Anthropology of Europe: what is it and how should it be practiced
Published: Mon 20th April
Contemporary anthropology represents a multiplicity of research and theoretical approaches, which provokes questions concerning its present position within the humanities; its applicability and the viability of used research methods and techniques as well as the status of knowledge gained in the process of doing and writing ethnography. These problems evoke stimulating questions concerning ways and means of practicing anthropology in Europe and of Europe by anthropologists studying both their ‘own’ and ‘alien’ societies or even communities. We are interested in relations between anthropological production and cultural familiarity versus cultural strangeness. How far does a researcher’s ‘cultural background’ influence ethnography, what effect does this have on the quality and specificity of ethnographic participant observation and other forms of collecting data, and the interpretation of the data?
We are convinced that these issues can be best reflected upon by meeting and sharing fieldwork and scholarly experience in a group of representatives of different traditions and orientations in anthropology coming from all corners of Europe and possibly beyond it. Poland and ‘Central Europe’ can figure as particular, though by no means not exclusive, ‘case study’ that would help us to demonstrate various ways of conceptualizing certain social and cultural problems that are conditioned by different scholarly traditions represented by those studying them. Contrasting the diverse findings made by anthropologists coming from various countries, including those generated by ‘native’ ethnologists, will substantially widen our perspective. By comparing the anthropology ‘of (one’s) home’ which has been researched by local scholars ‘at home’ and various ‘aliens’ we should be able to form conclusions based on the interrelations between cultural images, scholarly traditions and anthropological studies in general in times of a global flow of people and ideas.
The meeting will take the form of conference. We would like to ask you to contribute to at least one of the thematic sections listed below. Please sent abstracts by the end of 15 July 2009 to Agnieszka Chwieduk (agach@amu.edu.pl). After receiving abstract we will inform you about the conference program. The conference will take place in Poznań, Poland be held on the 15th, 16th and 17th of October. On the last day of conference a general Association General Meeting (AGM) of the EASA will take place. Applications for covering at least some expenses of the participants are pending.
We stipulate the publication of the texts enriched by the meeting’s conclusions.
THEMATIC SECTIONS:
1. ‘Anthropology of Europe’ in general and comparative perspective: contemporary research challenges
Multiplicity of research approaches in the unity of the discipline: ‘local’, ‘regional’ and ‘national’ anthropologies in Europe and how they can be integrated in world anthropologies?
2. Similarities and differences in doing anthropology ‘at home’ and ‘abroad’
What and how problems are raised? What are techniques of research used, theoretical paradigms applied and text genres used? Are conclusions drawn from various ethnographies compatible? What was/is your reading of local/foreign scholarship? To what extent you have used it and cited it in your own publications?
3. Hierarchies of knowledge
What are the relations between local and external anthropological/ethnological traditions in practicing anthropology in Europe? What are the local implications of global interdependencies in the domain of anthropological knowledge? What kind of correlations can be seen between European ethnology/anthropology of Europe and ‘universal’ anthropology?
Conference Office:
Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
ul. Sw. Marcin 78
61-809 Poznań
Poland
Phone: +48-61/ 829 4817
Fax: +48-61/ 829 4710
Degree Courses
A number of degree courses related to the study of wider Europe are available at NUI Maynooth, including:
