Project Details
Projekt
Charity. A praxeological approach to practices of help under urban conditions
Applicant
Professor Dr. Johannes Moser
Subject Area
Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
Term
from 2018 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 240207984
The proposed ethnographic study focuses on a diverse range of practices that are producing relationships and constellations of help. Starting from two research fields the project is interested in the correlations between ethical subjectivations, affective and bodily aspects of ethical practices and the imaginations of a good conduct of life in the urban context, and, specifically, the city of Munich. Specific milieus claim that solidarizing with the poor and the marginalized members of society is an alternative way of conducting life by specific milieus. The ideal of a solidary city can be connected to the perceptions of growing political and economic destabilization in Europe and beyond. On the one hand support for precarious milieus seems to be a central field for ethical subjectivations. On the other hand, helping others is also criticized in political debates, in self reflections of the socially engaged and by the ones who are meant to be supported. In light of these developments the project aims to understand the self-perceptions and processes of subjectivations of the ones that are trying to help as well as of those who are receiving, denying or adapting to support. What ideal urban society do they imagine? What are the economic or political orders that are questioned by the practices and which ones do they uphold and stabilize? The planned ethnographic study is focusing not only on the perceptions and imaginations of relations of help but is also interested in bodily and material aspects of charity as well as in the influence of emotional and affective patterns. Conceptually the study is linked to the research group urban ethics insofar as it puts the research questions in terms of the group’s shared perspectives. Using the concept of “Multiple responsibilities” (Trnka/ Trundle 2017) the project aims to gain more insight into the correlations between practices of social creativity and techniques of government. The constitution of ethical subjects and the power of ethics play key roles in relations and practices of charity. In Germany, Munich is often presented as the “city with heart”: a warm and cozy place where inhabitants care for each other. That is at odds with the fact that housing prices and costs of living are relatively high and with the city’s image as being utterly exclusive. The research links the focused practices of help to specific milieus, to urban conditions and the imaginaire of the city of Munich. It is concentrated on two research fields in the local context of Munich: a creative-liberal initiative that seeks to care for refugees and puts political pressure on the city administration and a catholic institution that aims to support women and families. By methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews the ethnography tries to concentrate on the daily routines of help as well as the self-perceptions and ethical discourses of those involved.
DFG Programme
Research Units
