Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society 2023
Relations and beyond:
conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society
2023, 21-23 March
Conference abstract and call for panels:
We invite paper abstract submissions to the conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society 2023, 21-23 March in Rovaniemi, after a four years’ pandemic-induced break. The general topic of the conference is “Relations and beyond”:
Relations have been called ”the master concept of anthropology” (Viveiros de Castro 2014:170), yet recent advances have also drawn our attention to the question of un-related or post-relational beings, things and phenomena. Either way this shows how relation and relationality are too central to anthropology to become outdated. The concept has gained new relevance with the changes which anthropology as a discipline has been going through in recent decades. Among such developments are our increased awareness of the anthropocene, beyond-human ethnographies, renewed interest in ethics and co-creation of knowledge, and connected to that the limits of relations and the question of ”what comes next”, hence ”un-relations” or ”post-relations”.
For the first time hosted by the Arctic Anthropology Research Team in Lapland, this conference invites contributions to an anthropology of relations and beyond, celebrating the multiplicity of facets and “theoretical heterogeneity [that] may strengthen rather than weaken the force of relations as a general concept” (Strathern 2018, in CEA, p.8). These theoretical avenues will be addressed by the three keynotes at this conference, by Dame Marilyn Strathern (University of Cambridge), Tim Ingold (University of Aberdeen) and Piers Vitebsky (University of Cambridge). All of them have already made significant contributions to this field, for example through their study of the changing relations between people, animals and spirits (Vitebsky 2005, 2017), and to the general debate of what is the unit of anthropological enquiry: humans, animals, species or beings in general? (Ingold 2013).
During the final plenary discussion these keynote speakers shall engage with selected specialists in the field and the plenary audience to advance our understanding of relations and beyond to the next level. Within Finnish Anthropology, we aim to foster conversations between anthropologists working in the Arctic and elsewhere. The 2023 conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society invites panels that explore the topic of “relations and beyond” in diverse ethnographic and theoretical settings. Panels are also welcome to focus on relations between anthropology and other disciplines – a topic that has become particularly relevant in the current funding landscape with its emphasis on multidisciplinary projects. We encourage submissions on relations between anthropologists and their research partners in the field, be they international and Finnish colleagues or practitioners, and how the process of co-creating knowledge bases on such relations.
Paper abstract submission deadline: 30.11.2022.
abstracts should include the following information:
• name of the panel to which submitted (list of panels will be shortly announced
• title of the paper
• name(s) and contact address(es) of the author(s)
• paper abstract (max. 250 words)
Find the full list of accepted 31 panels here.
Conference organising committee: Anthropology Research Team, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland: Florian Stammler, Nuccio Mazzullo, Teresa Komu, Panu Itkonen, Ria-Maria Adams.
Further scholarly enquiries to Nuccio.Mazzullo@nullulapland.fi