*apologies for cross-posting*

Call for Papers

Precarity and Opportunity: Understanding the cultural rationales and social implications of economic transformations

13–14 December 2018
University of Zurich, Switzerland

Economic transformations are shaping the lives of people across the globe. They can lead to improvements in individual livelihoods as well as to precarisation, and often they do both at the same time. In current debates in anthropology – in particular when related to the concept of neoliberalism – it is commonly assumed that transformations improve the life of few already rich, while increasing precarious situations for many. In real life, however, it is often more ambiguous and complex than that and transformations play out very differently across the globe. For one, precarity and opportunity as such are human constants not specific to any type of economic system. At the same time, both are not only unfaithful companions and unevenly distributed, they are also mutually constitutive. Any precarity may entail opportunities and vice versa. And the opportunities of some are typically grounded in the precarity of others within local, national and global power asymmetries.

For this two-day workshop, we wish to invite papers that have followed economic transformations in their fields and can shed light on the cultural rationales and social implications behind them. We particularly invite scholars who are interested in problematizing and advancing theoretical concepts by sharing empirical views. How do actors in the field cope with rapidly transforming economic environments and growing uncertainty? What actors benefit and who suffers from such changes? How do institutional settings influence this and what strategies do they provoke? What forms of new opportunities and precarities emerge from such changing economic environments? And what impacts do they have on the social fabric? With this we want to extend the view on transformations beyond the ascertainment of deplorable situations and mono-causal explanations of statehood and neoliberal policies by engaging with the wide range of institutional configurations and individual acting thereupon.

We have a limited budget to invite scholars from outside of Switzerland. Please send a short abstract of 250 to 300 words until 15 June 2018 to [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> and [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>.


——
Dr. Stefan Leins
Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Zurich
http://www.isek.uzh.ch/en/anthropology/Staff/staff/stefanleins.html <http://www.isek.uzh.ch/en/anthropology/Staff/staff/stefanleins.html>

Stories of Capitalism - out now!
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo27442087.html <http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo27442087.html>


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