Workshop at the 6th Biennial Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) - Cracow (Poland), July 26th-29th, 2000
Recent changes in the socio-political and economic landscape in Eastern and Western Europe suggest that categories that have so far been taken for granted in the definition of Europe need to be reconsidered. The Anthropology of Europe has for a long time dwelled upon dichotomies such as "East" and "West", "North" and "South", "Europe" and the "Mediterranean". Due to the demise of Communism, conflict in Yugoslavia, consolidation of the European Union, creation of single European currency, unprecedented migratory movements between countries, and other events in Europe, geographical as well as symbolic boundaries between European countries have shifted. Simultaneously with the dissolution of these great divides we also witness the creation of new boundaries which are not necessarily geographically defined. For example, political divisions between "Left" and "Right", "East" and "West", or "North" and "South", which have previously been associated with geographical areas, no longer have the same meaning. However, while certain political divides have eclipsed, old boundaries such as ethnic, regional, political identities, economic divisions and religious debates still bear some significance in the everyday life of the people. As a result, some of the previously forgotten anthropological discourses such as, for instance, religion in Eastern Europe, have resurfaced in response to a changing political landscape. Much has been said, from a theoretical viewpoint, about the dissolution of these great divides, but little is known about how these changes are experienced in everyday life. We encourage submission of papers with a strong ethnographic basis, that both reflect on the recent developments in the socio-political and economic landscape of Europe (as experienced in everyday life) and have the potential to contribute to theoretical debates within anthropology by challenging conventional geographical categories in Europe.
Convenors:
Helen Kopnina, M.A. <hk213@hermes.cam.ac.uk>
Christina Moutsou, Ph.D <cmm22@cus.cam.ac.uk>
Jaro Stacul, Ph.D <js10043@hermes.cam.ac.uk>
Department of Social Anthropology
University of Cambridge
Free School Lane
Cambridge CB2 3RF
United Kingdom
Prospective participants should send proposed abstracts (either printouts or e-mail attachments) by January 15th, 2000. Proposals should not exceed 200 words, and participants have to be members (or prospective members) of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA). Workshop proposals can be viewed at: http://www.ub.es/easa/wk.htm
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