The Conflict Research Group, Ghent University, in cooperation with the Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen and the Department of Geography, University of Zurich, organizes a four-day summer school for PhD candidates on the theme "Governance at the Edge of the state: Public authority and property in conflict environments." The study of public authority has proven to be one of the most fertile fields to gain a better understanding about everyday governance practices in violent settings. Challenging stereotypical depictions of conflict zones as anarchic and lawless, scholars from various disciplines have tried to identify how a wide variety of institutions which cannot be solely attributed to the state, operate and perform in these areas. Rather than starting from normative ideal-type depictions of how states should function, this research starts from an empirically grounded analysis of the social relations and power structures that attempt to shape and organize public authority in contexts of violence. A particular arena where these daily negotiations and contestations can be discerned is property. Apart from an understanding of property as a material good such as land or housing central to everyday livelihoods, property is also and foremost approached as a relational and social concept, more specific as a particular claim which is enforced towards other people. Property understood in this sense allows grappling with the mechanism in which people both access property and how claims to property are produced, enforced and disputed within daily social encounters. Confirmed faculty: Catherine Boone ( London School of Economics) ; Tobias Hagmann (Roskilde University); Andrea Nightingale (University of Gothenburg); Thomas Blom Hansen (Stanford University); Gavin Hilson (University of Surrey); Benedikt Korf (University of Zurich); Christian Lund (Copenhagen University); Timothy Raeymaekers (University of Zurich) ; Koen Vlassenroot (Ghent University)
Period15-09-2014 - 18-09-2014 (1 weeks)
Target group25 PhD students from social sciences and humanities. Research should be based on fieldwork.
Course aimThis summer school aims for a better understanding of the complex relations between public authority and property in conflict settings, by bringing together PhD students from a number of disciplines in social sciences and humanities with some of the protagonists of the current debate on power, public authority and property. Through lectures by leading authors in these debates and the in-depth discussion of PhD students research papers by international experts, it provides a key opportunity not only for PhD students to present and discuss their work with senior researchers in the field, but also to further the debate in this emerging field.
Credits0.0 ECTS creditsA number of ECTS credits will be awarded pending decision of the doctoral schools committee.
Course feeEUR 375[Convert to USD]Includes all course related costs, as well as 3 nights accommodation and all meals.
Course leaderprof Koen Vlassenroot (Ghent University)prof Christian Lund (University of Copenhagen)prof Timothy Raeymaekers (University of Zurich)
Ghent University Conflict Research GroupAddress: Universiteitsstraat 8, Ghent
Postal code: 9000
City: Ghent
Country: Belgium
Website: http://www.psw.ugent.be/crg/summerschool.aspx
E-mail: crg.summerschool2014@ugent.be
Phone: +3292646766
