******************************************************
* http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
* and international contacts directory. *
******************************************************
Doing Anthropology in Wartime and War Zones
7
Interdisciplinary conference organized by the Collaborative Research
Center (SFB) 437: War Experiences – War and Society in Modern Times
and by the Ludwig Uhland Institute for Empirical Cultural Studies at
the University of Tuebingen, December 7-9, 2006 in Tuebingen, Germany
The conference’s aim is to explore the connection between modern war
and the anthropological disciplines. The theme is therefore not the
anthropology of war itself (as a universal human phenomenon), but
rather war as an experiential space and science as social action
within that space. The rise of globalized, modern warfare produced
intercultural encounters on an unprecedented scale, and
anthropologists/ethnologists saw themselves as experts for “foreign
culture”. Based on our knowledge of the links between this nascent
academic discipline and empire-building, the conference seeks to
discuss how this connection was carried over into the situation of
world war. Where did scientific practices formed under the conditions
of colonialist expansion continue and where did they cease or become
modified by war experience?
For this reason, the historical focus of the conference will be on
the years leading up to and including the First World War as a
critical juncture in the development, specialization, and
institutionalization of the anthropological sciences. How does war
limit, change, but also support and make possible ethnographic
research practices? What kinds of experiences do anthropologists have
as participants in the war effort and/or as victims of it? What
effect does the war have on the direction anthropology takes as a
scholarly discipline, in particular for the increasing specialization
and thus drifting apart of its various subfields? Papers which go
beyond the focus of the era of the First World War are warmly
welcomed, but for the sake of comparability, they should focus on
wars and/or violent conflicts in which nation-states are involved.
The conference would particularly like to address the issue of how
modern war offered anthropologists and related disciplines specific
spaces created by warfare, thereby opening new fields of research. In
the material as well as the discursive sense, war creates its own
spaces and places, such as prisoner-of-war camps, refugee camps,
cities under siege or as battle zones, occupied territories,
frontlines, enemy territory. At the same time, certain geographical
areas and their indigenous populations were symbolically constructed
as war zones or regions of endemic warfare, such as the Balkans or
the Caucasus. Papers from any relevant field are invited which
address and analyze issues of ethnographic practices involved in
creating such war zones and/or scholarly activities undertaken in
spaces created by and in wartime.
Proposals may be submitted from any of the applicable fields, e.g.
anthropology, history, history of science, etc. Please submit an
abstract of no more than 500 words and a short CV by email, if
possible, by July 31, 2006 to:
[log in to unmask]
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Johler
Ludwig-Uhland-Institut für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft
Schloss
72074 Tuebingen

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Johler
Ludwig-Uhland-Institut für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft
Schloss
72074 Tuebingen
Email: [log in to unmask]
*************************************************************
* Anthropology-Matters Mailing List *
* 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 *
***************************************************************
|