400002 FK Latin America: Recent theoretical and empirical development (2020W)

Latin America experienced mayor political and social shift in recent decades. Political developments sparked important (theoretical) discussions within social sciences which transcended the region. Debates on (neo-) development strategies, populism, decoloniality or forms of democracy are only a few topics which made Latin America to one of the most innovative research regions in recent years. The course attempts to take stock of these debates, situate them in a global context and assess possible research topics for the future.
This course is offered for PhD candidates in the social sciences working on research topics in the broad field of Latin American Studies, particularly in the areas of political economy, state transformation, regional integration, environmental and resource politics, changing social structures, social movements and indigenous peoples. The course is reading intensive. In a first meeting in October we will fix the literature to be discussed in the seminar. Each student is expected to read all the articles and book chapters we agreed to read, present two texts/chapters in the seminar and write a short seminar paper where the links between the seminar content and the own PhD project is reflected.
The course will be held in English. It is offered by Prof. Ulrich Brand and Dr. Tobias Boos and will take place during four days in January 2021 in a seminar house outside from Vienna (the cost for the seminar house, accommodation and excellent vegetarian food is about 120 Euro accommodated in a dormitory or 200 Euro in a single room in a hotel nearby).
The focus of the course is not primarily on the individual PhD projects but on the critical discussion of recent literature on Latin America. Topical links to the region within PhD projects of the participants are mandatory.