Department of social anthropology seminar with Jason Sumich

The Department of Social Anthropology has the pleasure to invite you to a seminar with Jason Sumich from the Department of Anthropology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He will present the following paper:

"The Uncertainty of Nationalism: Alienation, the Middle Class and Narrative in Maputo" 

Abstract
Recent debates concerning governance in Africa and beyond have tended to focus on the techniques of rule. The ethnography in this article outlines the perspective of members of the ‘middle class’ in Maputo, Mozambique. I argue that the underlying legitimacy of the state’s nationalist vision, the reason one has the right to rule, is as important as the policies enacted. In the following I explore how members of a group that largely owe their positions to the current political structure are also increasingly alienated by it.

Bionote
Dr Jason Sumich is a research fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has studied social anthropology at University of Cape Town and completed a PhD in social anthropology at the London School of Economics. He has worked at the LSE and University of Pretoria before joining NTNU. His work focus on nationalism, legitimacy, democratization and the middle class in Mozambique.


All interested are welcome!

Best regards
BSAS Comittee