Marion Hamm | Uni Wien (original) (raw)

Papers by Marion Hamm

Journal of documentation, May 21, 2024

As social infrastructures, public libraries are increasingly recognised as providing more than ac... more As social infrastructures, public libraries are increasingly recognised as providing more than access to books and information; librarians' work is importantly centred around practices of care. However, the ways in which they provide care is poorly researched, let alone conceptualised. This paper explores how this important part of librarians' daily work is practiced through the lens of infrastructuring. Design/methodology/approach-The paper first theoretically discusses the concepts of social infrastructuring, care and tinkering. Then, it turns to ethnographic research conducted in the public library networks of three European cities: Vienna (Austria), Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Malm€ o (Sweden). The paper comprises empirical materials from all three countries and unpacks 16 librarians' daily working routines of care through participant observations. Findings-The empirical analysis resulted in three modes of social infrastructuring in public libraries: (1) maintaining, (2) building connections and (3) drawing boundaries. Practices of care are prominent in each of these infrastructuring modes: librarians infrastructure the library with and via their care practices. Whilst care practices are difficult to quantify and verbalise, they are valuable for library patrons. By using the concept of tinkering, the article conceptualises librarians' infrastructuring enactments as crucial community-building aspects of libraries. Originality/value-By focusing on the enactment of social infrastructuring, the paper goes beyond a descriptive approach to understanding public libraries as important social infrastructures. Rather, the paper unpacks how libraries come into being as infrastructuring agencies by highlighting what librarians do and say. Our international study articulates the importance of care practices in public libraries across different national contexts.

Kulturanthropologie Notizen, Jun 11, 2024

Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2013

Forschungsjournal soziale Bewegungen, Jun 1, 2006

London, 1. März 2006. Eine kleine, aber laute und von Samba-Rhythmen begleitete Demonstration zie... more London, 1. März 2006. Eine kleine, aber laute und von Samba-Rhythmen begleitete Demonstration zieht von der Passstelle am Ecclestone Square zum Innenministerium in der Marsham Street. Dort wird einem Angestellten des Innenministeriums eine Petition zum Bleiberecht ...

Hamburger Journal für Kulturanthropologie (HJK), Jul 29, 2021

This article introduces ethno-psychoanalytically informed supervision of fieldwork as a methodolo... more This article introduces ethno-psychoanalytically informed supervision of fieldwork as a methodological instrument of reflexive ethnography to the methodological de- bate of the discipline, and aims to strengthen this approach in research and teach- ing. The authors identify a contradiction between recurrent calls for reflexive re- search practices and the simultaneous fending off of (self-)reflexive modes of inter- pretation, which are frequently dismissed as overly psychologising or ‘narcissistic’. Using a case study, they show how in research supervision the process of associative interpretation within a group mirrors the irritation of the researcher and the emo- tional dynamics of the field situation. Taboos, power relations, structures of mean- ing and agency within the field are made visible as scenic arrangements and opened up to reflexive interpretation and objectivation. Supervision helps to resolve re- search blockages and to establish the necessary reflexive distance in re...

"Den volkskundlichen Blick genauer und schärfer zu machen, ohne seine Spezifik und seine Pro... more "Den volkskundlichen Blick genauer und schärfer zu machen, ohne seine Spezifik und seine Problemorientiertheit einzuschränken, ist die Aufgabe der kommenden Jahre. Diese ist nicht lösbar ohne massenhafte Feldstudien und deren regelmäßige und hartnäckige methodische Reflexion." (Utz Jeggle, 1984) Auf 16 Schauplätzen entfaltet sich die Poesie ethnographischer Forschung – in Berührungen, Brechungen und Blockaden. Kulturwissenschaftlerinnen und Kulturwissenschaftler folgen den Wegweisungen ihrer Forschungsfelder von der schwäbischen Provinz bis nach Vietnam, vom Krankenhaus an die Universität, vom Bild zum Körper, vom Internet ins Museum. Sie diskutieren die Potentiale und Problemstellungen methodischer Offenheit und Reflexivität und brechen zu interdisziplinären Grenzgängen auf.

Bilder und Gemeinschaften, 2011

We went from Klagenfurt down to Ljubljana to see the exhibition Casting of Death, which was cleve... more We went from Klagenfurt down to Ljubljana to see the exhibition Casting of Death, which was clever, inspiring and a bit cheeky [ p Casting of death]. Already the poster signalled a departure from what you would normally expect from an artistic research project dealing with death masks in Slovenian archives and collections as an object of study k 39 FIg.1. It showed not a death mask, but a photo depicting the enlarged structure of a cast in plaster, the material quality of the thing rather than the thing itself. The poster looked so tangible I 505

In a village cemetery in Kärnten/Koroška, south of the river Drau, or Drava, we find the gravesto... more In a village cemetery in Kärnten/Koroška, south of the river Drau, or Drava, we find the gravestone of the Polessnig-Schmied family k 15 FIg.1. Its inscription details the names and characteristics of the three people who are buried here, together with the dates of their births and deaths. Reading the gravestone through the lens of contentious heritage [p Contentious heritage] opens up a panorama of Carinthia in the border region between Austria, Slovenia, and Italy, where borders were drawn and re-drawn throughout the 20 th century 197

Based on the Horizon 2020 project TRACES, this chapter introduces contentious heritage as a resea... more Based on the Horizon 2020 project TRACES, this chapter introduces contentious heritage as a research perspective with situates performances of heritage in the field of socio-political conflict, rather than a specific type of heritage, where representations of the past are publicly disputed. Building on critical heritage studies, I argue that to "follow the conflict" is also productive where dissonances are silenced but simmering, as "all heritage is dissonant" (Laurajane Smith).

Heritage tends to be associated with 'things' in need of protection: buildings, objects, memorial... more Heritage tends to be associated with 'things' in need of protection: buildings, objects, memorials, or landscapes. To be acknowledged as heritage, things must be shown, seen, engaged with: heritage needs to be performed. In an influential 1955 lecture entitled How to do things with words, speech act theorist John Austin (1962) outlined how a performative statement changes the very reality it refers to. A much-quoted example is the sentence "I do (sc. take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife)" as uttered in an appropriate setting-403

This dissertation addresses the question of how contemporary social movements use protest media s... more This dissertation addresses the question of how contemporary social movements use protest media strategically in creative and productive ways that go beyond representation. Mediated repertoires of contention are brought into play to create new political subjectivities, establish credible political actors, and circulate struggles across regional and national borders. However, media need to be aligned with specific cultural settings to unfold their performative power. Despite increasing interest for protest media in social movement-and media studies, their culturality has received little theoretical and methodological attention. This dissertation develops a cultural approach to protest media, drawing on critical anthropology, European ethnology, cultural studies, and theories of practice. The research is situated on the micro-political level, while post-operaism, governmentality studies and regulation theory provide a macro-perspective. The study offers a comparative cultural analysis of a trans-urban labour-related movement which mobilised around precarity throughout the 2000s. The most visible public performances were simultaneous Euromayday Parades on International Workers' Day in over 40 European cities. Using complex media arrangements, activists circulated plurivocal imageries of precarity. Methodologically, the research is based on a processual, flexible multi-sited ethnography. It traces imageries circulating in the network and reconstructs their historical and contemporary contexts through participant observation, interviews and extensive online ethnography. This is complemented by visual and textual analysis of selected media products. Following a critical review of cultural perspectives in social movement scholarship, reflexive activist scholarship is presented as a research position between the fields of activism and academia. In addition to a network perspective, detailed case studies in three global cities examine how imageries and narratives of precarity were aligned with everyday life, popular culture, symbolic time and urban space. Specific cultural politics were conductive to the adoption of the precarity frame in some cities (Milan, Hamburg) and led to its abandonment in others (London). Overall, it is argued that protest media were constituent in the formation of the Euromayday movement and central to its performativity. Mediated practices of meaning-making were crucial in generating situated knowledge on precarious conditions, developing new forms of organising and producing empowered political subjectivities based on multiple experiences rather than unity.

Laptops in the park, Bluetooth alerts at the bar, microchips under the dog's skin: wireless t... more Laptops in the park, Bluetooth alerts at the bar, microchips under the dog's skin: wireless technologies like WiFi, GPS, and RFID are changing public space. The world is increasingly traversed by an electronic infrastructure and overlaid with the invisible lines of swiftly evolving alternative cultural and social domains. The traditional physical and social public domain is being supplemented by zones, places and subcultures that transcend the local to interlink with the translocal and the global. Open 11: Hybrid Space asks, "How can individuals and groups appropriate, liberate, or sculpt this hybrid, seemingly flexible space? Where is the 'public' now, and whose spatial, cultural and political strategies will shape it?"

Ethnografie und Deutung, 2017

Dass die ethnografische Forschung nach Reflexion ihrer Zugangsweisen und Ergebnisse verlangt, ist... more Dass die ethnografische Forschung nach Reflexion ihrer Zugangsweisen und Ergebnisse verlangt, ist heute fast schon ein Allgemeinplatz. So einmutig diese Forderung gestellt wird, so vielfaltig und unterschiedlich sind die Ansatze ihrer Umsetzung. Oft erfahren wir in publizierten Studien vieles uber den Forschungsprozess und zahlreiche Methodenhandbucher bieten Anleitungen fur das Auswerten und Kodieren.

Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 2015

The concept of participation is currently evoked by constituencies as varied as urban planners, l... more The concept of participation is currently evoked by constituencies as varied as urban planners, local governments, universities and social movements. This coincides with a revival of participatory research methods in the social and cultural sciences. This article argues that the critical potential of participatory research methods should not be taken for granted in cognitive capitalism, where participation is as much an instrument for governmental regulation from above as it is a practice for democratic self-determination from below. First, the politics of participation from the emancipatory departures of the 1970s to today's revival are being discussed. Second, based on a long-term ethnographic study on the transnational Euromayday movement of the precarious, it is demonstrated how positioning the researcher using reflexive ethnography can support a critical research attitude through a process of reflexive hybridisation. In concluding, reflexive activist scholarship is outlined...

Journal of documentation, May 21, 2024

Kulturanthropologie Notizen, Jun 11, 2024

Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2013

Forschungsjournal soziale Bewegungen, Jun 1, 2006

Hamburger Journal für Kulturanthropologie (HJK), Jul 29, 2021

Bilder und Gemeinschaften, 2011

Ethnografie und Deutung, 2017

Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 2015

At the time of writing, it is becoming prevalent that European states-or even Europe itself-are f... more At the time of writing, it is becoming prevalent that European states-or even Europe itself-are facing a crisis of democracy. In parliaments, governments and civil society, positions on the extreme right are increasing, the democratic legitimacy of the European Union is challenged by a variety of actors in several member states. This crisis is currently most prominent in the negotiations about the United Kingdom''s exit from the European Union, where democracy is evoked by all parts of a heavily divided body politics [p Restaging the

Contentious heritages and arts : a critical companion, 2021

Creating new imaginations of Europe by transmitting contentious cultural heritages in art-based t... more Creating new imaginations of Europe by transmitting contentious cultural heritages in art-based transdisciplinary teams involving heritage providers, artists and researchers Klagenfurt, August 10 th , 2019 TRACES European Policy Brief Traces-Innen-RZ_APPENDIX.indd 1083 26.03.21 14:39

Contentious Heritages and Arts : A Critical Companion, 2021

Metropolitan neighbourhoods are facing aggravated state-led gentrification. Blacker Dread, a well... more Metropolitan neighbourhoods are facing aggravated state-led gentrification. Blacker Dread, a well-respected member of the black Afro-Caribbean community who used to run a record store in Brixton, a neighbourhood in the London borough of Lambeth, tells a journalist: "We have this little joke. We've taken the B off Brixton and we call it Rixton […]. The B stands for all the black people who had to move out" (Walker 2018). Figures from the National Office of Statistics confirm his statement. ...

In: Contentious Cultural Heritages and Arts. A Critical Companion, ed. by M. Hamm, K. Schönberger, 2021

In: Widerständigkeiten des Alltags, ed. by M. Hamm, U. Holfelder, C. Ritter, A. Schwell, O. Sutter (with J. Schemmer), 2019

Wie die Geschichte des bewaffneten Widerstands im von den Natio-nalsozialisten besetzten Europa e... more Wie die Geschichte des bewaffneten Widerstands im von den Natio-nalsozialisten besetzten Europa erinnert und gedeutet wird, ist Gegen-stand komplexer Aushandlungen. Das zeigt sich etwa in der Figur des Partisanen / der Partisanin in widerständigen und hegemonialen Erinnerungskulturen. Anhand dreier YouTube Clips zum Einsatz von Bella Ciao als Provokation, Konsens, und populistische Strategie diskutieren wir Partisanenerinnerung in Italien und weltweit als umstrittenes Kulturerbe. Angesichts des gegenwärtigen Aufstiegs der extremen Rechten und den damit verbundenen Symbolkämpfen zeigen wir, wie lebendige Erinnerung an die antifaschistischen Kämpfe im zweiten Weltkrieg bis heute eine Ressource ist für Praktiken des Protestierens und die Produktion widerständiger Haltungen.

in: Widerständigkeiten des Alltags. Beiträge zu einer empirischen Kulturanalyse, ed. by M. Hamm, U. Holfelder, C. Ritter, A. Schwell, O. Sutter. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Drava, 6-21, 2019

Ethnografie und Deutung. Ethnografische Gruppensupervision als Methode reflexiven Forschens, 2017

This comprehensive volume introduces and discusses methods of ethnographic fieldwork focussing on... more This comprehensive volume introduces and discusses methods of ethnographic fieldwork focussing on collective reflection in interdisciplinary supervision groups and interpretative workshops.

In: Eingreifen, Kritisieren, Verändern!? Interventionen ethnographisch und gendertheoretisch, ed. by Beate Binder, Friedrich von Bose, Katrin Ebell, Sabine Hess, Anika Keinz, 2013

In: Acht Stunden aber wollen wir Mensch sein. Der 1. Mai. Geschichte und Geschichten, ed. by W. Maderthaner and M. Maier, Jan 1, 2010

In: Bilder und Gemeinschaft, ed. by B. Fricke, M. Klammer & S. Neuner. München: Fink (eikones), 2010

In: Arbeit und Nicht-Arbeit: Entgrenzungen und Begrenzungen von Lebensbereichen und Praxen, ed. by G. Herlyn; J. Müske; K. Schönberger; O. Sutter, 2009

Performative Repräsentationen prekärer Arbeit: Mediatisierte Bilderproduktion in der EuroMayDay B... more Performative Repräsentationen prekärer Arbeit: Mediatisierte Bilderproduktion in der EuroMayDay Bewegung Entstanden im Rahmen des vom SNF geförderten Projekts "Medien des Protests Protest als Medium". Literaturangabe:Hamm, Marion; Stephan Adolphs (2009): Peıformative Repräsentationen prekärer Arbeit: Medíatísierte Bilderproduktion in der EuroMayDay Bewegung. ln: Gerrit Herlyní Johannes Müske/ Klaus Schönberger/ Ove Sutter (Hrsg.): Arbeit und Nicht Arbeit: Entgrenzungen und Begrenzungen von Lebensbereichen und Praxen. München/Mering: Rainer Hampp Verlag. S. 315 340.

In: Von Neuer Unterschicht und Prekariat, ed. by C. Altenhain et al., Jan 1, 2008

In: Dating.21 - Liebesorganisation und Verabredungskulturen, ed. by M. Ries, H. Fraueneder, K. Mairitsch. Bielefeld: Transcript, 207-224 (with O. Marchart and S. Adolphs), Jan 1, 2007

Publicum. Theorien der Öffentlichkeit, ed. by G. Raunig. Wien:Turia & Kant, 176-186, 2005

First published in republicart.net: http://republicart.net/disc/publicum/hamm04\_de.htm

in: Bildräume und Raumbilder. Repräsentationskritik in Film und Aktivismus, ed. by G. Raunig. Wien:Turia & Kant, 34-44, Jan 1, 2004

First published in http://republicart.net/disc/realpublicspaces/hamm02\_de.htm.

In: Die Poesie des Feldes. Beiträge zur ethnographischen Kulturanalyse, ed M. Hamm, K. Eisch, Jan 1, 2001

Die Poesie des Feldes : Beiträge zur ethnographischen Kulturanalyse, 2001

Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser Verlag/Založba Wieser, 2021

Marion Hamm, Ute Holfelder, Christian Ritter, Alexandra Schwell, Ove Sutter (eds), Klagenfurt/Celovec:Drava, 2019

36 Autor*innen setzen sich mit Widerständigkeiten des Alltags auseinander, mit Bezug auf Arbeitsk... more 36 Autor*innen setzen sich mit Widerständigkeiten des Alltags auseinander, mit Bezug auf Arbeitskulturen, Protestpraktiken, kulturwissenschaftliche Technikforschung sowie Kunst und Ethnografie.

ed. by J. Bonz, K. Eisch-Angus, M. Hamm, A. Sülzle. Wiesbaden:Springer VS, 2017

Ethnografische Feldforschung hat das Ziel, Annäherungen an das Wirklichkeitserleben und die alltäglichen Handlungspraxen anderer Menschen zu ermöglichen. Der Forschungsprozess zeichnet sich durch eine Komplexität aus, die selbst für qualitative empirische Sozialforschung ungewöhnlich ist; die gewonnenen Daten sind sehr vielschichtig. Die ethnografische Gruppensupervision für Feldforschende ist eine Antwort auf diese Herausforderungen. Der Band stellt dieses Instrumentarium zur Reflexion und Auswertung ethnografischer Feldforschungen in Form von methodologischen Erläuterungen und Praxisbeispielen vor.

PhD Thesis, University of Lucerne, Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences (submitted 2011), 2015

"Performing Protest" offers a cultural approach to protest media. I argue that social movements u... more "Performing Protest" offers a cultural approach to protest media. I argue that social movements use protest media strategically in creative and productive ways that go beyond representation. Based on a multi-sited and digital ethnography of the trans-urban EuroMayDay movement I show that protest media were constituent in its formation and central to its performativity. Contrasting my own position between the fields of activism and academia with formats of participatory or un-biased research, I come up with the concept of 'reflexive activist scholarship'.

Throughout the 2000s, the simultaneous Euromayday Parades on International Workers’ Day in over 40 European cities were highly visible public performances. Using complex media arrangements, activists circulated plurivocal imageries of precarity. Mediated repertoires of contention established credible political actors, and circulated struggles across regional and national borders.

Despite increasing interest for protest media in social movement- and media studies, their culturality had received little theoretical and methodological attention at the time of writing. I reviewed approaches from social movement scholarship, critical anthropology, European ethnology, and cultural studies, as well as theories of practice, post-operaism, and governmentality.

My research is based on a processual, flexible multi-sited ethnography, and grounded in micro-politics. I traced imageries circulating in the Euromayday network, and contextualised their historical and contemporary contexts through digital ethnography, participatant observation and, most importantly, formal and informal interviews with activists. This enabled visual and textual analysis of selected media products, and a comparative study of the precarity frame in the global cities of Milan, London and Hamburg as well as from a network perspective.

I found that media need to be aligned with specific cultural settings to unfold their performative power. Imageries and narratives of precarity were aligned with everyday life, popular culture, symbolic time and urban space. Mediated practices of meaning-making generated situated knowledge on precarious conditions, empowered political subjectivities based on difference, and contributed to new forms of organising.

Katharina Eisch, Marion Hamm (eds), 2001

Projektgruppe LUI, Bernd Jürgen Warneken, Marion Hamm et al., Jan 1, 1991