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*Extension of deadline: May 31st, 2012*


Call for Papers: SAAG (South Asia Anthropologists Group) 2012

*"Bodies, Persons and the State in South Asia: Changing Concepts and
Relations"*

4-6th September 2012, Social Anthropology and the Centre for South Asian
Studies, University of Edinburgh


The 2012 SAAG workshop aims to investigate the interrelated themes of
persons, bodies and the state in South Asia, and explore the continuities
and changes in how these concepts affect everyday lives in the
sub-continent and in the diaspora. We invite a broad and creative
engagement with these themes and anticipate a wide range of papers that
explore how such concepts intersect with, for example, labour practices;
health and well-being; political mobilisation; the law and legal
entitlements; intimate relationships; new technologies; religion; and
bio-security. We hope to provoke debate about how past understandings of
persons and bodies held currency through changing social, political and
economic circumstances, and what is illuminated anew as we re-visit them in
contemporary South Asia.

As global markets have created new possibilities for the commoditisation of
bodies, have ideas shifted about the body, personhood and what it means to
be a citizen? Looking across the region, can we understand more about how
contentions *between* states influence the ways in which states
differentiate persons *within* a state - e.g. on the basis of religious or
ethnic identities?

Have democracies in South Asia created more or less space for the
recognition of diverse forms of personhood? How have different communities
re-shaped expressions of personhood in relation to particular policies of
the state – e.g. emphasising ethnic or caste identities? How has the
development industry’s focus on certain kinds of bodies (e.g. malnourished,
HIV infected, disabled) and certain kinds of persons (e.g. mothers,
children, refugees, ‘indigenous’ people) influenced how people see
themselves, and the ways in which states engage with these people?
Underlying all these questions is the issue of how certain groups of
people, or certain kinds of bodies become politicised.

In what ways are digital technologies creating new possibilities for
expanding our understandings of personhood and creating new opportunities
for state control of populations – e.g. through digitalising census records
and ID documents? How have these technologies, and the emergence more
broadly of new kinds of social spaces and networks, also presented new
possibilities for intimacy, love and relationships? How have social and
political movements used particular bodily practices to establish certain
concepts of personhood?


SAAG 2012 will be hosted jointly by Social Anthropology and the Centre for
South Asian Studies from the 4th to the 6th, September 2012 in the Chrystal
Macmillan Building, 15A George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD. Lunch and
refreshments will be provided for which a small contribution will be
required. We also hope to provide some travel bursaries, which will be
announced later, but potential participants are encouraged to look for
other funding opportunities.

SAAG is a relaxed and friendly event which aims to stimulate intellectual
debate and dialogue on current research and emerging issues in the study of
South Asia. Papers will be pre-circulated to participants and the format
for panels will be: paper presentation by discussant, author’s response and
then open discussion. As usual, we welcome paper proposals from people at
any stages of their academic careers, from first year PhD students onwards.

*If you are interested to attend, submit a paper, or act as a discussant
for SAAG 2012, please contact **[log in to unmask]* <[log in to unmask]>. *For
those proposing a paper, please send a title and brief abstract by* *May
31st 2012.*

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