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Section: Research Student Profiles
Jon Schubert
- Name Jon Schubert
- Organisation
- African Studies, School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh - Address
- 4.13, CMB 15a George Square Edinburgh UK EH8 9LD
- j.schubert@ed.ac.uk
- Research Interests
- Memory politics,post-socialist and post-conflict transformations,nationalism and the post-colonial state in Africa,state-society relations,history and politics of Lusophone Africa and the Balkans
- URL
- http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/gradschool/research_student_profiles/african_studies/jon_schubert
PhD Title
The Politics of Paranoia: Negotiating Political Authority in Angola (working title)
Biographical statement
After a first year of doctoral studies at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (MPhil/PhD 2009/10), I was offered a studentship by the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Edinburgh, where I am now pursuing my PhD on the modalities of power in Angola (2010-13) at the Centre of African Studies. After a year of ethnographic field research in Luanda (Oct 2010-Oct 2011) I am currently writing up my thesis and tutoring the Africa in World Politics course (Politics, honours). I also work part-time as Analyst Lusophone Africa for London-based risk forecasting company Exclusive Analysis.
Before my PhD, I studied History and Sociology at the University of Basel for three years before transferring to the MA in African Studies, which I completed in December 2007. During this time, I did several short-term internships and consultancies in Angola, Ghana and Mozambique. After my graduation I worked for a year as a programme assistant in the peace policy section of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (2008-2009).
Research project
This project intends to explore how memories of the civil war and the liberation struggle are reproduced socially, embodied in everyday practice, and lived out in the construction of a relation to a distant, yet at the same time very tangible and present state power in contemporary Angola. Through the exploration of the reproduction of memory and the negotiation social order, we can look at processes and relations between a set of different, unequal actors, and how they collectively recreate their social reality to make sense of their everyday lives. This lens then enables us to expand the focus of the research to look at broader issues of national identity and political legitimacy in Angola, the largely unaddressed question of post-conflict national reconciliation, and ultimately the transformation of statehood in Southern Africa.
Supervised by Dr. Joost Fontein and Dr. Sara Rich Dorman..
Publications
Refereed journal articles:
Schubert, Jon (2010) 'Democratisation' and the Consolidation of Political Authority in Post-War Angola, Journal of Southern African Studies, 36.3, 657-672.
Refereed book chapters:
Schubert, Jon (2011) Angola (Chapter) in: A. Mehler, H. Melber, K. van Walraven (eds.) Africa Yearbook. Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara in 2010, vol. 7, Leiden, Boston: Brill.
[See also AYB 2009/vol.6; AYB 2008/Vol.5]
Other articles and working papers:
Schubert, Jon (2011) Northern Winds in Angola? Ceasefire Special Report, September 2011.
Schubert, Jon (2009) Demokratisierung in Angola. Von Kriegswirtschaft zu einer Scheindemokratie? Afrika-Bulletin 136, 4-7.
Schubert, Jon (2005) Political Ecology in Development Research. An Introductory Overview and Annotated Bibliography. Bern: NCCR North-South.
Conference papers:
Schubert, Jon (2008) 'Dez jogadores contra um guarda-rede' – State, Civil Society, and the Preparation of general Elections in Angola. VAD-conference, University of Basel, 17 May 2008
Grants
Studentship by the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Edinburgh, for PhD studies (2010-2013)
Grant by Bolsa Rui Tavares, Lisbon, for fieldwork in Angola (2010/11)
Grant by Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung, St. Gallen, for fieldwork in Angola (2010/11)
Grant by Theodor Engelmann-Stiftung, Basel, for doctoral studies (2009/10)
Grant by Heringa Stichting, Netherlands, for doctoral studies (2009-2011)
Various small grants for MA field research and writing up (2007)
This page was published on 5 March 2012