ESRC seminar series: Abjection and alterity in the workplace 

Seminar 1, University of Leicester, 28th May 2008 
Situating abjection and alterity in the workplace: concepts and contexts

This e-mail is intended as preliminary publicity for the first event in this
ESRC seminar series, which is being co-organized by Joanna Brewis
(University of Leicester), Philip Hancock (University of Warwick), Stephen
Linstead (University of York) and Melissa Tyler (University of
Loughborough). If you are interested, please make a note of the date in your
diary. Attendance (which includes the seminar pack and lunch) is free. There
will also be 10 bursaries of £100 each to fund travel to the seminar for
doctoral students. Places overall are limited to 25. More information
regarding speakers, registration, venue and bursaries will be circulated as
arrangements are confirmed. Initial enquiries can also be made to Jo Brewis
at [log in to unmask]

The series overall focuses on the relationship between work, organization
and abjection, and the 'casting out' of the ‘other’, of what does not
'belong', what is thought to threaten the productivity, rationality and
order of work organizations. Our main theme of abjection also seeks to
explore how this 'other' may have a more ambiguous status in the sense that
those falling within this category may be denied membership of a social
group (eg, a work organization) whilst in practice having considerable
influence on and importance for the group and its activities, especially its
identity - the idea that groups tend to 'know' themselves by what they are
not, in other words. Obviously abjection therefore connects directly to
alterity and social exclusion, being played out in real life experiences of
unequal power, resource allocation, treatment (including both discrimination
and efforts to encompass 'diversity') and representation, in workplaces as
elsewhere. The series is intended as a forum within which researchers,
policy makers and practitioners can examine the phenomenon of workplace and
organizational abjection, and the experiences of alterity and exclusion that
might arise from this. Each seminar has been designed to incorporate
theoretical and empirical academic work and policy/ practice-based material,
with the intention of synthesizing our knowledge and understanding of this
important aspect of contemporary working life.

More specifically, the aim of this opening seminar is to explore different
perspectives on and meanings of abjection and related themes such as
alterity and exclusion within the context of contemporary work organizations
and labour markets. Drawing on insights from philosophy, organization
studies, social and cultural anthropology, psychoanalysis, and feminist
theory, this session will provide a conceptual framework within which to
explore more methodological and thematic concerns in the remaining three
seminars, and the changing context of abjection and organization. Particular
questions that the seminar might focus on, but will not be limited to, include:


What is abjection and how does it relate to the organization, management and
experience of work? 

What are the benefits and potential difficulties of thinking about work,
organization and management through the lens of abjection? 

How might the concept need to be adapted and refined in order to help us
better understand key aspects of the contemporary workplace? 

What roles do abjection, alterity and exclusion play in the organization of
the labour market more generally? 
  
Confirmed speakers include: 
Professor Fred Botting, University of Lancaster
Professor Yiannis Gabriel, Royal Holloway University
Dr Patricia MacCormack, Anglia Ruskin University 

We have also invited a contributor from the Equality and Human Rights
Commission for this seminar.

Again please do note the date (28th May 2008) and the venue (University of
Leicester) if you would like to attend. As suggested above, more details
will follow