[URBANTH-L] CFP: Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy (Cape Town)

[Angela Jancius]

Vulnerability, social exclusion and the state in the informal economy
Cape Town, South Africa, 26-28 March 2007

Deadline: September 30, 2006

http://livingonthemargins.org/home/default.asp

All across the world, even contexts of significant economic growth, 
large numbers of people are still living on the margins, socially 
excluded and trapped in poverty.

Increasing attention has fallen on the social dynamics that exclude and 
marginalize many of the world’s poor – or which include them in the 
broader economy, but on unequal and adverse terms. Explanations of 
marginalization appeal to concepts of social exclusion, informality, 
adverse incorporation, structural poverty, and vulnerability - and, in 
South Africa, the rather more controversial idea of a ‘second economy’ 
existing alongside but disconnected from the formal economy.

The Conference:

The conference will bring together current knowledge and cutting edge 
research on the dynamics of economic marginalization and its 
implications, and will interrogate the adequacy of dominant accounts of 
marginalization.

It will encourage inter-disciplinary debate explore the power and 
adequacy of competing or complementary explanations for the causes of 
chronic poverty and continuing vulnerability.

It will create a forum that allows critical debate and creative 
discussions between researchers and practitioners (from government and 
civil society) practically engaged in poverty reduction, pro-poor 
policymaking and implementation and poverty alleviation.

Call for Papers:

Papers are invited for presentation at this conference.  In particular, 
we welcome the following:

* Papers on the findings of new and innovative research. There will be 
an emphasis on research that focuses on the qualitative understanding 
of marginalization and vulnerability, or that integrate quantitative 
and qualitative approaches.
    
* Papers exploring practical case studies and experiences ‘on the 
ground’ of those in the informal economy or of experience of policy 
frameworks.
    
* Papers reviewing debates, and focussing on conceptual enquiry and 
theoretical argument.

Submitting proposals:

Abstracts (200-300 words) for proposed papers, along with a short 
author CV, should be submitted to Lulekwa Gqiba 
(info at livingonthemargins.org) no later than 30 September 2006.

Authors will be notified of acceptance by 30 October 2006. Papers will 
be due by 31 January 2007, and will be downloadable on the conference 
website by 28 February 2007.  The conference will be held from 26 – 28 
March 2007. Details about registration will be posted on our website: 
http://livingonthemargins.org/home/default.asp


The Book:

Conference authors will be invited to have their papers collected for 
publication in a journal special edition or a book.