Cultural Studies Workshop 2008
The Centre for Studies in Social Sciences
(CSSSC)
The Centre for Studies in Social Sciences (CSSSC) in collaboration
with SEPHIS (the Netherlands) will hold its 13thannual Cultural Studies
Workshop from 5 to 10 February, 2008 in Pune, India. The general theme for this
year's workshop is Culture and Economic Life.
As a field of research and writing, cultural studies emerged from the
perceived limits of conventional disciplines as a critique of both economism and
humanistculturalism. By rethinking the realmof the economic and contemporary
social-cultural practices, cultural studies was able to generate critical
insights and problematise existing disciplines, sometimes by focusing on aspects
of mass culture hitherto considered trivial. More than two decades after the
field has been institutionalized, it may be necessary to ask: is there now a
need to renew the engagements that cultural studies has had with the economic
realm? In a time of globalization and its homogenizing technological and
cultural effects, is there some urgency to exploring the crucial links between
cultural processes, artifacts and institutions on the o[1ehq.nd,and economic
life on the other?
Under this broad rubric, the Cultural Studies
Workshop 2008 will focus on the following specific themes:
- Cultural Studies and the Question of the 'Economic':What kindsof economic
concepts were interrogated by cultural studies and why is it important to
rethink or reformulate these concepts today?
- Commodities, Circulation and Regulation: Issues related to emerging
markets in cultural goods, questions of copyright and legality, and regimes of
circulation.
- Cultural Politics of Class: Changing configurations and subjectivities of
the middle class; rethinking the working class and the peasantry as conceptual
categories.
- Economics of Cultural Production: The modes and spheres of circulation of
film, literature, art and the new media.
- Capital and the Challenges to the Community: The effects of globalization
and technological chal'fge on community life and identity, and questions such
as displacement or dislocation.
The workshop is intended to give young researchers an opportunity to share
their work with senior scholars in the field, including some of the faculty of
the CSSSC. It is aimed at doctoral or post doctoral students (preferably below
the age of 35) whose ongoing or just cOlTlpletedwork focuses on one or more of
the themes listed above. They should be able to present a research paper based
on their work for discussion. However, jointly authored papers will not be
accepted for the workshop. CSSSC will bear the expenses of rail travel (AC
two-tier) and accommodation at Pune for all selected candidates from India.
Priority will be given to students currently affiliated to Indian educational
institutions.
International participants who have studied, or have been working long term,
in countries of the 'global South are also invited to apply. Their airfare and
local hospitality will becovered by the CSSSC in collaboration with SEPHIS.
Those wishing to participate in the workshop may apply with their current
c.v. and a brief description (no more than two typed pages) of the paper they
intend to presel'lt at the workshop.
Applications are to be sent to:
Mr. Susanta Ghosh,
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences,
Calcutta,
R-1, Baishnabghata Patuli Township, Kolkata: 700094.
[e-mail:
csw@cssscaLorg:info@cssscal.org] by September 15,
2007.