Mid-range concepts – the lego bricks of meaning-making: an example from Khorezm, Uzbekistan. In: Area studies at the crossroads - Knowledge Production after the Mobility Turn

@inbook{Hornidge2017,
  Title = {Mid-range concepts – the lego bricks of meaning-making: an example from Khorezm, Uzbekistan},
  Author = {Hornidge, Anna-Katharina},
  Editor = {Mielke, K. and Hornidge, A.-K.},
  Year = {2017},
  Pages = {213-230},
  Doi = {10.1057/978-1-137-59834-9_12},
  Isbn = {978-1-349-95011-9},
  Booktitle = {Area studies at the crossroads - Knowledge Production after the Mobility Turn},
  Abstract = {Drawing on the intricate pattern of boundary negotiations in Uzbekistan’s water management (Hornidge et al. Natural Resources Forum 35(4); 251–268, 2013) as an example of first-level abstraction in local governance research, this chapter illustrates how such first-level abstractions—grasped and objectified as mid-range concepts—can act as entry points for understanding (in line with Max Weber) local society in the interconnectedness of meaning and being (as stressed by Karl Mannheim). Just like Lego bricks, these first-level abstractions act as building blocks of sense- and meaning-making and, thus, of the ontologies and epistemologies we/society lives in and that guide processes of social differentiation (inherent to any existing form of governance) through the ever continuing processes of boundary-making, -weakening and -renegotiating. To enable Area Studies students to identify first-level abstractions, instead of getting lost in the increasing empirical complexities of a mobile world, it is pertinent to systematically strengthen critical social theory in Area Studies teaching.},
}

TY  - CHAP
AU  - Hornidge, Anna-Katharina
ED  - Mielke, Katja
ED  - Hornidge, Anna-Katharina
TI  - Mid-range concepts – the lego bricks of meaning-making: an example from Khorezm, Uzbekistan
PY  - 2017
SP  - 213-230
DO  - 10.1057/978-1-137-59834-9_12
SN  - 978-1-349-95011-9
BT  - Area studies at the crossroads - Knowledge Production after the Mobility Turn
AB  - Drawing on the intricate pattern of boundary negotiations in Uzbekistan’s water management (Hornidge et al. Natural Resources Forum 35(4); 251–268, 2013) as an example of first-level abstraction in local governance research, this chapter illustrates how such first-level abstractions—grasped and objectified as mid-range concepts—can act as entry points for understanding (in line with Max Weber) local society in the interconnectedness of meaning and being (as stressed by Karl Mannheim). Just like Lego bricks, these first-level abstractions act as building blocks of sense- and meaning-making and, thus, of the ontologies and epistemologies we/society lives in and that guide processes of social differentiation (inherent to any existing form of governance) through the ever continuing processes of boundary-making, -weakening and -renegotiating. To enable Area Studies students to identify first-level abstractions, instead of getting lost in the increasing empirical complexities of a mobile world, it is pertinent to systematically strengthen critical social theory in Area Studies teaching.
ER  -