Autumn School Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse University of Augsburg | September 15 to 17 2025

 

 

Following the high interest and success of the last six international workshops with participants from different countries and all world regions, there will be another introductory workshop in English on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) at the University of Augsburg in September 2025. The organiser invites novice as well as experienced academics from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, ethnology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, education, and other humanities, to explore the potential of this approach to studying discourses in the context of their own projects and research. Please note that the English Autumn School SKAD gives priority to participants without a German language background. German speakers are invited to register for our German language Summer School WDA.

The workshop will discuss the following topics:

·         What is at stake when using SKAD in discourse research?

·         SKAD theory: discourses & dispositifs – and how to conceptualise them

·         Research questions and conceptual tools in SKAD

·         The methodology of interpretive analytics

·         Getting into the field: methods of data collection and analysing data

·         Getting out of the field: from data analysis to comprehensive diagnostics

·         Discussion of participants’ research

·         Special interest session

Further information on the Autumn School, registration process and general conditions of participation can be found here.

 

 

Conference ›The Discursive Construction of Reality VI - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Discourse Research in the Sociology of Knowledge‹ 

 

Conference at the University of Augsburg, Germany | March 27th – 28th, 2025

Over the last decades, the research program outlined by the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has spread to many disciplines in social science. SKAD discourse research, drawing upon Michel Foucault’s work, symbolic interactionism and sociology of knowledge, is interested in exploring processes of ‘discursive construction of reality’, social relations of knowledge and knowing, and politics of knowledge and knowing – the manifold ways of discursive meaning making. Bearing these core tenets in mind, the original approach has nonetheless been successfully amended, expanded, and occasionally modified to meet the demands of different fields of study and forms of data. Corresponding studies may be found in sociology, but also in neighbouring disciplines such as cultural studies, political science, historical science, educational science, theology, linguistics, and criminology among many others.
Following the series of Augsburg conferences in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023 on interpretive and sociology of knowledge discourse research with over 120 participants and 40contributions from different disciplines each year, the upcoming conference will continue in the spirit of an interdisciplinary discussion about the foundations and applications of SKAD and SKAD-inspired discourse research, as well as related perspectives (such as subjectivation research, situational analysis, ethnography of discourses and dispositifs).

The conference will be held in German and English. There will also be online access to presentations and participation for those unable to travel to Germany. There will be no fees. Cold and hot drinks will be available on site for a small contribution.

Social Events at the conference
Besides an optional dinner with traditional Swabian and Bavarian cuisine on the first day of the conference we invite you to our closing party on March 28th after the end of the conference in a local club location.

 

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller, Martin Blessinger, Claudia Foltyn and Amira Malik

 

Further information you can find here. 

The conference is supported by the Sociology of Knowledge Section of the German Sociological Association and the Society of Friends of the University of Augsburg.

 

Spring School Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse University of Augsburg | 9 to 11 April 2025

(German speaking event) 

 

 

Over the past decade, discourse research in the social sciences and humanities has experienced a strong boom. Methodological training in the various disciplines has only partially taken this into account. In particular, questions of concrete textual work or the handling of different data formats and the interpretation of data in the context of discourse research are among the gaps in methodological training.
The Spring School on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) is aimed at researchers from various social science and humanities disciplines who are working or would like to work with the discourse theoretical and discourse analytical perspectives of SKAD in a qualification or research projects. It offers

•     an introduction to the theoretical and conceptual foundations of SKAD,
•     an introduction to methodological implementations and their exemplary testing in joint analyses of data,
•     the opportunity to discuss questions and research designs of SKAD-based discourse and dispositive research, and
•     the opportunity to bring issues from ongoing or planned projects into the discussion.

In addition, two optional in-depth courses can be taken:

•     Specialisation A: Specific issues concerning the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse
•     Specialisation B: Analysis of modes of subjectivation

Further information on the content of the specialisations, conditions of participation and registration can be found here. 

Registration ended on March 9, 2025

Contested Realities of Sex Work: An Analysis of Knowledge Policies in the Regulation of Prostitution in Germany. Springer VS

 

New publication by Dr. Lina Brink, Prof. Dr. Marlen S. Löffler and Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller: 

 

Umstrittene Wirklichkeiten der Sexarbeit: Eine Analyse von Wissenspolitiken in der Regulierung von Prostitution in Deutschland. Springer VS. [Contested Realities of Sex Work: An Analysis of Knowledge Policies in the Regulation of Prostitution in Germany. Springer VS.]

Please refer to the publisher's website for further information: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55114-7

 

                                           

New publication by Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller:

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse

Foundations, Concepts and Tools for a Research Programme 

2024 Springer

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55114-7 

 

Overview

• Sets out the basic principles of a genuinely social-science oriented discourse perspective
• Presents concrete steps of ‘how to do SKAD research’
• Uses exemplary case studies from sociology, political sciences, area studies and education
  

 

About this book

In this updated version of a contemporary classic of discourse research, Reiner Keller develops the theoretical and methodological foundations of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD). Translated from the original German into English for the first time, this book brings together two previously unconnected domains of knowledge analysis in social science: the rich traditions of sociology of knowledge and symbolic interactionism on one hand and the works of discourse studies, especially in relation to Michel Foucault, on the other. It presents a critical discussion of key developments in sociology of knowledge, symbolic interactionist, and related interpretive approaches, explains the communicational turn of recent work in the field, and examines how traditions within sociology of knowledge shifted focus or converged over time. Following this, the book discusses the development of discourse theory and discourse analysis since the 1960s, including critical discourse analysis, hegemony analysis, or cultural studies approaches. Embarking from a profound reconstruction of Michel Foucault’s work, the book then sets its own distinctive course by integrating major elements of Foucault’s perspective with the sociology of knowledge. Along this path, Reiner Keller establishes the heuristics and methodology for a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse, providing a comprehensive research programme for the study of social relations of knowledge and politics of knowledge. Since its first publication in 2005, SKAD has informed a multitude of studies worldwide and across several academic disciplines. Today it can be considered as one of the major perspectives in discourse research in social science and beyond.

 

Please refer to the publisher's website for further information: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55114-7