--- ONLINE --- STIBET WS | "Recycling" Concepts or How to Re/Write Your Theoretical Framework --- ONLINE ---

Influenced by the notion of "travelling concepts" (Bal 2002), this workshop aims to show how "to recycle" with both academic rigour and creativity a concept with a "long history" when writing your theoretical framework. It is expected to improve the critical thinking, regarding especially the reformulation of established concepts, and to find new applications in current projects (PhD students), future projects (prospective candidates), or in the academic context (all students).

        The first input is the case-study of my own process of re/writing the theoretical framework for the dissertation project. The participants are invited to accompany me in the "personal search inspired by a concept" (Muraro 2018), that is the postcolonial concept of "hybridity" (Bhabha 1994), to witness how different disciplines and related theories, from Women´s History, Religious Studies to Nationalism Studies, are being put in dialogue. Then, the participants are introduced to the notion of "translation" (Bachmann-Medick 2014) as a thinking technique. Finally, they are asked to creatively use it for re/writing their own theoretical framework in an individual thinking process.

      In order to make the workshop as fruitful as possible, the applicants should prepare a short outline of maximum one page about their interests which will be discussed collectively. When writing this, the following questions might be of help:

- what is the most important concept for my project or studies?

- what is its genealogy?

- which are the disciplines I am most interested in?

- what are the elements of my project or research interests that allow me to transcend the boundaries of my discipline (e.g. topic, historical context, theories)?

       The participants are also invited to bear in mind these questions for the writing activity during the workshop.

      The four-hour workshop will be divided as follows:

1. Introduction to the selected bibliography, presentation of my own theoretical framework elaboration process and thinking technique (45 minutes)

Break: 15 minutes

2. Open discussion about participants´ interests and "struggles"  (45 minutes)

Break: 15 minutes

3. Writing activity (45 minutes)

Break: 15 minutes

4. Presentation of the results and discussion about the results/method: 45 minutes

Conclusion: 15 minutes

Mandatory bibliography:

Bachmann-Medick, Doris, From Hybridity to Translation: Reflections on Travelling Concepts, pp. 119-136, in D. Bachmann-Medick, (Ed.), "The trans/national study of culture: A translational perspective", De Gruyter 2014.

Optional bibliography:

Bal, Mieke, Travelling concepts in the humanities. A rough guide, Univ. of Toronto Press, Toronto 2002, "Introduction", pp. 22-55.

Muraro, Luisa, The symbolic order of the mother, State University of New York, Albany, NY 2018, "The Difficulty of Beginning", pp. 1-15.

\\ Laura Popa (GCSC)