Regional Studies and Development

The course deals with interrelated sections. Different variables of regionality: environment, administrative regulation and identity; constitution and construction of space and place; ethnographic analysis of regional organizations and institutions.

Definition of the concept of region and regional politics. The concept of region in other sciences and definitions of anthropological and ethnological conceptualization of it through the concepts of culture, ethnicity and language. Regionalization, regionalism vs. nationalism, territorial social movements, centre-periphery, globalization, anthropology of borders. The theory of influence area of a centre, regionally important functions, regional development, decentralization. Euroregions, urban, border, supranational, subnational, transnational, cultural regions, peripheral areas etc. Comparative aspects of regionalization in East Asia, North America and Africa. Relativization of regions. Administrative units (e.g. municipalities), structural funds, human resources, examples of different strategies of regional development abroad and in Slovenia. Anthropology of organizations.

The objective of the practical classes is to choose an actual case of place construction, its ethnographic analysis, identification of its centres of power, its placement into wider flows, comparison with other similar constructions and preparation of a development project assignment of the chosen case.