Anthropology Conference 2015

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Update, Nov 16, 2015: videos on the Conference now available in Youtube: the keynote speech by Anna Tsing and her interview; the Westermarck Lecture by Philippe Descola and his interview.

The keynote speech is given by Prof Anna Tsing (University of California Santa Cruz) on the topic “The buck, the bull, and the dream of the stag: some unexpected weeds of the Anthropocene” (see abstract, pdf). (Wednesday, Oct 21, 2016, 10.30am, House of Sciences and Letters, Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki)

The Edward Westermarck Memorial Lecture of 2015 will be given on the occasion of the conference by Prof Philippe Descola (Collège de France) with the title “Landscape as Transfiguration” (see abstract, pdf) (Thursday, Oct 22, 2016, 5pm, House of Sciences and Letters, Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki)

The 2nd Helsinki Knots Symposium will also be arranged on the occasion of the Finnish Anthropology Conference with the topic Relations and Dependencies: disciplinary knots (see full program, pdf) in Oct 23, 2015 (Friday), 9pm–5pm, also at the House of Letters and Sciences, Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki. The keynote speakers are Jane Guyer (Johns Hopkins), Beverley Skeggs (Goldsmiths London), Ruben Andersson (LSE and Stockholm), and Éric Fassin (Paris VIII).
→ Please register your attendance at Knots online by October 15.

• Call for Papers
• Call for Posters
• Call for Films

Landscape has become a prevalent concept in anthropology in recent years, and it has acquired occasionally contested meanings in discussions across disciplines. Many anthropologists consider that landscape emerges and is perceived in different ways depending on time, place and space. According to this point of view, we can speak of landscape as a contextual social and cultural process defined by time, place and space rather than as an image and an object of the visual gaze. Landscapes can thus be seen as socially constructed mainsprings and mediators of being and belonging, of memories, cosmologies and narratives. Can we then, through landscape, space or place, understand something new about social relations? In what ways are landscapes constructed as wide networks of relations, of various kinds of socialities? And further, how do people’s practices, activities and meaning making processes affect and shape landscapes?

On the other hand, researchers focused on materiality have asked how social relations are enacted and communicated through material things and the use of space and how the chosen medium affects what is being communicated. Others have asked how the material properties of various resources, infrastructures and environments enable and restrict certain social forms. Can we say that certain materialities elicit certain kinds of political formations? Taking these viewpoints even further, can we assume that also objects and environments have something akin to agency? Do these notions further our understanding of social life and the politics associated with it, or – as others have noted – is ascribing agency to non-humans a form of fetishism that displaces politics from sight and curtails our understanding? In this conference we wish to explore these questions and further consider whether these discussions about materiality downplay humanism in social sciences? What is the role of politics and power in studies on landscapes and sociality?

The Finnish Anthropology Conference investigates these themes in 15 panels (see individual panel descriptions). The keynote speaker of the conference is Anna Tsing, and the Westermarck lecture is going to be given by Philippe Descola. On Friday October 23rd there will be an Anthropological Knots symposium, with a separate programme published later. The conference is organised by The Finnish Anthropological Society. General inquiries regarding the conference can be addressed to Anu Lounela (anu.lounela[a]helsinki.fi) or Katja Uusihakala (katja.uusihakala[a]helsinki.fi).

Call for papers

We cordially invite individual paper proposals which are aligned with the conference panel topics. The proposals should comprise abstracts of 250–300 words and be submitted directly to the panel convenors. Please include your university affiliation and contact information when submitting the proposal.

Deadline for paper proposals: March 15th, 2015. Acceptance notifications will be sent by April 1st, 2015.

Call for posters

The conference will host one poster session, which is meant to provide everyone with an excellent opportunity of presenting their work with an intriguing visual display and key ideas or paragraphs related to the theme of the conference. Abstract length and deadline for the proposals are the same as for the papers. Poster presenters are responsible for the expenses of the poster printing. A limited number of stands for the posters (max height 100 cm, width 70 cm) are available at the conference location. We welcome posters with inspiring layouts and prominent ideas related to the theme of the conference. We encourage especially junior scholars to participate in this session. Poster abstracts and inquiries should be sent to Tuomas Tammisto (tuomas.tammisto[a]helsinki.fi).

Call for films

We invite documentary film submissions to be screened during the conference. The Film Programme aims to investigate different ways in which objects, landscapes, material properties of various resources, infrastructures, and environments enable and restrict certain forms of creativity.

We encourage submissions that consider – through their cinematic form or content – different perceptions, mediations, and constructions of landscape and its relation to time, place, space, belonging, memories, cosmologies, narratives, and being-in-the-world. We also welcome submissions that engage with the multiple affects and relations that are generated and mediated through material objects.

There are two options to submit.

1. Online submissions.
Send an email to Carlo Cubero (carlo.cubero[a]gmail.com) with a link to the film (ie. VIMEO, YouTube, or your preffered format), a short billing (250 words), and the following information:

• Director
• Runtime in minutes
• Year of production
• Location
• Production/distribution

2. Submissions by post can be mailed to
Carlo A. Cubero
Department Social & Cultural Anthropology
Tallinn University
5 Uus Sadama
10120 Tallinn, Estonia

Further particulars:

Please include the completed film entry form with your submission.
• Film entry form (doc)
• Film entry form (pdf)
Films that are not in English must be subtitled to English.
We will only consider submissions completed after January 2013.
Submissions must be received or latest date of posting before 6th April 2015.

Film-makers and other staff connected to the production are encouraged to attend for the discussion that will follow each screening.

Call for Panels

• Call for Panels as pdf
• Suomenkielinen paneelikutsu
Landscape has become a prevalent concept in anthropology in recent years, and it has acquired occasionally contested meanings in discussions across disciplines. Many anthropologists consider that landscape emerges and is perceived in different ways depending on time, place and space. According to this point of view, we can speak of landscape as a contextual social and cultural process defined by time, place and space rather than as an image and an object of the visual gaze. Landscapes can thus be seen as socially constructed mainsprings and mediators of being and belonging, of memories, cosmologies and narratives. Can we then, through landscape, space or place, understand something new about social relations? In what ways are landscapes constructed as wide networks of relations, of various kinds of socialities? And further, how do people’s practices, activities and meaning making processes affect and shape landscapes?

On the other hand, researchers focused on materiality have asked how social relations are enacted and communicated through material things and the use of space and how the chosen medium affects what is being communicated. Others have asked how the material properties of various resources, infrastructures and environments enable and restrict certain social forms. Can we say that certain materialities elicit certain kinds of political formations? Taking these viewpoints even further, can we assume that also objects and environments have something akin to agency? Do these notions further our understanding of social life and the politics associated with it, or – as others have noted – is ascribing agency to non-humans a form of fetishism that displaces politics from sight and curtails our understanding? In this conference we wish to explore these questions and further consider whether these discussions about materiality downplay humanism in social sciences? What is the role of politics and power in studies on landscapes and sociality?

We invite panels that engage with the conference themes in various ways and contexts. Panels may draw upon, but are not limited to, issues such as different forms of sociality, materiality mediating social life, landscapes as cultural processes in rural and urban settings, and other related issues.

Proposal for panels should be submitted by December 15, 2014 to anu.lounela[a]helsinki.fi

Panel proposals should include the following information:
• name of the panel
• name(s) and contact address(es) of the panel organizer(s)
• panel abstract (max. 250 words)

Call for papers will be circulated in January 2015, when the accepted panels will be announced.

Further inquiries about the conference: jenni.molkanen[a]helsinki.fi