ECONOMIES OF FORTUNE AND LUCK
Perspectives from Inner Asia and Beyond
International Conference
King's College Cambridge (UK), 5-7 June 2008
Conveners: Giovanni da Col, Caroline Humphrey, Katherine Swancutt
Speakers and discussants:
Giovanni da Col (Cambridge)
Inge Daniels (Oxford)
Rebecca Empson (Cambridge)
Gloria Goodwin Raheja (Minnesota)
Roberte Hamayon (EPHE Paris)
Martin Holbraad (University College London)
Signe Howell (Oslo)
Caroline Humphrey (Cambridge)
Bruce Kapferer (Bergen)
Jonathan Parry (London School of Economics)
Morten Pedersen (Copenhagen)
Steven Sangren (Cornell)
Charles Stafford (London School of Economics)
Katherine Swancutt (Oxford)
Roy Wagner (Virginia)
Hitherto studies of religious cosmologies have mainly focused on
ideas of auspiciousness and divination, leaving economies and
moralities of fortune and luck unexamined. Such moral and ontological
modalities seem very widespread among Tibeto-Burman groups and nearby
regions (Mongolia, the Altai and China) where Buddhism is deeply
intermingled with apotropaic beliefs. Fortune and luck seem to be
forces open to be displayed, embodied, contained, stolen, exchanged,
wasted. parasitized upon. Neither gifts nor commodities, fortune and
luck play key roles in the moral constitution of personhood and the
household. While the main regional focus will be Inner Asia, we aim
to include other ethnographical contexts to explore the multifarious
dimensions that the ambiguity of the notions of fortune/luck entail.
Additional information may be found at the website:
www.economiesoffortune.com
Places are limited and we recommend early registration in order to
secure a place. We offer online registration and payment with Credit
Card or Paypal.
For specific requests and and details please contact Giovanni da Col
at [log in to unmask]
or c/o
Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit
Department of Social Anthropology
University of Cambridge
The Mond Building
Free School Lane
Cambridge CB2 3RF
United Kingdom
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