We saw it coming, but now it’s obvious: art and visual methods are occupying increasing positions of relevance in our discipline. Since Allegra Lab is trying to be in tune with contemporary debates both within society and in anthropology more specifically, we prepared for you this list of exciting upcoming events. Do get in touch with Andrea at andreak@allegralaboratory.net if you want your event to be featured in our next monthly list…and send us your reports on events you organised. All this information is then stored in our calendar and shared on social media platforms. We look forward to hearing from you!
Workshop FABRIQ’AM: Beauty contests in the Native Americas: performance, glamour and cultural heritage
11 December 2015, Maison Ethnologie et Archéologie (University Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense), France
Alongside with community leaders, shamans or bilinguals teacher, beauty pageant winners are now one of the common characters that ethnographers meet in the course of fieldwork among Amerindian people. Yet, if beauty contests organized in non-indigenous American contexts have stimulated much attention (see for example King-O’Riain 2006; Ochoa 2014; Siu 2005; Stoeltje and al. 1996; Wateson and Martin 2004), anthropologists have shown little interest in Amerindian beauty pageants, despite a few exceptions (Canessa 2008; Jacobsen-Bia 2014; McAllister 1996; Moreno 2007; Rahier 2008; Rogers 1999; Schackt 2005; Wroblewski 2014).
Using Latin and North American examples, this workshop proposes to partially fill this gap by exploring the variety of ways in which Amerindian people organize their beauty contests. The convenors will focus in particular on understanding the connections between the competition and issues of ethnicity, the performance of identity and gender, and the objectification of tangible and intangible Amerindian culture. What is the relationship between indigenous beauty contests and processes of cultural revalorization? Whilst inspired by national beauty pageants, themselves modelled on the staging of Miss World and Miss Universe competitions, indigenous counterparts reveal, however, very singular logics and issues at times at odds with the standards of national Shows. [more]
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 6 September 2015
International Workshop: Contemporary Anthropologies of Art
9 September 2015, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, UK
Keynote: Professor Arnd Schneider (University of Oslo)
Building on such established anthropological approaches to art as those of Alfred Gell or Pierre Bourdieu, this workshop seeks to map out contemporary anthropological approaches to art. Furthermore, by asking what distinct views on artistic practices are offered by such new theoretical perspectives as ethnographic conceptualism (Ssorin-Chaikov 2013) or relational aesthetics (Sansi 2014), we hope to propose new pathways of anthropological inquiry. A key proposition behind this workshop is the idea that contemporary art theory and practice are increasingly in dialogue with theories of sociality – how we relate to other people to create meaning – and therefore connected to core anthropological interests. The objective of this workshop is therefore not just to apply existing anthropological theory to potentially new ethnographic situations characterized by the production of art, but to develop anthropological theory through an engagement with the conceptual approaches that underpin the contemporary production of art today.
As an Anthropologies of Art [A/A] Network research event, the conference also seeks to map out a range of contemporary approaches to the study of art. Contributors from Oslo, Berlin, Moscow, Barcelona, and the UK will discuss case studies that impact on contemporary anthropological theory.
Please register with the convenors Alex Flynn (alex.flynn@durham.ac.uk) or Jonas Tinius (jlt46@cam.ac.uk)
Conference: InterAsian Connections V: Seoul (2016)
27 – 30 April 2016, Seoul National University Asia Center, Korea
The fifth conference in this international conference series showcases innovative research from across the social sciences and related disciplines and explores themes that transform conventional understandings of Asia. Crossing traditional area studies boundaries and creating international and interdisciplinary networks of scholars working to theorize the intersection of the “global” and the “regional” in a variety of contexts, the conference reconceptualizes Asia as a dynamic and interconnected historical, geographical, and cultural formation stretching from West Asia through Eurasia, South Asia and Southeast Asia to East Asia.
Following the model used in previous conferences, the 2016 Seoul conference – comprising ten concurrent, closed director-led workshops and plenary sessions open across workshops and to the general public – will be structured to enable intensive working group interactions on specific research themes as well as broader interactions on topics of shared interest and concern. [more]
Deadline for submission of workshop papers: 8 September 2015
Conference: Resistance – Lives of Dissent and Revolt
6 -7 November 2015, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, USA
The theme for this year’s graduate conference will address the powers and limits of resistance. What constitutes resistance and how is resistance embodied? How do we think through our experiences of dissent and revolt? As recent decades have been shaped by struggles of resistance, this conference considers the various possibilities that resistance opens for our futures of revolt. The convenors welcome and strongly encourage submissions from all disciplines as well as individuals working beyond academia. Possible paper topics may include, but are not limited to:
LGBTQ political activism, prison abolition movements, feminist epistemic resistance, resisting state violence, revolt through protest and rioting, [more]
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 September 2015
The Arts & Culture Unit and Resonance104.4fm are delighted to announce the second call for proposals for their joint initiative, Modulations: Broadcasting Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Modulations offers academic researchers the opportunity to communicate their research in a creative format to new and engaged audiences, through working with a dedicated expert team of expert communicators and producers. This initiative offers significant benefits for research institutions in terms of both research impact and the profile of their research cultures.
Modulations comprises three stages: training in broadcast media; co-production of a programme or a series of programmes on the researcher’s subject; and broadcast of the researcher’s programme on Resonance104.4fm. Following broadcast, the programme will be available as a podcast, for both researchers and their institutions and/or funding bodies to further disseminate. In addition, each programme will become part of the Resonance104.4fm archive, available online. [more]
Deadline for submission of proposals: 21 September 2015
In/visibility and Difference: A Visual Methods Workshop
3 – 4 December 2015, Berlin
The TRANSFORmIG project (Humboldt University Berlin) and Bard College Berlin are organizing a two-day workshop to bring together international researchers, activists, and artists tackling the notion of difference with visual and visualization methods. The aim of the workshop is to share research conducted with visual methodologies and to collectively develop new ideas and strategies on how visual methods can enhance our understanding of contemporary social worlds. In three thematic sessions we will discuss the latest methodological developments in social sciences, innovative visual and participatory research tools, and co-operation possibilities between academia, activism, and art. The keynote speaker, Professor Caroline Knowles of Goldsmiths College, will share her expertise on visual methodologies in social sciences and offer her comments on the methodological tools discussed during the workshop. [more]
Deadline for submission of applications: 30 September 2015
