Join the 25 PhD students and postdocs from various places such as Australia, the Netherlands or Iran to discuss (gender-related) challenges during ethnographic fieldwork.
All are welcome to attend the public keynote lectures by:
LORRAINE NENCEL (Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
on Monday, July 31, titled "A Dash of Intimacy, a Pinch of Subjectivity with a Neo-Liberal Twist: Ingredients for Mixing a Research Relationship Cocktail in Contemporary Fieldwork"
Abstract: Contemporarily, the research relationship is often described as an intersubjective relationship which I may add is bathed in intimacy. My keynote will briefly trace the shifts that have occurred in the fieldwork relations and how the position of the research subject has changed. It will focus on the epistemological and methodological assumptions that are produced regarding the relationship between the researcher and the research subject. In the first place it looks at some of the vocabulary we use to describe the construction of the research relation in the field, including binaries such as insider/outsider, emic/etic and ideas concerning "building rapport" and their shortcomings when we define the research relationship as an intersubjective relationship grounded on intimacies and subjectivities. Second it will unpack epistemological and methodological assumptions which are intrinsic to such anthropological currents such as feminist anthropology and methodologies falling under the label Participatory Action Research (PAR). These assumptions ultimately dictate particular ways of doing research, making some research relationships and the knowledge they produce more authentic than others. Finally, it will reveal some of the challenges faced in the current neo-liberal research climate which makes certain demands regarding the type of research that will be funded and concomitantly has impacted on the way research relations are performed and the positionalities of both researcher and research subject alike. The research relationship has become more fluid and context and research specific than previous. Yet its function - a means to understanding phenomenon, issues and subjects through the significances given by a group or community - remains more or less intact. For critical researchers, the way to guarantee that the research relationship is (inter)subjective and intimate is through engagement. The presentation will conclude with A few notes of inspiration regarding research and engagement.
and
DON KULICK (Social Anthropology, Uppsala University)
on Thursday, August 3, titled "The Care of An Other"
Abstract: This talk will discuss queer theory in relation to the lives of people with significant physical and intellectual disabilities. Rather than focus on queer theory's favourite topic (subjectivity), and on the Foucauldian-inspired issue of 'the care of the self', what gets revealed about queer theory's limitations when we, instead, examine what it means to care for an other?
With workshops organized by:
M. Dores Cruz (University of Freiburg)
Erella Grassiani (University of Amsterdam)
Mirna Guha (University of East Anglia)
Andrea Hollington (University of Cologne)
Sinah Kloß (University of Cologne)
Don Kulick (Uppsala University)
Mira Menzfeld (University of Cologne)
Lorraine Nencel (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Fatima Begum Rajina (SOAS University of London)