UPDATES REGARDING THIS COURSE & THE CURRENT SITUATION
Dear students,
special challenges require extraordinary measurements. This also affects our course!
Long story short: this course will take place but, due to public regulations, with a delay of two weeks. Accordingly, we will start on Wednesday, 22nd of April instead of 8th of April. It, therefore, implies an adaptation of the originally scheduled time- and work-frames. However, I am convinced that we will be able to sort it out and thus want to ask you to apply to my following suggestions:
As we are not able to warrant seminars in a face-to-face situation, I am preparing ways and facilities to interact in terms of e-learning. This format has been suggested by the University of Münster and related tools will be distributed. I am still sorting out how to organize the various requirements of the course organization but I believe that it meets your interests to contribute with suggestions and ideas. So, please feel your self invited to share your thoughts, fears, ideas, suggestions...
Throughout the next days, I will develop an e-learnig portal via Learnweb and will post further information, ideas, and strategies. To be able to share the newest developments with you, I need you to get into contact with me (helmar.kurz@wwu.de), if possible with your @uni-muenster contact. I will then add you to the course at Learnweb and keep you informed. Please, do not hesitate to contact me with any difficulty and try to check daily or at least every second day to stay updated. Who by the the 20th of April still has not received any information, PLEASE CONTACT ME!!!
This way, I am confident that we will be able to maintain our project and studies and even create innovative approaches for an anthropology of the 21st century.
Let's go for it ...all the best,
Helmar Kurz.
The course ”(Mental) Health and Wellbeing in Social Anthropology” will complement the mandatory seminar on ”Translocal Relationships” by Prof. Dr. Helene Basu. It aims at deepening the knowledge on distinct research fields such as trans/cultural psychiatry, medical & religious anthropology, and migration. We will discuss ethnographic accounts, methodological approaches, and theoretical interpretations on practices regarding (mental) health & wellbeing.
Participants acquire theoretical knowledge of various scientific and non-scientific cultural discourses of (mental) health and wellness and how they are negotiated in practice. The focus in on intercultural interactions, conflicts, and cooperation or complement. Students will regularly read and discuss relevant literature and will at least once prepare a team presentation and/or organize an entire session. The design of the course will be relatively open, as it should provide spaces for personal interests and to develop short-term placements and/or research. For example, the study of therapeutic advertisements in Münster's weekly published student guide ”Na Dann...” offers a great variety of practices and discourses to be explored in small-scale projects. These might become a starting point for future elaboration and specification towards research projects in subsequent modules and the master thesis.
Within the first two sessions, students are able to co-design the course with their plans, wishes, and suggestions. We will then focus on relevant theoretical, methodological, and ethnographic literature as a base for deeper exploration of specific topics and practices.
The course will be supported by the online format of LearnWeb and according to how projects develop, single sessions might be substituted by practical engagement and/or group work. In this case, the learning process will be guided by Helmar Kurz via LearnWeb and private consultation.
To warrant a maximum of learning experience and success, participants are invited to communicate suggestions, topics, ideas, and plans in advance to: helmar.kurz@wwu.de
- Lehrende/r: Helmar Kurz