[URBANTH-L]2008 AAA CFP: ANTHROPOLOGY OF GRATITUDE

[Jessaca Leinaweaver]

Please post (with pre-emptive apologies for cross-postings):
 
2008 AAA CFP: ANTHROPOLOGY OF GRATITUDE
 
Paul Ricouer has argued that intersubjective actions are laden with
evaluations and negotiations of social standing in which expectations may or
may not be met. When actors do not meet expectations, they are perceived as
ungrateful. When they exceed expectations, gratitude is an appropriate
response.  Thus, to properly understand gratitude is to consider how,
through appraising others' actions, people constitute social relationships
of mutual responsibility that cross-cut relations of inequality. 
 
Thus, taking gratitude seriously is a useful way to invigorate Maussian
studies of the gift and to explore the complex social actions that produce
inequality alongside mutual indebtedness.  This panel considers the
emotional states engendered by the gift: gratitude, ingratitude, and the
relationship between the two.  Papers are invited that address the
negotiation of gratitude and ingratitude, particularly but not exclusively
in connection with the conference themes of inclusion, collaboration, and
engagement.  Under what conditions does gratitude come to be expressed in
the context of a "gift"?  Do the perceived intentionality of the giver or
the absence of a duty to give inform these evaluations? How can ethnographic
accounts illuminate the ways that "generosity" is performed and interpreted?
Papers may address the social relations glossed by indebtedness, the
sociolinguistics of expressions of gratitude and accusations of ingratitude,
the relationship between the gift and appreciations thereof, and subjective
states of gratitude, indebtedness, entitlement, or ingratitude that
characterize relationships between anthropologists and their (potential)
interlocutors, among other possibilities.

 

Please send a 250-word abstract by March 21, 2008 to Jessa Leinaweaver at
j_leinaweaver at umanitoba.ca.

 

 

Jessaca B. Leinaweaver, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

436 Fletcher Argue Bldg.

University of Manitoba

Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V5 CANADA

204-474-7649 (Office)

204-474-7600 (Fax)

j_leinaweaver at umanitoba.ca