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Entity, Construction, Relation: Critical Approaches to Time/Space, the State and Knowledge Production in Sociology and Social Anthropology Graduate Conference www.ceu.hu/soc_anth_conference Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology Central European University June 11-13 2010, Budapest Substantivist, constructivist, and relational perspectives on the social world have coexisted more or less harmoniously within social sciences since the beginning of their institutionalisation. However, epistemological positioning means making strong assumptions about the nature of social reality and about our possibility to know anything about it. Our conference aims to be an open forum for discussing the advantages and the limits of these perspectives, and their implications when adopted in the study of three selected core topics in social sciences: time/space, the state and knowledge production. We invite young scholars from wide variety of disciplines to present in one of three panels: “Space for Time/Time for Space”; “The State, Citizenship, and Transnational Flows”; “Measure for Measure: Knowledge, Culture, and the Third Wave Marketization.” We welcome both empirical and theoretical papers dealing with these topics. Given the theme of the conference, papers demonstrating epistemological awareness and transparency are especially encouraged. The conference is organised by PhD students from the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Central European University. It will take place between the 11th–13th of June 2010 in Budapest. We have limited funds to cover travel and accommodation, please indicate your travel costs when applying. Please send your abstract and a short CV by April 1st to: [log in to unmask] Successful applicants will be notified by April 10th at the latest. The deadline for the final paper is May 15th to allow for circulation prior to the conference. TIME/SPACE PANEL: “Space for Time/Time for Space” Keynote Speaker: Professor Andrew Abbott, University of Chicago The spatial turn in social sciences heralded the introduction of space-derived concepts and metaphors in thinking about the complexities of of a spatiality-differentiated world. More recently time and temporality has also reasserted its importance in the work of scholars across a wide-variety of disciplines and subject matters. In what ways does the appreciation of the temporal-spatial qualities of our research subject help us? Is the conceptual separation of time and space artificial? Can we understand them together? We welcome anthropological and sociological contributions of an empirical and theoretical nature that explicitly take space-based or time-based approaches to their chosen subject. Topics might include but should by no means be limited to: everyday life rhythms, urban spatial-temporal segregation/separation, time/space or space/time conquests related to global capitalism, phenomenological approaches to time and space, modernity’s colonization of time and space, the spatial-temporality of place, the body’s relation to time and space. STATE PANEL: “The State, Citizenship, and Transnational Flows” Keynote Speaker: Professor Jonathan Friedman, Lund University and École des hautes études en sciences sociales The panel focuses on the historical transformations of the relationship between the state and citizenship, especially (but not exclusively) within the framework of the major processes related to financial and cultural globalization. Our aim is to bring together young scholars who try to contribute to the broad theoretical debates around: transnational versus global, deterritorialization versus reterritorialization, disappearing versus reconfiguring states within global capital flows, universalism versus cultural difference, social and human rights, transnational social justice, reconfiguring class and ethnic relations, global versus national citizenship, and the making of political subjects.The papers can address these issues and other related ones in different ways, from theoretical approaches to highly historically grounded empirical research. As the general theme of the conference suggests, papers which briefly discuss the implications of the scholar’s epistemological position on different steps of the research process, including the questions posed and the findings, are especially welcome. CULTURE & KNOWLEDGE PANEL: "Measure for Measure": Knowledge, Culture, and the Third Wave Marketization Keynote Speaker: Professor Jean-Louis Fabiani, Central European University This panel circumscribes the field of culture and knowledge, the immaterial production of things and dissemination and consumption in contemporary settings. It centres on the current relations and amalgamations of culture and knowledge in the spheres of politics and the economy. Hence, we welcome research and theoretical papers that grapple with the topics of: cultural transformation in a globalized world, commodification and de-commodification of knowledge and culture, the intellectual property regime, Creative Commons, connections of culture and especially popular culture with various sorts of populism, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, the dissemination and consumption of such cultural products, connections between new cultural items and power. We also welcome ethnographic studies of communities that form and develop around the production and consumption of knowledge and culture, which deal with the social and political significance of collective experience, identity and affect as they come about in physical and virtual spaces. Prem Kumar Rajaram Associate Professor and Head of Department Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology Central European University Nador utca 9 H-1051 Budapest Hungary Tel. (++36 1) 327 3000 (ext 2610) Fax. (++ 36 1) 328 3501