T Bierschenk
Biographic Data
| ID | 3320 |
|---|---|
| NAME | T Bierschenk |
| GIVEN NAMES | T |
| FAMILY NAME | Bierschenk |
| SIGNATURE | BIERSCHENK T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2423-7358 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 294 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Postscript Anthropology, Bureaucracy and Paperwork
F or a long time, anthropologists shied away from the study of bureau- cracy.In fact, the ethnographic study of bureaucracy was largely initiated outside anthropology -that is, in political science -with Michael Lipsky's (1980) seminal study on street-level bureaucrats, as well as in sociology (Crozier 1963), while in anthropology early authors like Don Handelman and Elliot Leyton (1978), Gerald Britan andRonald Cohen (1980) and Josiah Heyman (19…
Rassismus
Bureaucratic Intimacies: Translating Human Rights in Turkey
Depuis la fin des années 1990, l’anthropologie de l’État contemporain a émergé comme un domaine distinct au sein de la discipline. Le regard ethnographique que portent les anthropologues sur l’État moderne s’est concentré sur le fonctionnement routinier des appareils d’État, c’est-à-dire sur l’État « en chantier » tel que le vivent au quotidien les fonctionnaires et les citoyens. Les anthropologues, mais aussi les politologues inspirés par les mé…
The Political Anthropology of Internationalized Politics
Does the International Relations (IR) subdiscipline of political science need approaches from anthropology? In particular, should it utilise anthropology’s core methodology, ethnography? The editors and contributors to this volume believe that the answer is yes, and thus contribute to an ongoing conversation. Here and there over the last 20 years, English-speaking political scientists have propagated an ‘ethnographic turn’ (see also an earlier co…
Bureaucratic Intimacies: Translating Human Rights in Turkey
One indication of the quality of a scholarly study is surely the extent to which it passes the test of time. Babül's study of how universal human rights discourses are translated into local contexts in European Union training courses for Turkish government officials passes this test with flying colors. Even five years after its publication, this book is well worth reading. Babül shows how human rights principles are negotiated in these trainings.…
Ethnographies of entrepreneurs, business associations and rentier capitalism in Africa: Introduction
Introduction, research question, theses Twenty years after The Economist called Africa “the hopeless continent” (13 May 2000), the view has profoundly changed. At least until the pandemic, the effects of which are unclear at the present time, the dominant mood had been decidedly positive, one of “Lions on the Move”. This euphoria was supported by perceived dynamics in economic fields like agriculture, mobile phones, microfinance and supermarkets …
Business associations in Benin “at work”. The paradoxes of private sector development
Répondant à l’attente des chercheurs et des praticiens du développement selon laquelle des associations d’entreprises fortes sont d’une importance particulière pour le développement économique, cet article analyse le fonctionnement réel de ces associations en république du Bénin. Dans ce pays, les grandes organisations fonctionnent en étroite relation avec la politique et l’État, le gouvernement essayant de les contrôler par une politique de divi…
Anthropology and development in Germany: A history of the present
The history of anthropology’s engagement with development in the post-World War II German-speaking world (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) can be divided into three phases: from being strongly rejected by most professorial chair holders (to around 1980), through the emergence of a subfield of anthropology (from 1980) and into the mainstream of the discipline (since around 2000). However, this perspective presupposes a broad definition of “anthro…
Afterword: Brokerage as social practice
This afterword argues for a narrow and analytically strong concept of brokerage, which is oriented towards the classical definition by Boissevain. His ideal type emphasises the agency of brokers who actively pursue their own interests and act at an equal distance to the groups between which they mediate. Furthermore, the text argues for thinking of brokerage as a bundle of social practices instead of as brokers in the sense of a social type. Whil…
Bureaucrats as Para-Ethnologists: The Use of Culture in State Practices
Postface
This postface links the contributions to this special issue to wider concerns in the anthropology of bureaucracy and the history of this disciplinary subfield. Anthropologists focus on documentary practices: how documents are produced, how they are being used (not always in the sense originally given to them by the producers), how they might be ‘brokered’ and how they are being contested – mostly by the production of other documents. The postface…
How to study bureaucracies ethnographically
We propose a short epistemological and methodological reflection on the challenges of doing ethnographical research on public services ('bureaucracies') from the inside. We start from the recognition of the double face of bureaucracy, as a form of domination and oppression as well as of protection and liberation, and all the ambivalences this dialectic entails. We argue that, in classical Malinowskian fashion, the anthropology of bureaucracy shou…
Commentary: Ethnography, critique and the state. Some thoughts on “fiscal anthropological insights into the heart of contemporary statehood” 1
This commentary explores the assets and liabilities of anthropology for the study of core functions of statehood (such as taxation) that increasingly become a matter of transnational negotiation and norm-making. It takes issue with some anthropologists’ counter-hegemonic self-positioning, calling upon anthropologists to think harder about the conditions and challenges of studying highly formalized expert knowledge and the epistemological reflecti…
Ethnologie und außeruniversitäre Praxis
In der akademischen Ethnologie wird häufig verdrängt, dass die meisten Absolventen und Absolventinnen heute außerhalb der Universität arbeiten, die wenigsten Dozenten aber diese Berufswelt aus eigener Anschauung kennen. Dabei gibt es mittlerweile vermutlich auch in Deutschland mehr nicht-akademische als akademische Ethnologen. An der Universität wird jedoch wenig darüber reflektiert, welche Kompetenzen das Studium der Ethnologie vermittelt, die f…
World Anthropology with an Accent: The Discipline in Germany since the 1970s
States at Work: Dynamics of African Bureaucracies
research projects in Sub-Saharan Africa'. We are grateful to the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universitt at Mainz, Germany, which made the preparation of this book possible through its budgetary support, and to LASDEL, Niamey, Niger, which hosted the final conference of the States at Work project in 2009.
Historiciser et localiser les approches1: Anthropologie et développement
Je souhaite saisir l’occasion qui m’est offerte par les organisateurs de ce colloque pour revenir sur le projet de l’APAD auquel j’ai ete intimement associe, et ce pratiquement depuis les debuts de cette entreprise. Une reflexion de ce type me semble particulierement opportune dans le cadre de ce colloque qui a ete concu dans une logique d’etat des lieux et de discussion de nouvelles perspectives. Mon objectif est de situer l’approche de l’APAD d…
Introduction: Continuities, Dislocations and Transformations: 50 Years of Independence in Africa
Many sub-Saharan African countries celebrated 50 years of political independence in 2010. This presented an opportunity for scholars, politicians and journalists, both within and outside of Africa, to take stock. The situation on the African continent has changed fundamentally since 1960. Brief general analyses and reviews can scarcely do justice to the complexity of this development process. The processes of consolidation, differentiation and tr…
Democratization without Development: Benin 1989–2009
The Everyday Functioning of an African Public Service: Informalization, Privatization and Corruption in Benin’s Legal System
On the basis of ethnographic research this paper examines the everyday functioning of the legal system and the common professional practices of its actors in the Republic of Benin.The fundamental functional problems of the Beninese legal system arise from severe personnel, material and technical, organizational and regulatory under-resourcing or misresourcing. In the face of the resultant overloading of the system, the professional legal actors a…
Endangering Development: Politics, projects, and environment in Burkina Faso (review)
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The local appropriation of democracy: An analysis of the municipal elections in Parakou, Republic of Benin, 2002-03
Ever since the 'democratic renewal' of 1989-90, Benin has been regarded as a model democracy in the African context. The holding of local elections in 2002-03 can be seen as the culmination of this turn to democracy. Donors attach high expectations to decentralisation and local democracy. Based on an empirical analysis of municipal elections in Parakou, the country's third-largest city, the paper tries to gauge whether these expectations have bee…
Powers in the Village: Rural Benin Between Democratisation and Decentralisation
The Republic of Benin has often been cited as a model democracy in the African context. After years of pressure from bilateral aid donors, particularly France and Germany, municipal elections were held in 2002. This article addresses three related questions. How have free presidential and parliamentary elections affected political dynamics at the local level, especially in the rural areas where most people live? What do rural people think about t…
"Report of Workshop "Decentralization and Local Politics: Synthèse de l'atelier "Décentralisation et pouvoirs locaux"
Courtiers en developpement: Les villages africains en quete de projets
Powers in the Village: Rural Benin Between Democratisation and Decentralisation
The Republic of Benin has often been cited as a model democracy in the African context. After years of pressure from bilateral aid donors, particularly France and Germany, municipal elections were held in 2002. This article addresses three related questions. How have free presidential and parliamentary elections affected political dynamics at the local level, especially in the rural areas where most people live? What do rural people think about t…
Local Powers and a Distant State in Rural Central African Republic
‘The State Stops at PK 12’ – i.e. 12 kilometres from the capital, Bangui.The situation described by this statement, often heard in the Central African Republic, seems to conform to the objectives of the currently fashionable policies of decentralisation and structural adjustment – for example, to end ‘too much state’. However, the absence of the state in the rural areas of the CAR is so striking that the position in certain respects has almost re…
How to study bureaucracies ethnographically
We propose a short epistemological and methodological reflection on the challenges of doing ethnographical research on public services ('bureaucracies') from the inside. We start from the recognition of the double face of bureaucracy, as a form of domination and oppression as well as of protection and liberation, and all the ambivalences this dialectic entails. We argue that, in classical Malinowskian fashion, the anthropology of bureaucracy shou…
Development Projects as Arenas of Negotiation for Strategic Groups: A case study from Bénin
Les courtiers locaux du développement
Contexte de la rechercheParmi les pays du Sud, les pays africains sont, dans la conjoncture actuelle, ceux qui dépendent le plus de l'aide extérieure, proportionnellement à leurs ressources propres.Cette donnée économique est bien connue, mais elle a des implications proprement sociologiques moins visibles, liées aux modes de circulation et de redistribution de cette "rente du développement".En effet, toute perspective normative ou morale mise à …
Transitions Between Cultivation and Pastoralism in Sub-Saharan Africa [and Comments and Reply]
The local appropriation of democracy: An analysis of the municipal elections in Parakou, Republic of Benin, 2002-03
Ever since the 'democratic renewal' of 1989-90, Benin has been regarded as a model democracy in the African context. The holding of local elections in 2002-03 can be seen as the culmination of this turn to democracy. Donors attach high expectations to decentralisation and local democracy. Based on an empirical analysis of municipal elections in Parakou, the country's third-largest city, the paper tries to gauge whether these expectations have bee…
Development Aid as an Intervention in Dynamic Systems: An Introduction
Ecris: Enquête Collective Rapide d'Identification des conflits et des groupes Stratégiques
Ce sigle ne cache pas une technologie d'enquete cles en main et de courte duree qui entendrait se substituer a l'enquete socio‐anthropologique de moyenne ou de longue duree. Ce n'est donc pas un nouveau produit a placer sur le marche aujourd'hui en expansion des etudes rapides, des enquetes pressees et des evaluations au pas de course . C'est plutot une methode de travail complementaire du terrain classique, lequel reste indispensable et reclame …
Historiciser et localiser les approches1: Anthropologie et développement
Je souhaite saisir l’occasion qui m’est offerte par les organisateurs de ce colloque pour revenir sur le projet de l’APAD auquel j’ai ete intimement associe, et ce pratiquement depuis les debuts de cette entreprise. Une reflexion de ce type me semble particulierement opportune dans le cadre de ce colloque qui a ete concu dans une logique d’etat des lieux et de discussion de nouvelles perspectives. Mon objectif est de situer l’approche de l’APAD d…
Les projets et les politiques de développement, sont‐ils des préoccupations légitimes de l'anthropologie
L'Afrique sub‐saharienne a constitue depuis les annees 70 un point de convergence et de concentration de l'aide internationale au developpement. On essaya avec cette aide d'endiguer la degradation massive de la situation economique de la plupart de ces Etats et, avant tout, celle des conditions de vie de la majorite de leurs populations. Que cette aide au developpement ait pu atteindre ses objectifs est douteux ; meme ses criteres propres de succ…
Democratization without Development: Benin 1989–2009
Postface
This postface links the contributions to this special issue to wider concerns in the anthropology of bureaucracy and the history of this disciplinary subfield. Anthropologists focus on documentary practices: how documents are produced, how they are being used (not always in the sense originally given to them by the producers), how they might be ‘brokered’ and how they are being contested – mostly by the production of other documents. The postface…
Afterword: Brokerage as social practice
This afterword argues for a narrow and analytically strong concept of brokerage, which is oriented towards the classical definition by Boissevain. His ideal type emphasises the agency of brokers who actively pursue their own interests and act at an equal distance to the groups between which they mediate. Furthermore, the text argues for thinking of brokerage as a bundle of social practices instead of as brokers in the sense of a social type. Whil…
The Ethnicisation of Fulani Society in the Borgou Province of Benin by the Ethnologist
Bierschenk Thomas. The Ethnicisation of Fulani Society in the Borgou Province of Benin by the Ethnologist.. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 32, n°127, 1992. pp. 509-520
Bureaucrats as Para-Ethnologists: The Use of Culture in State Practices
Religion and Political Structure: Remarks on Ibadism in Oman and the Mzab (Algeria)
Introduction: Continuities, Dislocations and Transformations: 50 Years of Independence in Africa
Many sub-Saharan African countries celebrated 50 years of political independence in 2010. This presented an opportunity for scholars, politicians and journalists, both within and outside of Africa, to take stock. The situation on the African continent has changed fundamentally since 1960. Brief general analyses and reviews can scarcely do justice to the complexity of this development process. The processes of consolidation, differentiation and tr…
L'État est‐il soluble dans la Société Civile ? Le Bénin Rural avant la Décentralisation
Le Bénin s'est installé depuis 1990 dans une situation de prédécentralisation prolongée dont la pérennisation à leur poste des élus locaux de la transition démocratique, maires et chefs de village, constitue un symbole. Dans ce contexte institutionnel flou, le réaménagement des relations entre "communautés locales" ou "société civile" et État, phénomène inhérent à celles‐ci et stimulé par le changement de régime des années 1989‐90, emprunte des v…
Weltmarkt, Stammesgesellschaft und Staatsformation in Sudostarabien (Sultanat Oman)
Religion and Political Structure: Remarks on Ibadism in Oman and the Mzab (Algeria)
Development Projects as Arenas of Negotiation for Strategic Groups: A case study from Bénin
Development Aid as an Intervention in Dynamic Systems: An Introduction
Les projets et les politiques de développement, sont‐ils des préoccupations légitimes de l'anthropologie
L'Afrique sub‐saharienne a constitue depuis les annees 70 un point de convergence et de concentration de l'aide internationale au developpement. On essaya avec cette aide d'endiguer la degradation massive de la situation economique de la plupart de ces Etats et, avant tout, celle des conditions de vie de la majorite de leurs populations. Que cette aide au developpement ait pu atteindre ses objectifs est douteux ; meme ses criteres propres de succ…
The Ethnicisation of Fulani Society in the Borgou Province of Benin by the Ethnologist
Bierschenk Thomas. The Ethnicisation of Fulani Society in the Borgou Province of Benin by the Ethnologist.. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 32, n°127, 1992. pp. 509-520
Transitions Between Cultivation and Pastoralism in Sub-Saharan Africa [and Comments and Reply]
Les courtiers locaux du développement
Contexte de la rechercheParmi les pays du Sud, les pays africains sont, dans la conjoncture actuelle, ceux qui dépendent le plus de l'aide extérieure, proportionnellement à leurs ressources propres.Cette donnée économique est bien connue, mais elle a des implications proprement sociologiques moins visibles, liées aux modes de circulation et de redistribution de cette "rente du développement".En effet, toute perspective normative ou morale mise à …
Ecris: Enquête Collective Rapide d'Identification des conflits et des groupes Stratégiques
Ce sigle ne cache pas une technologie d'enquete cles en main et de courte duree qui entendrait se substituer a l'enquete socio‐anthropologique de moyenne ou de longue duree. Ce n'est donc pas un nouveau produit a placer sur le marche aujourd'hui en expansion des etudes rapides, des enquetes pressees et des evaluations au pas de course . C'est plutot une methode de travail complementaire du terrain classique, lequel reste indispensable et reclame …
La recherche en sciences sociales au Dahomey et au Bénin depuis les années 1970: L'hégémonie du paradigme développementiste
Ce texte était à l'origine prévu comme partie de l'introduction au dossier sur "Le Bénin" qui était piloté par les deux auteurs pour la revue "Politique Africaine" (n°59, octobre 1995). Vu l'épaisseur du dossier qui dépassait de loin les normes de la revue, il a été décidé d'enlever cette partie. Comme il nous semble que la situation que nous décrivons pour le Bénin est largement comparable à celle d'autres pays africains, nous reproduisons ce te…
Apad 1996: On the move
Like the preceding (n° 11) and subsequent (n° 13) issues, this bulletin is very much focused on the Fourth Biannual APAD Congress (les 4èmesJournées APAD) which was held in June 1996 at the University of Hohenheim at Stuttgart in Germany. The theme of the congress was "Negotiated Development. Brokers, Knowledge Systems, Technologies" . In many respects, the Stuttgart congress continued the traditions initiated at the journées APAD in Paris (1991)…
Ecris: Rapid Collective Inquiry for the Identification of Conflicts and Strategic Groups
ECRIS is the acronym for Enquete Collective Rapide d'ldentification des conflits et des groupes Strategiques. As a methodological framework for the comparative analysis of several sites, ECRIS involves six phases: (1) individual inquiry at each site, (2) a preparatory seminar, (3) the collective inquiry, (4) a collective evaluation seminar, (5) individual research at each site, and (6) a final seminar. The ECRIS procedure has been field-tested in…
Local Powers and a Distant State in Rural Central African Republic
‘The State Stops at PK 12’ – i.e. 12 kilometres from the capital, Bangui.The situation described by this statement, often heard in the Central African Republic, seems to conform to the objectives of the currently fashionable policies of decentralisation and structural adjustment – for example, to end ‘too much state’. However, the absence of the state in the rural areas of the CAR is so striking that the position in certain respects has almost re…
L'État est‐il soluble dans la Société Civile ? Le Bénin Rural avant la Décentralisation
Le Bénin s'est installé depuis 1990 dans une situation de prédécentralisation prolongée dont la pérennisation à leur poste des élus locaux de la transition démocratique, maires et chefs de village, constitue un symbole. Dans ce contexte institutionnel flou, le réaménagement des relations entre "communautés locales" ou "société civile" et État, phénomène inhérent à celles‐ci et stimulé par le changement de régime des années 1989‐90, emprunte des v…
Sciences sociales et coopération en Afrique: Les rendez-vous manqués
Courtiers en developpement: Les villages africains en quete de projets
"Report of Workshop "Decentralization and Local Politics: Synthèse de l'atelier "Décentralisation et pouvoirs locaux"
Powers in the Village: Rural Benin Between Democratisation and Decentralisation
The Republic of Benin has often been cited as a model democracy in the African context. After years of pressure from bilateral aid donors, particularly France and Germany, municipal elections were held in 2002. This article addresses three related questions. How have free presidential and parliamentary elections affected political dynamics at the local level, especially in the rural areas where most people live? What do rural people think about t…
Endangering Development: Politics, projects, and environment in Burkina Faso (review)
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The local appropriation of democracy: An analysis of the municipal elections in Parakou, Republic of Benin, 2002-03
Ever since the 'democratic renewal' of 1989-90, Benin has been regarded as a model democracy in the African context. The holding of local elections in 2002-03 can be seen as the culmination of this turn to democracy. Donors attach high expectations to decentralisation and local democracy. Based on an empirical analysis of municipal elections in Parakou, the country's third-largest city, the paper tries to gauge whether these expectations have bee…
The Everyday Functioning of an African Public Service: Informalization, Privatization and Corruption in Benin’s Legal System
On the basis of ethnographic research this paper examines the everyday functioning of the legal system and the common professional practices of its actors in the Republic of Benin.The fundamental functional problems of the Beninese legal system arise from severe personnel, material and technical, organizational and regulatory under-resourcing or misresourcing. In the face of the resultant overloading of the system, the professional legal actors a…
Democratization without Development: Benin 1989–2009
Historiciser et localiser les approches1: Anthropologie et développement
Je souhaite saisir l’occasion qui m’est offerte par les organisateurs de ce colloque pour revenir sur le projet de l’APAD auquel j’ai ete intimement associe, et ce pratiquement depuis les debuts de cette entreprise. Une reflexion de ce type me semble particulierement opportune dans le cadre de ce colloque qui a ete concu dans une logique d’etat des lieux et de discussion de nouvelles perspectives. Mon objectif est de situer l’approche de l’APAD d…
Introduction: Continuities, Dislocations and Transformations: 50 Years of Independence in Africa
Many sub-Saharan African countries celebrated 50 years of political independence in 2010. This presented an opportunity for scholars, politicians and journalists, both within and outside of Africa, to take stock. The situation on the African continent has changed fundamentally since 1960. Brief general analyses and reviews can scarcely do justice to the complexity of this development process. The processes of consolidation, differentiation and tr…
States at Work: Dynamics of African Bureaucracies
research projects in Sub-Saharan Africa'. We are grateful to the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universitt at Mainz, Germany, which made the preparation of this book possible through its budgetary support, and to LASDEL, Niamey, Niger, which hosted the final conference of the States at Work project in 2009.
Political science (28 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Law (16 works) · Agriculture and Rural Development Research (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Politics (12 works) · Anthropology (11 works) · African Studies and Ethnography (10 works) · Geography (9 works) · Humanities (9 works)