CfP: 3rd Political Imagination Laboratory (06.-07.12.2019, Perugia)


Liebe Kolleg*innen,

ich möchte Sie und Euch gerne auf den untenstehenden Call für den
dritten Political Imagination Laboratory-Workshop aufmerksam machen.

Auf Einsendungen in englischer Sprache bis zum 15.09.2019 freuen wir uns!

Herzliche Grüße, auch im Namen von Alexander Koensler

Marion Näser-Lather


*What [Not] Can be Said: Fieldwork as Witnessing?*

/06-07 December 2019, University of Perugia, Italy/

*Call for papers and visual projects


For those who engage with questions of social justice in their fieldwork
and/or qualitative research, questions related to the identity and the
role of the researcher remain inescapable.Recently, the figure of the
witness has been presented as one of the possible solutions to the
dilemmas of knowledge, power and ontology in ethnographic and
qualitative fieldwork. Compared to other possible identities – such as
“expert” or “reporter” – the witness preserves independence and entails
authority. The witness aims to be a truthful observer, while being
conscious about its own limits of knowledge, its own positioning and its
own responsibilities.

The third Political Imagination Laboratory invites those who carry out
fieldwork related to questions of social justice and/or activism
(anthropologists, filmmakers, social scientists) to focus on
methodological and ontological aspects of their research: What can be
understood? What not? What can be said? What not? When should we
intervene? In how far do we have an obligation to our interlocutors and
other actors in as well as outside the field? How do we situate
ourselves with regard to moral positions (between cultural relativism
and universalism)? How does the relation with our field partners and
possible resulting emotional entanglements (e.g., the negotiation of
empathy vs. sympathy) influence our way of representing them and of
acting in the field?

Presentations can be based on a wide range of research related to
questions of social justice and activism broadly defined, but each
contribution should highlight and discuss one or more aspects of
methodological and/or ontological challenges, based on first-hand
fieldwork experiences as witness.**

We invite both *papers *and *visual projects *(completed documentaries
or projects in progress).

PAPER PRESENTATIONS: Please submit your abstract (max. 300 words) for a
paper of about 20 minutes before the deadline to: The abstract should also include your academic
affiliation and role.

VISUAL PROJECTS: Please submit your (audio-)visual project (completed
documentaries or works in progress) with a short description (max. 300
words) before the deadline. In order to stimulate debate, videos of ca.
30 minutes will be preferred; for longer completed documentaries, a
short version accompanied by a presentation would be more adequate.
Please upload your video to a cloud drive with the link to: (or send a DVD by surface mail to: /Political
Imagination Laboratory/, Antropologia- /Dipartimento di Filosofia,
Scienze Sociali, Umane e della Fomazione /(FISSUF), Piazza Morlachi 30,
06123 Perugia, Italy).

/Notification of accepted presentations/: 30th September 2019.

Our Political Imagination Laboratory alternates paper presentations with
film screenings, roundtable discussions, and work-in-progress visual
expositions. They emphasis the participatory and horizontal spirit of
workshops, providing an open space for academic debate, personal
interactions and socializing as interconnected elements. This 2-day
workshop will take place at the /Dipartimento di Filosofia, Scienze
Sociali, Umane e della Formazione/(FISSUF), University of Perugia,
Italy. It is organized by the research network “Peasant Activism
Project”, in cooperation with the network “Anthropology and Social
Movements” of the European Association of Social Movements (EASA) and
the Centre for Documentary Research at Queen’s University Belfast. Most
meals will be covered, but you need to arrange transportation and
accommodation by yourself.

*Further Information: *

“Peasant Activism Project”:;

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