Papers by Sina Wohlgemuth
Sociologia Ruralis, 2019
The active involvement of local residents in development projects has become a keystone in curren... more The active involvement of local residents in development projects has become a keystone in current rural governance arrangements in the European Union. The latter's rural development programme LEADER is an example of this, as it requests local residents to take action in the development process. Yet, despite the strong emphasis on 'participation' in policy texts and rhetoric, there is only a formalistic definition of what 'participation' as involvement and activation of local residents actually means and how it should be put into practice. Drawing on data gathered during ethnographic fieldwork in two LEADER regions and the insights of practice and performance theory, this article argues that because of this indeterminacy, 'participation' as a social practice must first be realised and defined in a performative way, i.e., it must be practiced, negotiated and legitimised in specific physical-spatial settings. These settings serve as local arenas of participatory rural governance in which local residents are activated and involved in the implementation of LEADER projects. Assuming certain roles and carrying out specific activities related to material artefacts, they negotiate the meaning of 'participation' as a social practice.
From a tragic, neglected place to a dynamic, regenerated district of “universal value” – the mean... more From a tragic, neglected place to a dynamic, regenerated district of “universal value” – the meanings of Krakow’s historic Jewish area Kazimierz have dramatically changed in the last century. Local civic initiatives as well as international institutions such as the Council of Europe highlight the values of the rich Jewish cultural heritage especially in regard to the building of a European identity. This evokes questions about how, on a local level, the handling of Jewish heritage contributes to the creation of a European civil society. What meanings and purposes do civic agents ascribe to Jewish heritage and what role does Europe play in this process? These questions are particularly important in regard to the cultural anthropological definition of heritage, which focuses on the creational and inventive aspect of heritage for present purposes. This paper deals with the reinterpretation of local cultural heritage in a European context, based on qualitative interviews with agents of ...
Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
The paper follows the different moments of translation when LEADER, the EU development programme ... more The paper follows the different moments of translation when LEADER, the EU development programme for rural areas, is put into practice on the local level. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered during several field observations and semistructured interviews from two LEADER regions in Germany, we analyse how the interpretive repertoire of LEADER’s bottom-up approach is actualised, appropriated and negotiated by different actors when translated into local contexts of participative rural development. Drawing on Stuart Hall’s theoretical distinction of different positions of ‘decoding’, the article demonstrates how the ‘bottom-up frame’ is interpreted and adapted strategically from a ‘dominant-hegemonic’, ‘negotiated’ and ‘oppositional’ position.
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Papers by Sina Wohlgemuth