Network news

New Networks

European Network for Queer Anthropology
 Paul Boyce (University of Sussex, )
Elisabeth Engebretsen (International Institute for Asian Studies/Leiden University, )

The European Network for Queer Anthropology (ENQA), established spring 2013, aims to promote communication, develop teaching materials, enhance mentoring, and to serve as a professional network for people who work on sexual and gender diversity from an anthropological perspective.

ENQA serves the interests of anthropologists who self-identify in terms of non-heteronormative sexualities or genders, however defined, in offering resources, support, and community. Anyone can be an ENQA member but the primary intention is for ENQA to forge networking between those located in Europe, and/or who work on queer issues, broadly defined, in a European context. We are currently in the process of developing a Call for Papers for a special issue of the Sexualities journal, and we will host our first business meeting and elections at the 2014 EASA Meeting in Tallinn. More info here: www.easaonline.org/networks/enqa/index.shtml

Current Activities of EASA Networks

EASA Network Anthropology of Law and Rights
Heike Drotbohm,
The EASA network "Anthropology of law and rights" prepares a workshop for December this year on "Mobility within and to the Global South. Alternative histories, labour policies and citizenship regimes", which will take place on December 6/7 at the department for Social Anthropology at University of Cologne in Germany.

 

EASA’s Anthropology and Mobility Network
Roger Norum,
There are now more than 60 people registered for the Anthropology and Mobility Network's two-day workshop on new ethnographic methodologies in the study of mobility and migration, to be held 27–28 September at the University of Oxford. There are still a few places left for non-presenting attendees – for more information and to register, visit www.compas.ox.ac.uk/mobmeth.

 

EASA’s Mediterraneanist Network
 William Kavanagh,
6th EASA Mediterraneanist (MedNet) Scientific Workshop
31 Oct. – 3 Nov. 2013, Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta
Theme: Connecting spaces, constructing places, constituting memories: Comparative approaches in the anthropology of the Mediterranean

Recent Activities of EASA Networks

EASA network on Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology
Michael Lidauer,

4th Bi-Annual PACSA Meeting in collaboration with Dignity – Danish Institute against Torture and Aalborg University, 28-30 August 2013, Copenhagen How do we conceptualize and understand different forms of crisis, and how can a focus on diverse crises enhance our anthropological understanding of peace and conflict? For its 4th bi-annual meeting, the EASA network ‘Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology’ (PACSA) encouraged anthropological reflections on what it means to live in a state of crisis.

Is crisis a motor of change, a catalyst for socio-cultural transformation, or is it merely a gesture intended to frame the abnormal? How do these discussions then affect our conceptualizations of peace and conflict, particularly in situations where crisis is permanent or even normalized? And finally, what happens when individual perspectives meet systemic views of peace, crisis, and conflict?

Over sixty participants sought to answer these questions with their presentations and comments. The event was organized in 9 panels. Key note addresses were held by Ilana Feldman (George Washington University) and Finn Stepputat (DIIS). The meeting was organized by Erella Grassiani (Amsterdam University), Anja Kublitz (Aalborg University), Michael Lidauer (Goethe University/ Peace Research Institute Frankfurt), Henrik Rønsbo (Dignity – Danish Institute against Torture, Copenhagen) and Nerina Weiss (Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, Oslo).

The EASA network on ‘Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology’ holds bi-annual meetings every other year when EASA does not convene. The next meeting is scheduled for 2015. PACSA will also invite network members to propose panels for the EASA conference in Tallin in 2014. A detailed conference report will be posted on http://www.pacsa-web.eu/. Interested colleagues can sign up to lists.easaonline.org/listinfo.cgi/pacsa-easaonline.org.

You can also like PACSA on facebook www.facebook.com/peaceandconflictstudiesinanthropology and see tweets from the conference www.rebelmouse.com/pacsa2013.

 

EASA Medical Anthropology Network
The network recently held a large conference in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association’s Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA), hosted by the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain.
Read two personal accounts of of this event and the preceding Medical Anthropology Young Scholars (MAYS) network conference here:
somatosphere.net/2013/07/a-report-on-the-joint-easasma-conference-encounters-and-engagements-creating-new-agendas-for-medical-anthropology.html
and
www.alwaysresearching.com/2013/09/17/sharing-impediments-and-catalysts-notes-on-the-mays-meeting-in-tarragona-june-10-11-2013-by-livia-garofalo/