Andyet it is!
Improbablespheres of public service
International Conference
Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme (MMSH),Aix-en-Provence
23-24 October 2015
International conference organized by theTRANSPUME program (Transformations of Public Service in the Mediterranean Area)with the support of the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme, of theInstitut d’ethnologie méditerranéenne et comparative(Aix Marseille Université, CNRS), and of thelaboratory Temps, Espaces, Langages, Europe méridionale, Méditerranée (Aix MarseilleUniversité, CNRS).
What do leaving one’s body to science,preserving archives, medieval Good Government, photography in some formercommunist countries and operating a dam have in common? Not much, at firstglance. But the common denominator is that these areas, positions, andapproaches to management all have to do, in some way, with public service.
French public service is very well known toscholars of law and political science, who define it as an activity of generalinterest taken on or guaranteed by a public entity. From a historical point ofview, this notion was first defined during the French Revolution and then “transposed” to the legal andadministrative spheres in 1873 by the arrêt Blanco.
Nonetheless, there is a wide gap between thepoint of view of society and the formal definitions of the concept. When wespeak of public service we may refer to an activity, but also to missionsresulting from social imperatives. The notion may thus correspond to the publicfunction, be synonymous with an approach to management – that of publicenterprises – and even evoke a monopoly. In a singleState, “public serviceenterprise” may have many different and complex meanings.The notion is thus characterized by a conceptual diversity that generatesamalgams between its purpose, its mission and its objective.
This conference aims to deconstruct the notion ofpublic service by pulling the threads of history, practices and management inthe collective sphere in order to raise awareness of the notion’s richness andbreadth. It will go against common preconceptions by proposing a differentvision of public service, one that will be centered on the areas, historicalperiods, management approaches or scientific disciplines one might at firstglance consider as improbable for this object.
In other words, the conference proposes to gobeyond clichés, particularly by comparing emic and etic pointsof view: its ambition is to study what would spontaneously be at odds with publicservice’s representations but nevertheless is public service.
In continuation of the international symposiumheld in MMSH in August 2013, Public service in theMediterranean Area through the Prism of Social Sciences, this event’s objective is toenrich the multidisciplinary knowledge of public service.
Papers may come from the humanities and socialsciences, from art and museum disciplines, and may study all geographic areas. The sole condition is thatthey fit into one of the following four sessions:
- Session 1."Unexpected domains of publicservice": this session will analyze fields that society does not usuallyview as public service.
- Session 2."Improbable periods of publicservice": this session will focus on the ways public service has beenthought about and constructed without being named as such, through historicalperiods.
- Session 3."Improbable disciplinesof public service": this session will focus on disciplines that usually do not study publicservice and will analyze the way they approach the concept, paying particularattention to methodological issues.
- Session 4."Original management approaches ofpublic service": this session will consider the different scales, types ofpolitical systems or moral notions attached to the management of publicservice.
Proposals forpapers (between 1000 and 1500 characters long, spaces included) must besubmitted in .doc or .docx format, in French or English, to the followingaddress: [log in to unmask], before July 10, 2015.
The organizing committee, after consulting thescientific committee, will reply by July 20, 2015.
A selection of papers will be published in acollective book.
OrganizingCommittee: Ghislaine Gallenga, Laure Verdon, Melissa Blanchard
ScientificCommittee: Pierre Bauby(Sciences Po, Université Paris-VIII), Mustapha El Miri (Aix Marseille Université-CNRS-LEST), KhadijaEnnaciri (Université Mhammedia-Casablanca, Maroc), Ghislaine Gallenga (Aix Marseille Université-CNRS-IDEMEC),Mireille Jacotin (MuCEM), Élise Massicard (CNRS IFEA), Enza Pellechia (Università di Pisa), Mohamed Tozy (Sciences Po, Aix Marseille Université), Riccardo Rao(Università di Bergamo), Laure Verdon (Aix Marseille Université-CNRS-TELEMME).
*************************************************************
* Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
* http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
* and international contacts directory. *
* To join this list or to look at the archived previous *
* messages visit: *
* http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML *
* If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all *
* those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: *
* [log in to unmask] *
* *
* Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new *
* CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com *
* an international directory of anthropology researchers
*
* To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and *
* go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page. *
*
***************************************************************
|
