Authority control databases
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Y. Michal Bodemann | |
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| Born | 9 March 1944 |
| Nationality | German/Canadian |
| Era | 21st-century philosophy |
| Region | European and Western sociology |
| School | Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Karl Marx, Chicago School of Sociology |
Main interests | Germans and Jews, Jewish Diaspora, memory, agro-pastoral transformations in Sardinia |
Y. Michal Bodemann is professor emeritus, University of Toronto, sociologist, best known for his work on German Jewry, the concept of ideological labor and "memory theater" (1991) and his contributions to sociological praxis, interventive field work, here in particular, his interventive observation method [1] in qualitative field work. In the approach to interventive observation, Bodemann advocates the reciprocal nature of researcher and the people in a setting, as active participation, against the notion of passive or neutral role of the observer. Bodemann's theoretical foundation continues to be influential against positivist notions of objectivity, which still persist in the field of sociology and in the approach to qualitative methods. His methodological approach is close to that of Michael Burawoy and notions of public sociology. Bodemann is best known for his contributions to Jewish studies, and Holocaust memory his concept of "ideological labour:" where especially ethnic minorities are cast as representing values contrasting those of the larger society. He is the author and editor of books, newspaper and academic articles spanning the entirety of his academic career, in English, German and Italian.
Y. Michal Bodemann was born on March 9, 1944. His early childhood was spent in the Bavarian Alps where his father, an artist, had withdrawn as part of a community of writers and artists. Bodemann completed gymnasium in Korntal near Stuttgart. He began his studies at the universities of Munich, Heidelberg and Mannheim. In 1966, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he continued his studies in sociology and literature at Brandeis University. Bodemann completed his PhD. at Brandeis University in 1979.
Bodemann's PhD Thesis entitled Telemula: Aspects of the micro-organization of backwardness in central Sardinia included qualitative fieldwork and methods, ethnographic participant observation, and qualitative interview based research. The thesis explored the development of backwardness in a small village in Sardinia from 1800 until 1980. It examined how the community became geographically marginalized and how the communal subsistence economy was disrupted and destroyed on account of new forms of taxation and privatization of land as well as the ecological destruction of its natural environment, especially deforestation. Furthermore, the dissertation focused on the rise and fall of family compacts in the community and the transformation of its kinship structures over the one hundred years.
In 1974, Bodemann accepted a teaching position at the University of Toronto where he taught until 2012. In 1977 Bodemann became assistant professor at the University of Toronto, quickly becoming appointed to the graduate faculty in 1979 and soon after, associate professor with tenure in 1980. He was appointed to Full Professor in 1993. His teaching included classical sociological theory, qualitative sociological methods, focusing on critically examining the praxis of sociological inquiry.
At the graduate level, he has taught 'Historical and Ethnographic Methods', 'Qualitative Methods', and, among others, 'Political Sociology of Germany in Contemporary Europe'. At the undergraduate level, he has taught numerous seminars in both North America and Europe, including, 'Field Methods', 'The Jewish Community in Europe and North America', 'Ethnicity in Social Organization', 'Comparative Ethnic Relations', and among others 'Sociological Theory'. Some courses in German, and in Europe, have included, 'Zu politischen Soziologie Gramscis', 'Marxismus und Juden "frage"', and '"Rasse" und Ethnizität in westlichen Gesellschaften', which covered issues of race, ethnicity, issues/topics related to the German Jewry, and political/sociological theories.
Throughout his now well-established career, Bodemann positioned himself in both the North American and European sociological scene. Along with his academic appointments at the University of Toronto he held visiting appointments at the University of Haifa and Hebrew University, Tel Aviv, the Free University (Freie Universität), and Humboldt (Humboldt-Universität), Berlin. From 2008 was the director of the European Office of the University of Toronto in Berlin and was affiliated with the Joint Initiative in German and European Studies (JIGES) and the Ethnic and Pluralism Studies Program at the University of Toronto where he was appointed to the Munk School of Global Affairs.
Bodemann was associate editor of the "Canadian Journal of Sociology" (1985–1987),[2] the associate editor of the "Canadian Jewish Outlook" (1979–1982)[3] and the editor of "Sardinia Newsletter" (1980–1983). Among the other professional affiliations and activities, from 1980 onwards, Bodemann belonged to the "Insurgent Sociologist" /"Critical Sociology Toronto Collective". Through the decades his active membership and critical, often anti-positivist and methodologically radical insights influenced many of his young contemporaries.
Bodemann is the author of numerous articles and editor of many books, for example:
