[URBANTH-L] CFP: Global Connections and Emerging Inequalities in Europe (Max Planck, Halle/Saale, Germany)

[Angela Jancius]

Call for Papers

Conference

Global Connections and Emerging Inequalities in Europe
July 6th - 7th

Organizers: Deema Kaneff and Frances Pine
Venue: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany

The social, economic and political map of Europe shifted in May 2004 with 
the accession of eight formerly socialist states to the European Union, and 
it is poised to change again in 2007 with the entry of two more. Some 
effects of this European enlargement are already becoming visible such as 
the simultaneous relaxation of some border restrictions on the one hand and 
the selective control of international movements of both people and trade on 
the other.  While foreign investment and employment opportunities connected 
to enlargement are evident in some areas, particularly large urban 
locations, in both the new EU states and the current accession candidates, 
other areas demonstrate continuing or increasing unemployment and economic 
stagnation. In many areas, increased impoverishment of children and 
unemployment of young people, feminization of poverty, exclusion of 
particular groups such as Roma, the elderly and differently-abled people all 
give cause for concern. For many residents of these countries, migration 
appears to offer at least a temporary solution; short term seasonal 
migration, migration in order to study abroad, and longer term economic 
migration are all important in this context.  However, for others, EU 
funding is facilitating the development of a local forum for new 
opportunities and new links between business, state and NGO players that 
also influence the lives of those who remain at home.

We are organizing a conference at the Max Planck Institute for Social 
Anthropology, to consider the forms and the implications of both increasing 
connections between local actors and communities and the global economy, and 
emerging inequalities (economic, political and social) and polarizations 
within the countries in question and between them and western Europe. The 
themes of the conference grow out of a Volkswagen funded project entitled 
Inclusion and Exclusion: kinship and social networks in Bulgaria and Poland 
(directed by Chris Hann, Deema Kaneff and Frances Pine) at the MPI. We 
invite submissions of papers which address the broad topics of exclusion and 
inclusion, kinship and social ties, mobility, and survival strategies and 
emerging inequalities. To this end, we have identified four main areas of 
interest, which are all to some extent underpinned by considerations of 
these topics. The four themes are:

1)     Rural /Urban Divisions and Connections
2)     Markets and Trade
3)     Labour and Work
4)     Migration


We imagine that the topics addressed might include:

1)     increasing polarization between rural and urban areas, impoverishment 
of rural areas, rural/urban reciprocity and exchange
2)     informal markets, growth of entrepreneurs, scale of markets from 
local to multi-national
3)     unemployment, recruitment and access to work, significance of age, 
generation and gender, ethnicity, ability, education and training
4)     internal and international migration, decision making processes, 
practices of migration and remittances

These are however intended to be general guidelines and papers are welcomed 
on related themes not mentioned here.

Please send abstracts by 1st June to Deema Kaneff and Frances Pine.

For further information, please contact:

Deema Kaneff, email: kaneff at eth.mpg.de
Frances Pine, email: pine at eth.mpg.de


Further information on the project Political, economic and social inclusion 
and exclusion in Bulgaria and Poland is available at:
http://www.eth.mpg.de