• Twitter
  • Facebook

Workshop on “Teaching IR Globally”

Introduction

The “World International Studies Committee” (WISC) and the “Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study” (JIAS) will organize a Workshop on “Teaching IR Globally” from 22–25 January 2018. IR scholars from a variety of countries (see below for a complete list of countries) will discuss how “International Relations” (IR) as an academic discipline is and should be taught globally. Is or must IR teaching necessarily be biased towards a “national” perspective or is it possible (and if so how) to break free from a “methodological nationalism” in which so many academics in the social sciences and humanities seem to be trapped? If a “view from nowhere” is impossible, how should the discipline reflect on this (potentially) inevitable perspectivity?

WISC seeks to bring together academics globally to explore different aspect of international studies from a multitude of perspectives. This includes especially scholars from the Global South. With this goal in mind WISC has already funded a variety of so-called “Exploratory Workshops” in the Global South. Two international workshops for Early Career Researchers on the theme “World Order and Peace. International Politics in the 21st Century in a Global Perspective” will be co-sponsored in December 2017 and later in 2018. Collaboration with JIAS on the workshop “Teaching IR Globally” is part of this endeavor of reaching out beyond the Northern hemisphere.

Final List of Participants

  • Jacqueline De Matos Ala
  • Alexander Astrov
  • Navnita Behera
  • Siba Grovogui
  • Gunther Hellmann
  • Benjamin Herborth
  • Amy Niang
  • Meera Sabaratnam
  • Karen Smith
  • Arlene B. Tickner
  • Ole Weaver
  • Heloise Weber
  • Martin Weber
  • Peter Vale

 

Updated Version of the Program

(Sat, 20 Jan 2018)

Monday, 22 January 2018

Morning

Participants arrive

13:00 – 14:00

Light Lunch

14:15 – 15:30

Opening Session:

- Welcome (Peter Vale and Gunther Hellmann)

- Theme and Aim of the Workshop

15:30 – 16:00

Coffee Break

16:00 – 18:00

Workshop Session I: Delimiting the Subject Matter: ‘International Relations’

Speakers: Siba Grovogui, Meera Sabaratnam and Ole Wæver

19:00

Dinner at JIAS catered by "Lucky Bean"

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

7:30 – 8:45

Breakfast

09:00 – 10:30

Workshop Session II: ‘Introducing’ IR at BA Level – Theory and Subject Matter

Speakers: Jacqui Ala, Navnita Behera, Gunther Hellmann

10:30 – 11:00   

Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00

Workshop Session III: Teaching/ Introducing IR at MA level

Speakers: Alexander Astrov, Amy Niang, Karen Smith

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch

14:30 – 18:00

Excursion to Apartheid Musuem

19:00

Dinner at “Dosa Hut”

Wednesday, 24 January 2018

7:30 – 08:45

Breakfast

09:00 – 10:30

Workshop Session IV: Special Themes at MA Level

Speakers: Arlene Tickner, Heloise Weber

10:30 – 11:00   

Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00

Workshop Session V: Research Design, Methods and Didactics

Speakers: Benjamin Herborth, Martin Weber

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch

14:30 – 18:30

Excursion to Soweto

19:00

Dinner Johannesburg Country Club

Thursday, 25 January 2018

7:30 – 08:45

Breakfast

09:00 – 10:30

Workshop Session VI: IR, ‘Science’, Epistemology and all that

Speakers: Everybody – Key Question: (How) Should we relate in terms of teaching?

10:30 – 11:00   

Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00

Workshop Concluding Session

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch

Afternoon

Free Time / Participants prepare for departure

 


 


E-BOOK: Teaching IR Globally


Title: Teaching IR Globally
Editor: Gunther Hellmann
Format: E-book (free pdf)
Year: 2023
Number of pages: 140
ISBN (e-book): 978-65-88831-81-6
© Editora PUC-Rio


This volume Teaching IR Globally engages with and contributes to the current debate on non-Western and alternative approaches to the discipline of international relations (IR) and the study of global politics.

It is the result of the workshop held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2018, under the auspices of the World International Studies Committee (WISC), this collection of short essays on the craft of teaching accompanied by sample syllabi is unique in that it specifically addresses not how to undertake effective research on or in global IR, but rather how to teach IR globally to students at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

This e-book is a partnership between WISC, the International Political Sociology Winter School and the journal Contexto Internacional: Journal of Global Connections—the latter both based at the Institute of International Relations of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. WISC and Contexto Internacional gratefully acknowledge the financial support of IPS Winter School, and we thank especially João Pontes Nogueira of IRI, PUC-Rio.

_________________________________

About the Editor:

Gunther Hellmann Professor of Political Science at Goethe University, Frankfurt (Germany). His research interests are in the fields of international relations theory and social theory, especially pragmatism, foreign policy analysis, specifically German and European foreign policy, and international security, particularly transatlantic and European security.