Call for papers for a panel at the 2018 APAD International Conference “Migrations, Development and Citizenship”, Roskilde, Denmark, 23-25 Mai 2018
http://apad-association.org/en/2018-conference/
Panel convenor: Maria-Theres Schuler, University of Zurich
Deadline: Monday 4th December 2017
Moral Economies of Vulnerability
Migrants and refugees are considered equally vulnerable by both practitioners and researchers in a variety of ways: by being at risk in accessing services and resources, by being exposed to exploitation on migration routes, by facing political prosecution in their home countries, or through their specific bodily or psychological conditions. While many aid interventions in contexts of migration are based in principles of vulnerability, the concept is rarely defined and often indiscriminately applied. Anthropologists have been rather reluctant in dealing explicitly with ‘vulnerability’, most especially as it is an introduced policy concept that has little relevance in local usage or language outside aid industries. A critical interrogation is, however, important, as the concept guides project planning, enables access to resources and services for certain groups and individuals and is linked with people’s identity and sense of belonging.
The aim of this panel is to stimulate a discussion on the usefulness of this concept in the frame of a ‘moral economies’ approach in migration and displacement contexts. Combining an understanding of responsibility or duty with any mode of production and allocation (Götz 2015), the term is promising to analyse the workings of vulnerability in humanitarian contexts, as it can reflect what kind of responsibilities are differently recognised in the claims for and provision of resources and care. Moreover, it also highlights the productivity of such aid transactions and can provide a useful framework to analyse how aid channelled along ‘vulnerability’ shapes e.g. social relations or economic activities. This panel thus wants to explore, how states of vulnerability become productive and what moral and economic significance vulnerable bodies take on for different actors within the humanitarian world.
The panel invites empirically grounded contributions that engage with different ‘vulnerable’ groups and how these relate to moral economies. Possible questions can range from how certain categories of ‘vulnerable’ people are formed, reproduced and contested; how the term shapes the aid industry but also leads to reconfigurations of social networks; or how migrants and refugees appropriate these concepts in their everyday lives.
Götz, Norbert. 2015. “‘Moral Economy’: Its Conceptual History and Analytical Prospects.” Journal of Global Ethics 11 (2): 147–62. doi:10.1080/17449626.2015.1054556.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent to [log in to unmask] by Monday 4th December 2017. Authors will be notified of selected papers by Wednesday 13th December 2017.
Marie Schuler
University of Zurich
ISEK - Social and Cultural Anthropology
Andreasstrasse 15
CH - 8050 Zurich
www.disabilityandtechnology.uzh.ch
www.ethno.uzh.ch
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