From ‘identity’ to ‘belonging’ in social research: Plurality, social boundaries, and the politics of the self

This text develops a theory of belonging critically building upon identity-research - while doing more justice to the dynamic nature of social constellations and to the multipositionality of social actors. The concept of ‘belonging’ is introduced as a combination of commonality, mutuality, and attachments. A vital opposition is made between the collective constellations of belonging and the individual navigations through multiple collective assemblages during the life course. It is argued that these navigations entail tackling manifold forms of boundary dynamics as collective belonging creates regimes that guard collectivities against the outsiders and also against the members’ attempts to abandon ‘their’ collectivities. The analysis draws upon ethnicity research, immigration research and globalisation research, i.e. in fields where issues of belonging are as vital as they are challenged, and therefore, they are often politicized. Rather than taking a specific collective belonging for granted, e.g. ethnic, religious or national, this contribution addresses the situated nature of individual positionings, the possibility of combining different dimensions of belonging, and the necessity to belong together in contemporary societies

Shaping Asia: Connectivities, Comparisons, Collaborations

Pfaff-Czarnecka J, Brosius C. Shaping Asia: Connectivities, Comparisons, Collaborations. isa.e-Forum. 2019:1-10

Nepal and the Wealth of Knowledge. Inequality, Aspiration, Competition and Belonging

Pfaff-Czarnecka J. Nepal and the Wealth of Knowledge. Inequality, Aspiration, Competition and Belonging. The Mahesh Chandra Regmi Lecture. Vol 2019. Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha; 2019

Stepping into the public arena: Western social anthropology on development processes in Nepal

Pfaff-Czarnecka J. Stepping into the public arena: Western social anthropology on development processes in Nepal. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research. 1993;5:1-23

Religion und Ressentiment: eine thematische Einführung

Im einleitenden Beitrag zur Plenarveranstaltung "Religion und Ressentiment", die gemeinsam von der Sektion "Entwicklungssoziologie und Sozialanthropologie" und der Sektion "Religionssoziologie" vorbereitet und organisiert wurde, wird der Zusammenhang von Religion und Ressentiment sowohl auf einer theoretischen als auch auf einer empirischen Ebene durch einige Begriffsbestimmungen knapp skizziert.Ressentiment beschreibt ein gefühlsbedingtes Bedürfnis von sozial, kulturell und/ oder ökonomisch negativ privilegierten (bzw. sich selbst so einschätzenden) Gruppen nach "Abwertung" der Qualitäten und Leistungen der Anderen, das sich bis hin zum offenen Hass gegen die "Bessergestellten", "Vornehmen" und "Mächtigen" steigern kann. Ziel der "Abwertung" der Anderen ist in der Regel die moralische und ethische "Aufwertung" der eigenen Gruppe. Seit Friedrich Nietzsches These von der Entstehung der christlichen Liebesmoral aus dem Geist des Ressentiments von Max Weber aufgegriffen und generalisiert wurde, scheint festzustehen, dass Ressentiment eine charakteristische Begleiterscheinung einer jeden "Erlösungsreligion" und einer jeden religiösen Ethik der negativ Privilegierten ist. Worauf die Deprivation der jeweiligen Gruppen auch im Einzelnen beruhen mag, auf niederem sozialen Status, auf einer ethnischen Minderheitenposition, auf der Diskriminierung oder Verunglimpfung religiöser Gemeinschaften oder auf politischer Unterdrückung, sie kann dazu führen, dass die ethischen Gebote der jeweiligen Religion in ihr Gegenteil umschlagen und der Hass auf die Konkurrenz über alle "Gebote der Liebe" siegt. (ICA2

Un/making difference through performance and mediation in contemporary Africa

This special issue of the Journal of African Cultural Studies grew out of a panel we organized at the European Conference on African Studies in Lisbon in June 2013. Our starting point was the observation of a massive revival of cultural and religious identities across the African continent, stretching from post-apartheid South Africa to Islamist groups in parts of West Africa. In the early twenty-first century, Africa appears to be witnessing a historical moment characterized by a resurgence of a politics of difference that, regardless of the heterogeneous forms in which it materializes, shares an uncanny ability to produce and sustain identities based on a politics of difference

Un/making difference through performance and mediation in contemporary Africa

This special issue of the Journal of African Cultural Studies grew out of a panel we organized at the European Conference on African Studies in Lisbon in June 2013. Our starting point was the observation of a massive revival of cultural and religious identities across the African continent, stretching from post-apartheid South Africa to Islamist groups in parts of West Africa. In the early twenty-first century, Africa appears to be witnessing a historical moment characterized by a resurgence of a politics of difference that, regardless of the heterogeneous forms in which it materializes, shares an uncanny ability to produce and sustain identities based on a politics of difference