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Dear colleagues
 
(apologies for cross-posting)
 
I am organising a panel in the Commission on Urban Anthropology Annual Conference, which will take place in Corinth, Greece in May 2011 (see below). The topic of the panel will be:
 
Religion and Neo-liberalism: Conflicts and Affinities
 
The panel will discuss ethnographic cases where the interrelation between religious movements and economic developments becomes obvious if not central. Of particular interest of the panel will be the role of religious bodies and phenomena (churches, movements, groups, currents, trends and sects) in promoting, tolerating or resisting specific economic and political strategies of Neo-liberalism. We will thus attempt to shed new light on the ever contested theoretical issue of the relationship between religious practices and material interests, as well as to investigate the methodological principles for an updated ethnographic study of religious movements within the context of political economy. Colleagues who have not obtained their PhD but have completed their fieldwork/research are welcomed to participate. Contributions are expected to derive from various disciplines (anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, religious studies, political
 economy, geography etc.) Please send your abstracts (no longer than 300 words, in English) to [log in to unmask]  no later than the 15th of November 2010. We are planning in collaboration with the organising committee to publish the papers of the panel in an edited volume published by the University of Peloponnese Press. In case that somebody from the list wishes to participate in the conference but not in the present panel please contact Dr. Spyridakis from the committee (see below).  
 
 
Dr. Ioannis Kyriakakis (UCL Anthropology, Msc. PhD) 


 







 
 
 


Commission on Urban Anthropology, IUAES
http://urban.anthroweb.net
&
University of Peloponnese
Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Social and Educational Policy
 

CUA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Corinth , Greece, 27-29 May 2011
 
Call for Papers
 
 
Market vs Society? Human principles and economic rationale in changing times
 
The changes in the international economy during the 1970s and the ensuing shift towards neo-liberalism in the 1980s brought out a “rediscovery” of the ideas of Friedrich Hayek. The concept of liberalism was the ideological guise of economic globalization. The liberalization of market forces, as an ideological and economic project, imposed a model of compliance through employment flexibility, the minimisation of social security, the fragmentation of social solidarity and the conceptualisation of the economy as money exchanged in the market rather than as an efficient management of resources.
 
Within this framework, states and policy decision making are evaluated according to criteria related to the severity of macroeconomic strategies aiming at reducing fiscal deficits and cutting welfare and social benefits. It seems that Karl Polanyi’s claim is being confirmed that the economy has gained an independent life. Thus, the concepts of economy and society seem to be defined in terms of conflict rather than of harmonious coexistence. As a consequence, social life has become increasingly insecure and individualistic, the natural environment is being destroyed and the markets have changed into arenas of unfair competition and opportunistic speculation, while the unrestricted movement of capital jeopardizes the economic bases of the welfare state internationally and its subsequent ability to sustain full employment policies.
 
For many people it has become gradually impossible to make the connection between the impersonal market institutions and the reality that they experience in their daily life. As anthropologists have shown, although people try to resist explicitly or implicitly to “self-regulating” economic processes, they would appear to play no role in the calculation of economic theory and practice.
 
This Conference aims at addressing the complex connections between society and economy taking into account the processes that mark this often uneasy relationship in key social and political fields.
 
The Conference welcomes contributions and panels from anthropologists and scholars from other disciplines and encourages participation of research students.
 
Abstracts (300 words maximum) should be emailed by 1st December 2010 to Dr. Manos Spyridakis ([log in to unmask]) or to Dr. Michael Fefes ([log in to unmask]). Selected papers and panels will be announced by 22th December 2010.
 
Selected papers will be published by the University of Peloponnese Press .
 
The Organizing Committee will make all possible efforts to cover accommodation costs (hotel and meals) for the participants.
 
Contact persons of the Organizing Committee
Dr. Manos Spyridakis, [log in to unmask]
Dr. Michael Fefes, [log in to unmask]
 
Scientific Committee
Dr. Giuliana Prato (University of Kent)
Dr. Italo Pardo ( University of Kent )
Dr. Manos Spyridakis ( University of Peloponnese )
Dr. Michael Fefes ( University of Peloponnese )
 
 
On behalf of the Scientific Committee
Manos Spyridakis
Department of Social and Educational Politics
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of the Peloponnese
Greece



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