Open anthropology lectures: the influence of personal convictions on research and the ethnographic criminology of cocaine trafficking, 22 and 23 May

 On 22 and 23 May, as part of the Baltic Anthropology Graduate School seminar, two open lectures will be held in English by Toomas Gross (lecturer at the University of Helsinki, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, and senior researcher at the University of Tartu, Department of Ethnology) and by Henrik Vigh (professor at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Anthropology).

The lectures will start at 10 a.m. at the Institute of Cultural Research of the University of Tartu (Ülikooli 16-109, access is located at the back of the building).

On the morning of 22 May, in his lecture, Toomas Gross focuses on the possibilities of studying religion as an agnostic. His talk starts with an historical overview of how anthropologists in the past have tried to answer the question whether a non-religious scholar can “truly” understand the nature of religion. He will then move on to the more general issue of how our religious, political, ethical assumptions shape the way we do our research and “see” the ethnographic reality.

On the morning of 23 May, Professor Henrik Vigh looks at cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe via West Africa, paying particular attention to the ethnographic example of Guinea-Bissau. What are the social and political logics at play in cross-border crime? How do global connections affect local networks and vice versa?

The longer abstracts of the talks can be read on the BAGS seminar webpage.

More information: Kristin Kuutma, kristin.kuutma [ät] ut.ee.

The lectures are supported by an Institutional Development Grant from Wenner-Gren Foundation and the European Regional Development Fund (University of Tartu ASTRA Project PER ASPERA).