The ambivalence of Christian-Muslim public presences in post-colonial Tanzania

In post-colonial Tanzania, efforts to govern the relations between Christianity and Islam—the country’s largest religions—have been impacted by the growing potential for conflict between and among diverse strands of the two faiths from the mid-1990s onward. They have also been shaped by the highly unequal relations between various Christian and Muslim actors and the Tanzanian government in the context of globalization. This article describes how the governance of religious multiplicity in Tanzania has affected the domains of transnational development, the registration of new religious bodies, and the regulation of religious instruction in schools. It argues that a comprehensive understanding of ‘lived religion’ needs to focus on the way in which religious multiplicities are molded as socio-cultural realities through a wide range of governing interventions

Bericht zur Literaturrecherche "Vielfalt im Gesundheitswesen" im Auftrag der Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH

Alternative Gesundheitsvorstellungen und ‐praktiken sowie deren Stellung werden gesundheitspolitisch kontrovers diskutiert. Im Auftrag der Robert Bosch Stiftung erstellte dieses Projekt im Jahr 2019 eine Literaturübersicht zur soziokulturellen Vielfalt im Gesundheitswesen in Deutschland. Hierzu wurden sozialwissenschaftliche Studien zu diversen Traditionen und Praktiken (wie z.B. Homöopathie, anthroposophische Medizin, Akupunktur, Ayurveda, schamanistische und christliche Geistheilung) systematisch gesichtet und Erkenntnisse sowohl zu alternativmedizinischen Patienten als auch Praktizierenden präsentiert. Fokussiert wurden zum einen historisch bereits länger existierende Angebote der Alternativ- und Komplementärmedizin sowie deren rechtliche Verankerung in Deutschland. Zum anderen betrachtet die Studie Heilungsverständnisse und praktiken, die in den letzten Jahren bzw. Jahrzehnten über Dynamiken von Migration und Globalisierung in Deutschland an Popularität gewonnen haben. Zudem wurden systematisch Parallelen zu vergleichbaren Phänomenen im europäischen Ausland hergestellt und Studien miteinbezogen, die sich mit kritischen Einstellungen zur Bio- bzw. Schulmedizin befassen. Die Studie kommt zum Ergebnis, dass der Umfang alternativmedizinischer Praktiken aufgrund von uneinheitlichen Begrifflichkeiten und Konzeptualisierungen in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Literatur nur schwer zu bestimmen ist. Nichtsdestoweniger nimmt die Alternativ- und Komplementärmedizin eine zentrale gesellschaftliche Rolle in Deutschland ein. Sowohl in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung als auch bei gesundheitspolitischen Maßnahmen bedarf es deshalb eines integrativen Blicks auf eine historisch verankerte und aktuell sukzessive weiter zunehmende Vielfalt im deutschen Gesundheitswesen.Erste Auflag

Rethinking affects of care through power

This introduction outlines the contemporary emergence of new forms of informal crisis-related care, which both complement and contradict classical forms of humanitarian assistance. The introduction traces the spread, blurring, and differentiation of novel forms of non-state assistance and support against the backdrop of increasingly widespread criticism of large-scale international aid. Tackling regimes of care beyond the exceptionality of a crisis notion, the introduction then summarizes how the three contributions and the commentary to this theme section employ the lens of affect for exploring how these highly intersubjective forms of encounter are experienced, performed, and reflected on

Guidelines for data management and scientific integrity in ethnography

New protocols for scientific integrity and data management issued by universities, journals, and transnational social science funding agencies are often modelled on medical or psychological research, and do not take account of the specific characteristics of the processes of ethnographic research. These guidelines provide ethnographers with some of the most basic principles of doing such research. They show that the primary response of ethnographers to requests to share research materials with third parties should be to remain aware of the fact that these research materials have been coproduced with their research participants; that the collaborative ethnographic research process resists turning these materials into commodified, impersonal ‘data’ that can be owned and shared publicly; and that therefore the primary response of ethnographers should be to retain custody of research materials

a field in the becoming

1\. Introduction and Background 4 2\. Theoretical Implications 6 3\. Challenges of Multi-sited Ethnography in the Field of Bioprospecting in South Africa 7 4\. Research Results 10 4.1. Muthi and Local Property Regimes 12 4.2. Measures for the Protection of Knowledge 15 4.3. NGOs, Property Regimes and Access and Benefit Sharing 17 5\. Conclusion 19 6\. Bibliography 20Bioprospecting in South Africa as well as in other parts of the world is an old field with new political, economic and socio-cultural implications. While in colonial and pre-colonial settings the search for exotic flora and fauna prevailed, nowadays the search for and exploitation of biodiversity for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical resources is predominant. In South Africa, a wide range of actors has become involved in the field of bioprospecting over the last two to three decades: medical researchers, traditional health practitioners (THPs), herbalists and plant collectors, politicians and NGOs are all involved in this realm. This working paper presents first results from an ongoing research project funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) on “Bioprospecting in the African Renaissance: From Muthi to Intellectual Property Rights” at the Institute of Social and Cultural An-thropology, Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin). The authors discuss diverging concepts of property in relation to plants and knowledge about plants, different modes of knowledge protection and disclosure in the context of bioprospecting, and the attempts of South African NGOs to establish Intellectual Property Rights and patenting mecha-nisms on behalf of “indigenous communities.” The paper argues that the field of bio-prospecting in South Africa has been shaped not only by the country’s Apartheid and post- Apartheid history, but also the complex dynamics of cultural identity and the (scientific as well as economic and social) aspirations of a wide range of actors to become involved in the emerging global knowledge economy

Ethikbegutachtung in der sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschung? Ein Debattenbeitrag aus soziologischer und ethnologischer Sicht

Forschungsethik wird in den deutschsprachigen Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften zunehmend zum Thema. Zum einen reflektieren empirisch Forschende vermehrt ethische Fragen, die sich in ihrer Forschungspraxis stellen. Zum anderen wird auf wissenschaftspolitischer Ebene diskutiert, Ethics Reviews, d.h. Begutachtungen von Forschungsvorhaben durch Ethikkommissionen, nun auch in der sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschung in Deutschland verstärkt einzuführen. Dies ist unter anderem darauf zurückzuführen, dass Forschende, die in englischsprachigen Journals publizieren oder internationale Fördermittel einwerben möchten, zunehmend aufgefordert sind, eine ethische Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung bezüglich ihrer empirischen Forschung vorzulegen. Ethics Reviews sind international insbesondere im angloamerikanischen Sprachraum üblich, werden dort jedoch durch qualitativ Forschende teilweise scharf kritisiert. Im Mittelpunkt der Kritik stehen neben dem hohen bürokratischen Aufwand vor allem die mangelnde Passfähigkeit der Prinzipien und Prüfverfahren für die qualitative Forschung und die negativen Folgen der institutionalisierten Prüfverfahren für die Freiheit, Qualität und methodologische Vielfalt sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlicher Forschung. Wie lassen sich vor diesem Hintergrund die aktuellen Entwicklungen in Deutschland einschätzen? Anlässlich eines interdisziplinären Symposiums zum Thema "Forschungsethik und ethnografische Feldforschung" kommentieren wir die Entwicklungen in Deutschland aus ethnologischer und soziologischer Perspektive. Wir sprechen uns für eine institutionelle Verankerung des Themas aus und unterstützen die Entwicklung von Strukturen der forschungsethischen Begutachtung, sofern diese freiwillig bleiben und die methodische Vielfalt der Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften sowie die Besonderheiten ethnografischer und explorativer Studien angemessen berücksichtigen. Aus der Perspektive qualitativ Forschender kommt der Förderung methodologischer und forschungsethischer Reflexivität in Forschung und Lehre jedoch grundsätzlich weit höhere Relevanz zu als der Einrichtung von institutionalisierten Begutachtungsverfahren.In the German social and cultural sciences attention to research ethics is growing, with empirical researchers increasingly seeking advice and addressing ethical issues in their research practice. In addition, there is an infrastructural debate in this country about whether the use of ethics review boards for research projects should be widened. Researchers who apply for international funding or seek to publish internationally increasingly are expected to gain ethical approval for their empirical projects. Ethics reviews are common in the social and cultural sciences in the Anglophone world. But qualitative researchers severely criticize basic aspects of them - primarily the bureaucratization and regulation that such reviews entail and especially the fact that their institutionalized principles and procedures are incompatible with qualitative research. Designed for quantitative, clinical, or medical research, these characteristics may undermine the freedom, quality, and the diversity of methods and methodologies in social and cultural science research. Against this backdrop, what opportunities and challenges do the current developments in Germany present? The Munich symposium entitled "Research Ethics in Ethnographic Field Work" gave an occasion to formulate anthropological and sociological perspectives on this question. We argue for a proactive institutional response, including that of providing ethics review boards to sociologists and anthropologists in Germany as long as such structures remain optional and allow for the methodological diversity and unique features of ethnographic field work. When it comes to fostering ethical conduct, however, we note that qualitative researchers find it far more relevant to promote ethical reflexivity in teaching and research practice than to introduce ethics review boards

Data management in anthropology: the next phase in ethics governance?

Recent demands for accountability in ‘data management’ by funding agencies, universities, international journals and other academic institutions have worried many anthropologists and ethnographers. While their demands for transparency and integrity in opening up data for scrutiny seem to enhance scientific integrity, such principles do not always consider the way the social relationships of research are properly maintained. As a springboard, the present Forum, triggered by such recent demands to account for the use of ‘data’, discusses the present state of anthropological research and academic ethics/integrity in a broader perspective. It specifically gives voice to our disciplinary concerns and leads to a principled statement that clarifies a particularly ethnographic position. This position is then discussed by several commentators who treat its viability and necessity against the background of wider developments in anthropology – sustaining the original insight that in ethnography, research materials have been co‐produced before they become commoditised into ‘data’. Finally, in moving beyond such a position, the Forum broadens the issue to the point where other methodologies and forms of ownership of research materials will also need consideration