It can be said that the world started becoming increasingly interconnected at least from the "discovery" of the Americas and the rise of capitalism in Europe. Some authors see in such developments the emergence of a modern world-system (Wallerstein 1974). Alternatively, increasing interconnectivity on the global scale is explained as resulting from the coupling up of industrialism and international trade somewhere around 1890 (Ruccio 2004). However, there is a growing consensus that in the last three to four decades such processes took off at an unprecedented pace (Inda and Rosaldo eds. 2002), opening up unforeseen horizons, as well as bringing about a host of unintended consequences (Harvey 2005). Nowadays, virtually nobody can escape living in "a world where borders and boundaries have become increasingly porous, allowing more and more peoples and cultures to be cast into intense and immediate contact with each other"(Inda and Rosaldo eds. 2002). After initial bursts of enthusiasm, related to the "unprecedented freedom of flows" that were stemming from the compression of time-space (Giddens 1990; Harvey ; Oke 2009), and perceived as a gateway to migrant transnationalism and a multicultural civilization in which all would profit from getting in closer touch with each other, concerns were starting to be raised as to menaces like forced cultural homogenization. Similar concerns were often condensed in catchwords like "MacDonaldization" (Ritzer 1993). In reaction to such reductionist approaches, the conceptual modelling of the world in flux came to be increasingly complex and nuanced. Thus, the multi-sidedness of globalisation was scrutinised more thoroughly, as is demonstrated by the coining of the concept of "glocalization" (Robertson 1994). A new, rather optimistic turn in the reflection on the globalising trends ensued, represented, among other works, by David Miller´s redefinition of global consumerism as a practice of creative and liberating self-expression (Miller 1995 and 2012). Anthropological optimism is also noticeable in research pointing to the liberating, democratising and humanising potentials of new information technologies, like the internet, cell phones and social networks (Miller and Slater 2000; Miller 2006; Miller

2011; Madianou and Miller 2012). On the other hand, a rising number of critical voices point to the fact that global trends are not separable from neoliberal and imperial projects (Hardt and Negri 2000; Harvey 2005), which are resulting in massive impoverishment for most, and the rise of a new global ruling elite. However, anthropological approaches remind us that globalisation is not (only) an entity or a process unfolding “out there”, outside of the lives that we are living. Rather, it has to be reflected upon as an everyday lived experience, which inevitably influences our livelihoods, our feelings, our reactions, our need to belong. In other words, "to provide an anthropological introduction to globalization is to focus at once on the large-scale processes (or flows of subjects and objects) through which the world is becoming increasingly, albeit unevenly, interconnected and on how subjects respond to these processes in culturally specific ways" (Inda and Rosaldo eds. 2002). Yet, it is by now a common place that the global experience has become the internalisation of a series of crises and imbalances. For Bauman (2006) the present life conditions are "liquid", unpredictable and fearful; in a sense we are dealing with a series of fluidities and uncertainties. Beck (1992 [1986]; 1999) sees the world we are living in as a "risk society". What we all experience is a new world in which global forces become more and more aggressive: everywhere, one can witness the grabbing of money, of various resources like energy or water, of the environment, of humanity and dignity. This results in a generalised situation of multiple crises on social, political, economic and personal levels. This year’s conference will attempt to explore the actual and possible regional reactions against the situation described and the multiplicity of practices of coping devised on a local and community level.

Europeanisation as globalisation

The dynamic of local, regional, national and European identities

The democratic deficit and the EU

Globalisation, economic, political and social tensions and transformations

Civil society, the public sphere and the media

Mediatised revolutions: new social movements, social networks, nonviolent revolutions and new communication technologies

The state of the state under neoliberal globalisation

The culture(es) of crisis

The de-territorialisation(s) and re-territorialisation(s) of culture(s)

Migration, transnational networks and polymedia

Consumption and commodities in motion

New forms of tourism, commoditisation of cultural heritage and revalorizations of traditions

The meanings of tradition and modernity in a post postmodern world

Reflections on shifting and shrinking space and time in a world in motion

Remembering, forgetting and using the past in public and private lives

Minorities and the logic of maintaining images of cultural distinctiveness

Politicization of everyday life: the shifting forms and consequences of practices of eating, drinking, dancing ...

How are “Others” treated and how are their images reinvented in a globalising world

New forms of hardship and poverty: how they come about and how they are handled

Illegal migrations and the fate of asylum seekers

Reconfiguring Gender identities and transgenderism in a world in flux

Complicity, criticism and activism: anthropological responses to neoliberal globalisation

From “Being There” to “Going Where:” Methodological and ethical issues of fieldwork in the glocal and hyper-mediatised era

Border Crossings Network

Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade

Department of History and Archaeology, University of Ioannina

National School of Political Studies and Administration, Bucharest

Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, St Cyrill and Methodious University, Skopje

Dept. of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana

Department of Ethnology, Sv Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia

Department of Anthropology, New Bulgarian University, Sofia

Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Zadar, Zadar

Department of Anthropology, Yeditepe University, Istanbul

The conference is open to all undergraduate, M.A. and Ph.D. students from the universities which are members of the Border Crossings Network, as well as to other students from the area and beyond who might find the network interesting. Students are expected to present papers related to the main topic of the conference. The presentation should be maximum 12 minutes (plus 5 minutes for discussion). Power-point and multimedia presentations are welcome.

There is no conference fee. However, the organisers are not in a position to cover travel costs and the cost of accommodation for participants. Participants will be accommodated in double and triple hotel rooms. The cost for accommodation, including breakfast and one meal, will be approximately 40 EUROS per night and per person.

Participants should make their own travelling arrangements. In addition, a bus for the conference participants will run from Thessaloniki to Belgrade on the 1st May and from Belgrade to Thessaloniki on the 4th May. The bus fare is to be covered by the participants themselves and it will depend on the final number. There will be a notice on time.

Associate Professor Dr. Slobodan Naumovic, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade

Professor Dr. Vintila Mihailescu, National School of Political Studies and Administration, Bucharest

Professor Dr. Vassilis Nitsiakos, University of Ioannina, Ioannina

Dr. Georgios Agelopoulos, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Dr. Aliki Angelidou, Panteion University, Athens

Dr. Vassilis Dalkavoukis, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini

Dr. Ioannis Manos, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Dr. Vasiliki Kravva, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini

Georgia Sarikoudi, PhD Candidate, Social Anthropology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Athina Tsantila, Postgraduate student, Department of Balkan, Slavic and Eastern Studies, Macedonia University, Thessaloniki

Fanis Malounis, BA, Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion Univeristy, Athens

Eleni Koufoudaki, PhD Candidate, Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University, Athens

Ariadni Andoniadou, Postgraduate student, Dept of History and Archaeology, University of Ioannina

Prof. Vassilis Nitsiakos, Dept. of History and Archaeology, Univ. of Ioannina

Assoc. Prof. Slobodan Naumovic, Dept. of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade

Prof. Vintila Mihailescu, National School of Political Studies and Administration, Bucharest

Prof Rajko Mursic, Dept. Of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana

Prof. Efi Voutira, Dept. of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Prof. Ljupco Risteski, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, St Cyrill and Methodious University, Skopje

Prof. Bojan Zikic, Dept. of Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade.

Prof. Dr. Hande Birkalan Gedik, Yeditepe University, Department of Anthropology, Istanbul

Assoc. Professor, Dr. Yiorghos Tsimouris, Dept. of Social Anthropology, Panteion University, Athens

Dr. Georgios Agelopoulos, Dept. of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Dr. Ilia Iliev, Dept. of Ethnology, University “Sv. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia

Dr. Evgenia Blagoeva, Department of Anthropology, New Bulgarian University, Sofia

Dr. Deema Kaneff, Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham

Dr. Margarita Karamihova, Veliko Turnovo, St. Cirill and St Methodius

Dr. Armanda Kodra, Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Study of Arts, Tirana

Dr. Rozita Dimova, Free University, Berlin

Dr. Ilina Jakimovska, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, St Cyrill and Methodious University, Skopje

Dr. Snježana Zorić, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Zadar, Croatia

Dr. Eleftheria Deltsou, Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology, University of Thessaly, Volos

Dr. Aliki Angelidou, Dept. of Social Anthropology, Panteion University, Athens

Dr. Panagiotis Panopoulos, Dept. of Social Anthropology and History, University of the Aegean, Mytilini

Dr. Marilena Papachristophorou, Dept. of History and Archaeology, Univ. of Ioannina

Dr. Danijela Birt, Dept. of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Zadar

Dr. Vassilis Dalkavoukis, Dept. of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini

Dr. Ioannis Manos, Dept. of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Dr. Vasiliki Kravva, Dept. of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace

Kostas Mantzos, PhD candidate, Dept. of History and Archaeology, Univ. of Ioannina - Research associate, TCDI (Therapy Centre for Dependent Individuals)

Applicants should send their personal data, including university affiliation, and titled paper abstracts (around 15 lines) to the following persons:

 For the paper proposals coming from the organizing country:

Assoc. Prof. Slobodan Naumović University of Belgrade:

snaumovi@f.bg.ac.rs

slobodan.naumovic@gmail.com

Milena Golubovic, MA, University of Belgrade: solar8@ptt.rs

Irena Molnar, BA, University of Belgrade: syrehna@gmail.com

20.2.2014

CHALLENGES IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH OF THE ROMA, Lectures - Prof. Bálint-Ábel Bereményi
CHALLENGES IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH OF THE ROMA
Lectures - Prof. Bálint-Ábel Bereményi
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain)