991, pp. 189-204.
Exercise II: Who is talking about whom? Individually and collectively.
Discussion 3: Terminology – What Terms to Use?
• Stoler, Ann Laura. Caveats on Comfort Zones and Comparative Frames. In: Stoler, Ann Laura (ed.). Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule, With a New Preface. Berkeley, CA 2010, pp. 205-217.
Exercise III: Terminology: Individually and collectively.
DAY 2 (Kristiansand) March 18
9.15 – 10.00: Input lecture (NHK): Materiality and the Archival Turn
This lecture will examine what material we study and how it is sourced. We address asymmetries and colonial creations of artefacts, and ask what we can study and what is unavailable? We address power relations and value hierarchies that determine what we preserve and how it is presented. This includes academic methodology and ethics: What questions can we expect specific materials, collections, and archives to help us answer? How can we interrogate the past in a methodologically sound and appropriate way?
10.00 – 10.30: Discussion 1: Thinking about the Archives and Data Collection: What is my data and where is it from?
• Giblin, John, Ramos, Imma, Grout, Nikki. Dismantling the Master’s House: Thoughts on Representing Empire and Decolonising Museums and Public Spaces in Practice: An Introduction. Third Text 33/4-5 (2019), pp. 471-486.
• Hicks, Dan. The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution. London 2020, pp. 1–17.
• Kjeldsberg, Ludvik A. Christian Dead Sea Scrolls? The post-2002 Fragments as Modern Protestant Relics. In Hick-Keeton, Jill, Concannon, Cavan (eds.), The Museum of the Bible: A Critical Introduction. London 2019, pp. 207-218.
• Stoler, Ann Laura. Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Princeton, NJ 2009, Chapter 2, pp. 17-53.
10.30 – 10.45: Break
10.45 – 11.30: Continue discussion
11.30 – 12.30: Lunch
12.30 – 14.00: Discussion 2: Thinking about the Archives and Data Collection: What is my data and what can I do with it?
• Fanon, Franz. Concerning Violence: Violence in the International Context. In: Fanon, Franz. The Wretched of the Earth. Middlesex, England 1967, pp. 27-49 (it is not the whole chapter).
• Lied, Liv I. Someone else’s manuscripts: The ethics of textual scholarship. In Brodie, Neil, Kersel, Morag M., Rasmussen, Josephine M. (eds.), Variant Scholarship: Ancient Texts in Modern Contexts. Leiden 2023, pp. 189-201.
• Mazza, Roberta. Descriptions and the Materiality of Texts. Qualitative Research 21/3 (2021), pp. 376-393.
• Wirth, Christa, Rasmussen, Josephine M. The Value of Forgeries for Historical Research. In Brodie, Neil, Kersel, Morag M., Rasmussen, Josephine M. (eds.), Variant Scholarship: Ancient Texts in Modern Contexts. Leiden 2023, pp. 169-188.
14.00 – 14.20: Break
14.20 – 16.00: Summary: How do the topics of the course apply to your own research, methodology, or theory making?
• Sharing and discussing the past two days, first in groups and then with everyone.
DAY 3 (Online) April 8
With guest lecturer Tarun Khaitan
9.15 – 9.30: Intro (CW): Overview of day, info, questions, welcome
Literature:
• Haraway, Donna. Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective: Feminist Studies, 14/ 3, 1988, pp. 575-599.
• Hill Collins, Patricia. Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought. Social Problems, 1986, 33/6, pp. 14-32.
9.30 – 10.20: Student presentations with feedback (10 min + 10 min)
10.20 – 10.40: Break
10.40 – 12.00: Student presentations with feedback (continued)
12.00 – 13.00: Lunch Break
13.00 – 14.15: Keynote Lecture (Tarun Khaitan): Scepticism about Scholactivism
14.30 – 15.00: Summary
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Participation, acceptance of assignment and oral presentation.
Course assignment:
The student choses one foundational/canonical text for their project or for their field. The instructors then propose two other texts that complement/challenge/supplement/develop this text. In the assignment, the student shall then present and discuss all three texts, with a view to their relevance for their field today. The assignment is 4000 words, and a work-in-progress report shall be presented at day 3 to the group.
The assignment will be assessed individually and receive a grade of pass/fail.
Submission of exam paper: 17th April 2026.