[URBANTH-L]AAA CFP--Axes of Dispossession in South Asia

[Sampat, Preeti]

Call for Papers

American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting Philadelphia Marriott, December 2-6, 2009

 

Axes of Dispossession-Conflict, Identity and the Neoliberal Economy in South Asia

 

Organizers-Ahilan Kadirgamar, City University of New York, Graduate Center and

 

Preeti Sampat, City University of New York, Graduate Center

 

Discussant-Professor John Harriss, Simon Fraser University

 

Home to over 1500 million people and half the world's poor, South Asia is the locus of multiple interrelated global, regional, national and local developments today. As an 'emerging' economic region; a crucible for the 'war on terror;' with multiple internal conflicts around identity, nationalism, ideology and economic development; dispossession increasingly forms a central refrain in the region, most adversely impacting the poor and ethnic, religious and indigenous minorities. The causes for contemporary dispossession vary, from state-, development-, capital-, conflict- to identity-induced dispossession. State-led development projects, state and non-state violence in conflict areas, urban demolitions, violence against minorities, special economic zones with transnational and national capital and the 'war on terror' are all fundamentally (re)shaping configurations of power in South Asia. Nationalist movements, new social movements, right-wing conservative and religious movements, citizens' campaigns and legal initiatives are some key responses to these forms of dispossession, many of which emerge from long standing historical developments in the region, even as they are marked by contemporary phenomena. 

 

We propose to frame these issues under the rubric of dispossession and examine its links with the politics of identity, conflict and economy. The axes of dispossession then include the state, identity, conflict and capital within the larger conceptual ambit of political economy. Some questions we propose to ask are how the discursive and material bases for dispossession and responses to it intersect across the region? What are the historical contexts for dispossession and what are their implications for the multiple crises of poverty, conflict and development in the region? What public interventions would engage these developments and raise the concerns of people who face dispossession? These are some questions of interest and in engaging this overall schema of power, papers for this panel could address, but not be limited to the following themes:

 

*	Legal and discursive regimes being put in place or reconfigured to enable contemporary development induced dispossessions and their resonance across the region 
*	Neoliberal policy, the growth of capital, special economic zones, urban demolitions and dispossession 
*	Violence against minorities, conflict and/ or the regional linkages of the 'war on terror' 
*	Peasant, indigenous and minority responses and strategies to counter dispossession; 
*	Right-wing formations and the discourse and strategy for the dispossession of minorities 
*	Nationalist movements and state responses in conflict zones 
*	Citizens campaigns and legal actions for individual and collective rights 
*	Democratic decentralization processes and the implications of growing privatization 

 

Please email abstracts (250 words) and a brief bio or CV to AKadirgamar at gc.cuny.edu or PSampat at gc.cuny.edu by March 15, 2009. We will respond to all submissions the following week.

 

Please note that pursuant to AAA rules, all participants must register for AAA membership or receive a waiver before panel submission; participants who receive waivers must pay the meeting registration fee.