The concept of ‘minority’ has been profusely used by academics from a diverse variety of fields for a long time (e.g. Wirth, 1941; Amrsfoort, 1978, Barzilai, 2010). Assumed as it was that the establishment of a shared conceptual frame that could work across a wide diversity of historical and social scenarios would grant collectivities the possibility to claim a number of rights based on their distinctiveness. Yet, the concept has undergone a series of revisionist trends and been criticised in a number of ways; whether for imposing a single way of thinking about diversity, and excluding the possibility to think about sameness and difference in other ways, for the lack of relatedness to the emic constructions of collective identity that exist in many societies across the globe, or for its restricted association to discrimination and the numerous difficulties associated to its applicability (Wilkinson 2000; Shahabuddin 2021). In this workshop we aim at facilitating a conversation on the usefulness of the concept of minority as well as on the strengths and weaknesses presented by developing a frame that allows for the comparative scrutiny of distinct collectivities based on cultural, sexual, religious, ethnic or social differentiation. Rather than intending to produce yet a newer definition of the term, the workshop seeks to shed light on the specific obstacles and advantages that the current conceptual frame poses in a number of case studies as we have perceived them in our study of diverse African locales. Thence, we seek to problematise and to open a conversation about the meaningfulness of the minority concept by looking at it from a diversity of contexts and disciplines, within the wide scope of academic research focusing on African contexts.
With that idea in mind the workshop discusses a number of issues in relation to the applicability of the concept of minority in the cases presented:
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In what ways does the concept of minority illuminates and/or obscures claims enunciated by the distinct group?
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In what ways does the concept of minority is understood as to be ‘neutral’ and/or politically charged?
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In which ways the concept of minority promotes or hinders particular aspects in the study of social, sexual, cultural, religious or ethnic difference?
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In what regards does the concept of minority provide an adequate analytical frame to understand enunciations of sameness and of difference? And are there alternatives in place?
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What strengths and weaknesses can be identified in the use of the minority concept as a representational and analytical medium?
Participants:
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Fatoumata Keïta | Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Université des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines of Bamako.
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Silvia Gagliardi | Research Fellow at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin.
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Asebe Regassa | Senior Research Fellow in Political Geography, University of Zürich and Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies at Dilla University.
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Florian Elliker | Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of St Gallen.
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Moza Jadeed | Lecturer in Law, School of Law, University of Nairobi
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Kebene Wodajo | Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Business Ethics, University of St Gallen.
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Marta Domínguez Díaz | Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, University of St Gallen.