Futures of Indigeneity: Spatiality, Identity Politics and Belonging

‘Indigeneity’ is a continuously contested concept, and a site of socio-cultural (re)presentation of self and others linked to social, cultural and political boundaries and un-boundaries. It is woven together in an intricate web of ideas such as ethnicity, hybridity, authenticity, diaspora, nation and homeland, and the ways those ideas
are formed, developed and “owned.” It also concerns territoriality and ancestral rights over land and hence indigeneity deals with place, space and time with its respective imagining. Once labeled as “backwardness” and inferiority, indigeneity has now increasingly become a source of pride for many of those who claim it as a sign of resilience and embeddedness. As a sign of deep belonging, desired more than discouraged, proclaimed more than disguised as attachment to particular place, culture, social category and nation, it is now
an important source of personal identity. Therefore, the sense of indigeneity begets paradox of identity as it is an encompassing concept entailing the cultural survival of individuals, communities, organizations and nations that ascribe themselves to an idea of
belongingness. The concept of indigeneity and belonging are intimately entwined, inlaid together in conversations about attachment to place, about nationalism and love of country whilst at the same time they are reworked and modified in trans-local and
transnational communicative and interactive processes. Consequently, these concepts intersect with local, national and global socio-political realities on the one hand and, on the other hand, they are confronted with the challenges posed to indigenous aspirations by the neo-liberal agenda of nation-states and their concerns with sovereignty.

In the late 1980s, global academia started paying attention to the interdisciplinary mode of understanding the specialty of spatiality, politics of identity and belonging in relation to notions of indigeneity. Social, political, and cultural matters pertaining to this inter- and trans-disciplinary interest ranging from the micro level affective nature of individual constructions to macro structures of international, transnational, and post-national orders
is fundamentally important. Therefore, the idea of indigeneity is at the center of radical political discourse, serious academic research and public imaginations of personhood and identity.

This workshop aims to address the theoretical, critical and radical aspects of indigeneity in relation to spatiality, identity politics and belonging from cross disciplinary perspectives, bringing together scholars from different disciplines, e.g. anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, history and literary studies. It intends to engage critically in debates on indigeneity in its ideological trajectories to determine its theoretical and political destination. This workshop examines the current state of the idea of indigeneity in a de-territorialized world by exploring the multi-dimensional formations of political and national identity and critically assessing the scalar and temporal dimensions of indigeneity’s sources, contents, and its connectedness with related concepts. Thus, the workshop will especially investigate the inter-relationship of spatiality, identity politics and belongingness
to embark on a deep understanding of the futures of indigeneity.

Organisers

Nasir Uddin (Georg Foster Fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Ruhr University Bochum)

Eva Gerharz (Juniorprofessor, Sociology of Development and Internationalization, Ruhr University Bochum)

Pradeep Chakkarath (Senior Research Fellow, Social Psychology and Anthropology, Ruhr University Bochum)


Contact:

Dr. Nasir Uddin
Faculty of Social Sciences
Ruhr University Bochum
Gebäude GC 05/ 711
Universitätsstr. 150
D-44801 Bochum
Germany
Email: [email protected]
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