The theme for the conference in 2018 is
‘claims-making’. While claims-making has implicitly been a major theme in
research on South Asia, theoretical understanding of the concept remains rather
vague. In general, claims-making is related to certain perceptions and framings
of social realities. Claims are linked to assumptions about rights or
entitlements, on which demands can legitimately be based. Therefore, analysing
processes of claims-making can provide complex insight into social, political
and economic structures and the complex ways in which they are negotiated and
consolidated. It is, however, not at all clear how the relationship between
claims-making and ideological formations or moral paradigms should in fact be
conceptualised. When taking a closer look at the process of claims-making,
various other questions emerge, such as those about the conditions under which new
claims arise or how various claims-making strategies change as a result of new
spatial arrangements, technologies and different socio-political structures.
Against this backdrop, the Y-SASM
conference 2018 seeks to provide an interdisciplinary forum for exploring these
issues. Therefore, we invite early career scholars to present their research
linked to claims-making in a wide range of contexts. The conference aims at facilitating
conversation between researchers from different backgrounds such as
anthropology, history, geography, political science or media studies. It
thereby provides an arena for comparative discussions, conceptual debates and
interdisciplinary exchange.
Since 2010, Y-SASM has aimed to provide a platform for
interdisciplinary exchange among junior scholars in the field of South Asian
Studies, including PhD students, early career post-docs and non-tenured faculty
staff. While contributions from other places are welcomed, the main idea is to
strengthen both the South Asia network within Europe as well as the academic
exchange between South Asia and Europe.
Although there are no limits concerning
issues suggested for discussion, the following topics indicate the general
focus of the Y-SASM 2018. Paper presentations relating to one or more of the
following topics are particularly welcomed:
1. Claiming ‘Truth’: Claims-Making and its Knowledge Formations
Producing
certain kinds of knowledge and ‘truths’ is inherently linked to power
relations. Colonial regimes for instance used certain kinds of knowledge to
legitimize their rule. Anti-colonial movements often also engaged with these knowledge
formations as a basis for their claims to power, but also questioned and
dissected them. This subtheme of the conference gives room for the examination
of particular truth claims (e.g. in terms of religion, modernity, ideology, and
scientific knowledge), their circulation, perpetuation and transformation.
While truth claims are often exclusionary, different knowledge formations and
systems co-exist and interact. How can this co-existence be conceptualized? What
do instances of interaction reveal about hierarchies, changing power relations or
the (in-)commensurability of different knowledge regimes? What is or was the role of academic
knowledge formations in the processes of truth claiming?
2. Claiming People: Between Community
Formation, Strategic Essentialism and
‘Being Claimed’
Claims are often made for particular
communities or groups of people. In this subtheme, we explicitly invite papers
that engage with the politics of social processes relating to ‘community
formation’ as well as contestations of ‘community formation’ in the wider context
of claims-making and/or look at the implications of category constructions. How
do group formations change in the process of political claims-making? How are
categories made, unmade and contested? What role do communities — be it religious
or secular, be it in itself, for itself or imagined — have in claims-making
processes in South Asia? Frequently, claims are made on behalf of others. This
might be the case in contexts where differences are neglected in order to create
collective identities and strategic alliances, but becomes most visible when claims
are made on behalf of ‘third others’, who are allegedly unable to speak for
themselves such as orphans, disaster victims or ‘the poor’. What power dynamics
are implicated in this claiming on behalf of others? Which wider political and
socio-religious battles are fought through the appropriation of these
categories?
3. Claiming Resources: Access, Redistribution and Dynamics
of Inequality
Resources arguably constitute a
classical theme regarding claims-making. But how can we fruitfully
conceptualize resources? What, for instance, is the relation between the
distribution of material (land, money, institutions, services) and non-material
resources such as power, authority and recognition? Under what conditions do claims
to certain resources emerge or are demands for the redistribution raised? When
are claims heard and acted upon and when are they deemed ignorable? To which
extent do interest groups or movements challenge, transform or reinforce asymmetrical
access, inequalities and existing exclusions? This subtheme also encourages scholars
to think about how and to whom claims to resources are articulated in present
day South Asia and to what extent ruptures from earlier periods are observable.
Traditionally, the literature of South Asia in anthropology or geography has
emphasised patronage networks. What role do social relations play in
contestations of resources today? How are protests and social movements formed
and how do they frame their claims?
4. Claims-Making and the State: A Democratic Process?
This section explores the role of the
state in the context of claims-making as well as claimants’ understandings of
the state. How are particular state formations and claims-making dynamics
interlinked? How do states transform the repertoires of contention such as hegemonic
narratives or protest strategies? What is the role of laws and legal regulations?
Arguably, democratic states provide a more conducive environment for claims-making
in comparison to authoritarian states; nevertheless, such claims are not always
made on a rights-based approach and resources may not be redistributed strictly
according to state regulations. This section, therefore, invites papers exploring
the particular dynamics of claims-making in the context of South Asian
democracies in a wide range of contexts from labour protest to identitarian
politics. What do practices of claims-making reveal about the
conceptualizations of citizenship, the state, rights and democracy? Under what
conditions are claims made against the state and in which contexts might
claimants prefer to address private actors, NGOs or international agencies? What
role do brokers and mediators play? Finally, what role does local politics play?
5. Justifying Claims: Sources of
Authority
Claims evolve in relation to particular
notions of entitlements, rights, social orders and moralities. For this
subtheme, we not only encourage the participation of scholars who explore the
basis of legitimization and the social and moral embeddedness of claims-making,
but also papers that analyse specific medias and genres that might be linked to
claims making. What role do, for instance, schoolbooks, NGO discourses, particular
laws, sermons or religious norms play for certain movements and political
demands? Do the various contending actors use the same sources of authority for
the legitimization of claims? How do legitimization strategies for certain
claims change over time and to what extent does this correlate with shifting
normative orders?
6. Claims-Making Practices and Theory
In this subtheme, we would like to
engage with scholars who bring together their empirical research with
conceptual considerations around the issues of claims-making. Which theoretical
frameworks — be it from performance theory, social movement theory, social
constructivism, economics or other fields — are helpful to conceptualize
certain claims making dynamics? What factors influence the strategies and dynamics
of claims-making? How might research from South Asia enable us to rethink
existing theories of claims-making and politics? Furthermore, we invite contributions
that contemplate transformations of claims-making in the age of globalization,
new media and changing social structures and explore historical ruptures and
continuities.
Format:
By providing a forum for young scholars
to present papers on different aspects of claims-making, we aim to support them
by means of comments and discussions from established scholars and,
accordingly, wish to create a platform for productive discussions. We ask
accepted presenters to provide a written version of their paper in advance so
that commentators can prepare substantial feedback that will be pre-circulated
among the participants, which will facilitate the dissemination of fruitful
insight among participants and idea exchange during the meeting. We hope that
such a platform can enrich individual studies, broaden research scopes and
provide participants and attendees with ideas for further scholarly projects.
Contact
and Application:
Please send your application, including
an abstract of max. 500 words together with a short CV (1 page) in one document
to y.sasmconf@gmail.com by 30th September 2017. Files should be named as following:
“Name_Family Name_Short Title_ysasm18”. Full papers are expected to be
submitted three weeks before the conference.
Please be aware that while we aim to
secure funding, we are currently unable to guarantee any support to
participants with regard to travel and accommodation costs.
