Tricksterology: The political Anthropology of Evil

We have the pleasure to announce the launch of the newest Summer School of International Political Anthropology (IPASS) based at the University College Cork. The them of this 9th IPA Summer School is tricksterology (trickster knowledge) which is concerned with what knowledge can be gained about the trickster, and the peculiar “logic” used by the trickster (see Paul Radin). The trickster is innocent in intentions, but its confusing antics always produces lethal effects, ranging from mere entertainment to demonic evil. Its knowledge, and our knowledge about it, is linked to flux or fluidity; it is a lifting-sinking-declining-growing kind of knowledge, moving in waves and reducing everything to the incommensurable liminal, always implying a call for thorough self-abandonment. Our task in this proposed course is to map the confusion produced by trickster logic, and its sources in enchantment, including the enchantment produced by technology and art (see Alfred Gell).

Tracing the trickster logic back to prehistory, and following its appearances through historical and anthropological evidence, up to contemporary times, where trickster logic is gaining increasing dominance in politics, economics and even social life, this Summer School will offer a comprehensible overview of the trickster phenomena.
For a preliminary reading, see Agnes Horvath and Arpad Szakolczai, 'Political Anthropology', in S.Turner and W.Outhwaite, The Sage Handbook of Political Sociology, 2018.

Course leader

Dr. Agnes Horvath, PhD, founding editor of International Political Anthropology

Target group

Ph.D students in the fields of Sociology, Anthropology and Politics. In some cases we also accept Master students, upon successful application.

Course aim

The Summer School brings together advanced research and academic practice from political anthropology in order to teach both theories and skills necessary to operate effectively in academic environment.
Participants will be familiarised with the central approaches of political anthropology, focusing on concepts like trickster, liminality, imitation and schismogenesis, and their application to contemporary phenomena, helping to identify the increasing prominence of trickster logic in contemporary life.

Credits info

7.5 EC
you need to inform your supervisor

Fee info

EUR 45: Fee covers registration. The Summer School is self-financed, which includes meals prepared together, and accommodation in a pilgrim hostel, implying normal pilgrim nightly rates. For six night and seven days, assuming arrival on Sunday and departure on Saturday, participation is expected to cost around €120.
EUR 25: Association membership. Returning members are exempt.