Extended call for Papers
AAG 2018, New Orleans
Session Title: Enlivened geographies of social enterprise
Organisers
Sophie Yarker (Aberystwyth University)
Jesse Heley (Aberystwyth University)
Session Description
The concept of social enterprise has gained increasing attention from both policy makers and academics in recent years. Within the context of the evolving nature of the third sector, social enterprises have increasingly been looked at to deliver elements of social welfare (Milligan and Fyfe 2004), and are often argued to be better placed to develop stronger and more resilient communities (as opposed to solely economic–focused forms of enterprise). However, understanding what ‘stronger and more resilient’ communities actually look and feel like remains largely outside the remit of studies whose efforts are focused on capturing the economic impacts of social enterprise. Therefore, despite important work which has advanced our understanding of the economic impacts of social enterprise, and their various geographies, the socio-cultural aspects of social enterprise have often been overlooked (Peattie and Morley 2008).
As argued convincingly by Muñoz (2010), geographers are well-placed to bring social scientific insights to interdisciplinary work on social enterprise. A spatial lens has the potential to move analysis beyond the geographical patterning of social enterprise towards a more critical and nuanced understanding of how social enterprise shapes place and experience. Following Smith et al.’s (2010) call for enlivened geographies of volunteering, this session aims to bring to life the ‘social’ in social enterprise, and to explore the impacts of social enterprise and the situated, embodied and emotional practices that attend them. Specifically, the session hopes to explore how social enterprises are realised, felt and experienced at the local and community level, but also the impacts on households and individuals.
We invite theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions towards understanding the lived and embodied – or enlivened – experience of social enterprise. Papers may wish to speak to the following themes (although not an exhaustive list):
- Explorations of how solidarities and loyalties emerge from involvement in social enterprises, and how such experiences are scaled
- The role of social enterprise in tackling social exclusion, in combatting social exclusion, fostering spaces of empowerment (e.g. Muñoz 2010), or producing spaces of care (e.g. Skinner & Joseph 2011)
- Analyses of how social enterprise shapes community identity and belonging
- Examples from both rural and urban settings, and engagements with a range of social enterprise stakeholders – e.g. employees, volunteers, managers and/or service users.
Submission
To submit a paper to this session, please send a title and 250 word abstract to Sophie Yarker ([log in to unmask]) no later than Friday, 3rd November.
References
Skinner, M.W., and Joseph, A.E. (2011) ‘Placing voluntarism within evolving spaces of care in ageing rural communities’ GeoJournal 76 pp.151-162.
Muñoz, SA (2010) ‘Towards a geographical research agenda for social enterprise’ Area 42 (3) pp.302-312.
Milligan, C., and Fyfe, N. (2004) ‘Putting the voluntary sector in its place: geographical perspectives on voluntary activity and social welfare in Glasgow’ Journal of Social Policy 33 pp.73-93
Peattie, K., and Morley, A. (2008) Social Enterprises: diversity and dynamics, context and contribution. ESRC Social Enterprise Coalition. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/30775/1/SE%20Monograph%20Published.pdf Accessed 5 July 2017
Smith, F.M., Trimbrell, H., Woolvin, M., Muirhead, S., and Fyfe, N. (2010) ‘Enlivened geographies of volunteering: situated, embodied and emotional practices of voluntary action’ Scottish Geographical Journal 126 (4) pp.258-274.
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