BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//jEvents 2.0 for Joomla//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Paris BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231217T140000 RDATE:20240331T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CET END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20241027T020000 RDATE:20250330T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CET END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251026T020000 RDATE:20260329T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CET END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20261025T020000 RDATE:20270328T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CET END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20271031T020000 RDATE:20280326T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CET END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20240331T030000 RDATE:20241027T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CEST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250330T030000 RDATE:20251026T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CEST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T030000 RDATE:20261025T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CEST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20270328T030000 RDATE:20271031T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:Europe/Paris CEST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:03ea84e14c23296fdb97df61c04a8cea CATEGORIES:Anthropologie à Nanterre CREATED:20240629T132401 SUMMARY:Towards an Anthropology of Statelessness, Judith Beyer (University of Konstanz) LOCATION:Lesc – salle 308F (3e étage) - 21\, allée de l’Université\, Nanterre\, \, 9 2000\, France DESCRIPTION:Short Abstract\n In my lecture I outline an anthropology of statelessness t hat focuses on stateless subjects and scrutinizes the public portrayal of t he stateless as an amorphous mass of ‘nowhere people’, ‘legal ghosts’ or ‘a liens.’ My aim is to research statelessness not as a historical leftover of group encounters with (colonial) states, but as an existential human condi tion of currently at least 15 million people worldwide that also allows for a novel perspective on the very concept of ‘the state’.\nAbstract\nAnthrop ologists have historically dealt with stateless societies in the context of colonial politics of expansion and exploitation. Ethnographic monographs o f the time centered on ‘acephalous’ ethnic groups or tried to grapple with understanding how groups organized themselves and interacted with one anoth er without a clear leadership. After the demise of colonial empires, such e thnographic work has almost completely come to a halt. The state has come t o tighten its grip on ethnic groups to such an extent that there is, by now , no place on earth that would not feel its often eerie presence. This incl udes hunter-gatherer societies and sedentary tribes in rural Africa and Cen tral Asia as much as agrarian groups in Southeast Asia. However, statelessn ess as a condition of individuals and groups of people who are not recogniz ed as belonging to any state, has remained a phenomenon worthy of anthropol ogical attention and theoretization. Despite two UN Conventions against sta telessness (1954, 1961) which many states have ratified, statelessness not only continues to exist across the world, including in Europe, the numbers of stateless individuals are even increasing. Statelessness remains one of the most overlooked human rights violations as it effectively deprives indi viduals of their ‘right to\nhave rights’ as Hannah Arendt, drawing on Imman uel Kant, put it.\nIn my lecture I outline an anthropology of statelessness that focuses on stateless subjects and scrutinizes the public portrayal of the stateless as an amorphous mass of ‘nowhere people’, ‘legal ghosts’ or ‘aliens.’ My aim is to research statelessness not as a historical leftover of group encounters\nwith (colonial) states, but as an existential human co ndition of currently at least 15 million people worldwide that also allows for a novel perspective on the very concept of ‘the state’. I argue that an anthropology of statelessness can fruitfully expand the well-established s ubfield on the anthropology of the state, but it requires its own theoretiz ation. Statelessness can neither be found at the ‘heart of the state’ (Fass in) nor at its ‘margins’ (Das and Poole), where anthropology has so far loc ated its objects of inquiry when studying the state tangentially (Harvey). Statelessness rather points to what I – with Jacques Lacan – regard as a st ructural lack that is crucial for how we imagine and theorize the state (Ab rams) and its state effects (Mitchell). While (I)NGOs, activists, legal pra ctitioners and scholars mostly treat statelessness as an ‘anomaly’ for whic h a technical (juridical) fix could be found, I argue that statelessness po sits a structural lack that cannot be ‘filled’ or ‘fixed’ and that it is ‘t he state’ itself that\ncontributes to the phenomenon.\nMy lecture draws on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork with stateless individuals, NGOs and lower-l evel bureaucrats in Germany and Europe. I also utilize court materials I ob tain in my role as a country-of-origin expert concerning asylum cases of st ateless individuals in the UK.\n X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Short Abstract
In my lecture I outline an anthrop ology of statelessness that focuses on stateless subjects and scrutinizes t he public portrayal of the stateless as an amorphous mass of ‘nowhere peopl e’, ‘legal ghosts’ or ‘aliens.’ My aim is to research statelessness not as a historical leftover of group encounters with (colonial) states, but as an existential human condition of currently at least 15 million people worldw ide that also allows for a novel perspective on the very concept of ‘the st ate’.

Abstract
Anthropologists have historicall y dealt with stateless societies in the context of colonial politics of exp ansion and exploitation. Ethnographic monographs of the time centered on ‘a cephalous’ ethnic groups or tried to grapple with understanding how groups organized themselves and interacted with one another without a clear leader ship. After the demise of colonial empires, such ethnographic work has almo st completely come to a halt. The state has come to tighten its grip on eth nic groups to such an extent that there is, by now, no place on earth that would not feel its often eerie presence. This includes hunter-gatherer soci eties and sedentary tribes in rural Africa and Central Asia as much as agra rian groups in Southeast Asia. However, statelessness as a condition of ind ividuals and groups of people who are not recognized as belonging to any st ate, has remained a phenomenon worthy of anthropological attention and theo retization. Despite two UN Conventions against statelessness (1954, 1961) w hich many states have ratified, statelessness not only continues to exist a cross the world, including in Europe, the numbers of stateless individuals are even increasing. Statelessness remains one of the most overlooked human rights violations as it effectively deprives individuals of their ‘right t o
have rights’ as Hannah Arendt, drawing on Immanuel Kant, put it.
In my lecture I outline an anthropology of statelessness that focuses on stateless subjects and scrutinizes the public portrayal of the stateless as an amorphous mass of ‘nowhere people’, ‘legal ghosts’ or ‘aliens.’ My aim is to research statelessness not as a historical leftover of group encounte rs
with (colonial) states, but as an existential human condition of cu rrently at least 15 million people worldwide that also allows for a novel p erspective on the very concept of ‘the state’. I argue that an anthropology of statelessness can fruitfully expand the well-established subfield on th e anthropology of the state, but it requires its own theoretization. Statel essness can neither be found at the ‘heart of the state’ (Fassin) nor at it s ‘margins’ (Das and Poole), where anthropology has so far located its obje cts of inquiry when studying the state tangentially (Harvey). Statelessness rather points to what I – with Jacques Lacan – regard as a structural lack that is crucial for how we imagine and theorize the state (Abrams) and its state effects (Mitchell). While (I)NGOs, activists, legal practitioners an d scholars mostly treat statelessness as an ‘anomaly’ for which a technical (juridical) fix could be found, I argue that statelessness posits a struct ural lack that cannot be ‘filled’ or ‘fixed’ and that it is ‘the state’ its elf that
contributes to the phenomenon.
My lecture draws on ongoi ng ethnographic fieldwork with stateless individuals, NGOs and lower-level bureaucrats in Germany and Europe. I also utilize court materials I obtain in my role as a country-of-origin expert concerning asylum cases of statele ss individuals in the UK.

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