Ethnicity Inc. Revisited

Date: 

Thu - Fri, Oct 15 to Oct 16, 2:00pm - 6:00pm

Location: 

Lower Library, Robinson Hall

EthnicityIncOct9_2015.FINALThis year's African Studies Workshop Fall 2015 conference, Ethnicity, Inc. Revisited, is an opportunity to gather scholars with different area expertise to discuss the conditions that lead to, and the outcomes of, the commodification of ethnic identity. The conference will explore the historical conditions and myriad social, political, and economic outcomes of the incorporation and commodification of ethnic identity and cultural difference.

In Ethnicity, Inc. (2009), Professors John and Jean Comaroff argue that, with the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberal capitalism, ethnicity is now reproduced in its circulation, on the market. As people come together to incorporate identity, commodify culture, or claim rights, they also discover themselves, in new, complex ways, as ethnic subjects. Speaking to the arguments and questions raised in Ethnicity, Inc., this conference sets out to map emerging forms of sociality, subjectivity, politics, and identity premised on the incorporation and commodification of ethnicity.This year's will keynote Speaker will be Professor Ulf Hannerz, and presentations will be given by Professors John Comaroff Jean Comaroff, Assistant Professor George Paul Meiu, Dr. Susan Cook, Assistant Professor Sara Shneiderman, Assistant Professor Simon May, Dr. Tatiana Chudakova, Professor Dorothea E. Schulz, Eric Hirsch, Dr. Hylton White, Professor Eve Darian Smith, and Assistant Professor Rachel Giraudo. INFORMATION: October 15, 2015: 2pm - 6pm in the Library at the Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy St., Cambridge, MA 02138October 16, 2015: 9am - 5:15pm in the Lower Library, Robinson Hall, 35 Quincy St., Cambridge, MA 02138AGENDA available here: Ethnicity, Inc. Revisited