For Ethnography: Anthropology and the Politics of the Present

20 April 2007

Ethnography today is both fashionable and old-hat. For Ethnography: Anthropology and the Politics of the Present seeks to discuss the contribution ethnography can make to post-colonial studies, as compared to the kind of history which tends to render the present as almost a direct and unmediated consequence of the past.

This conference aims to recognize ethnography for its desire to explore the complexities of the present, avoiding simplistic representations of the post-colonial condition. It will also want to engage across the disciplines from which anthropology draws insights in investigating contemporary cultural intricacies; philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, history and film studies.

For Ethnography hopes to explore the ways in which ethnographic practice can forestall intellectual purity, whereby the analyst is implicitly positioned as the good subject, always on the side of the subaltern. What are the fault-lines in contemporary projects which unproblematically side with the oppressed?

Keynote Introduction - Gillian Cowlishaw

Keynote: Changing our minds (pdf, 32kb)

We hope the audience will prepare themselves by reading this introduction as well as the abstracts and take an active part in the discussions. Some of the conference papers will be available at the venue.