[URBANTH-L] CFP: Ethnographic research methods and policy: conflicts and potentials

[Lars Frers]

Call for Papers / Presentations (special extended deadline)
Session "Ethnographic research methods and policy: conflicts and  
potentials"
Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society / Institute of  
British Geographers
August 29-31, London, UK

***

We are looking for presenters for the session "Ethnographic research  
methods and policy: conflicts and potentials" which we will host at  
this year's RGS-IGB conference in London (28-31 August). The session  
will be part of themed day 1 "Sustainable Cities".

In this session, we want to discuss "the potential of critical  
ethnographic research to respond to, and intervene, in policy-making  
related to sustainability and quality of life in global(ising)  
cities" (see session abstract) below. We are particularly interested  
in hands-on experience doing an ethnographic work and want to use the  
opportunity offered by this session to reflect on the relations  
between ethnography and policy.

Applicants from all disciplines are welcome.

Deadline: The official deadline of the conference has passed today,  
therefore we need brief abstracts (~200 words) as soon as possible,  
_no later than March 15th_.

Katie Walsh (University of Sussex, katie.walsh at sussex.ac.uk)
Lars Frers (Darmstadt University of Technology, frers at zedat.fu- 
berlin.de)

***

Here is the session abstract:

This session will explore the potential of critical ethnographic  
research to respond to, and intervene, in policy-making related to  
sustainability and quality of life in global(ising) cities.  
Ethnographic methods are celebrated for their emphasis on everyday  
geographies of practice and performance, but dismissed by critics for  
producing material which (they argue) is ‘local’, ‘trivial’, or ‘un- 
generalisable’ and understood, therefore, to be of no relevance in  
the ‘science’ of policy-making. In this panel session we hope to open  
a space for geographers to demonstrate and discuss the multiple ways  
in which ethnographic research might provide an opportunity for a  
dialogue between the academy and policy-makers. We aim to generate  
debate around specific research examples and experiences. We welcome  
panelists who are research-active and currently developing the  
strategic potential of ethnographic methods through participatory,  
representational, or other research practices. We would like to  
include researchers interested in a wide range of issues relating to  
sustainable cities and human-well-being in urban environments,  
including health, architecture, violence, environment, development,  
migration, work, or culture.

***

Here is the link to the conference website:

http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International 
+Conference/Annual+International+Conference+2007.htm

(this will probably get broken and needs to be transferred manually  
to your browser)





--
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers

Recently published:
Lars Frers and Lars Meier; eds. (2007) Encountering Urban Places -  
Visual and Material Performances in the City. Ashgate Publishers.

Postdoc
Darmstadt University of Technology
Post-Graduate College Topology of Technology