Precarious Connections: Exploring Social Disconnection Across the Lifecourse 

Social disconnection has emerged as a particular form of precarity, the logical endgame of an individualizing neoliberal trajectory exposed, in particular, by the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adults around the world often have been disproportionately subject to this disconnection; although, we would argue, this is a phenomenon individuals face across the lifecourse. Yet, even as inertia pushes toward isolation, inherent interdependencies and the futures they make possible are revealed. In this panel, we present ethnographic research from across the life course to document sustained and novel forms of social disconnection being experienced and to draw insights about imaginaries made possible by embracing our interdependence.

Within anthropological scholarship, there has been long-standing interest in the relationship between aging and sociality (or its absence) resulting in various forms of social disconnection and isolation. Anthropologists have worked to articulate the dimensions of social disconnection by describing and distinguishing between not just loneliness, but social isolation, solitude, and marginality (Biehl, 2005; Lamb, 2008; Coleman, 2014; Mikkelson, 2016; Danely, 2019). This literature provides insightful commentary on social processes and relationships and highlights the interdependent nature of social disconnection.

This panel investigates various forms of social disconnection with the intention to highlight the fact we understand disconnection in relation to the (imagined) body politic. In doing so, we maintain that different relationships to sociality (e.g., loneliness, solitude, social distancing) are not mutually exclusive, but instead are dynamic and simultaneous. Alongside these relationships, this panel explores the affective, relational, technological, social, and political-economic dimensions of social disconnection. How do institutions construct and organize solitude and other forms of social disconnection? What kinds of work does social disconnection do for our current political economic configurations? Under which conditions do forms of social disconnection emerge, shift and/or circulate across different contexts? How is social disconnection experienced and understood across the life course? What forms of solitude(s) emerge within social relationships? In light of the spread of COVID-19, how do loneliness and solitude(s) emerge as the new form of sociality/belonging and social organization?

We are looking to add 2 additional papers to our panel, and thus, invite ethnographic submissions that consider the following topics, but are not limited to:

• social disconnection across the life course
• intersection of technology and social disconnection
• encounters of loneliness, solitude and social isolation in intimate and non-intimate relations
• navigating the healthcare system and social disconnection
• how institutions and policies create socially-disconnected subjects
• social disconnection as a form of sociality
• considerations of solitude, loneliness and social distancing amidst outbreaks/epidemics/pandemics (eg Ebola, SARS, Covid19)

Interested panelists should submit their paper title, abstract (no more than 250 words), affiliation, and contact information to Fayana Richards (f.richards@memphis.edu) and Aaron Seaman (aaron-seaman@uiowa.edu) by March 30. Decisions regarding abstract submission will be circulated by April 3.

Call for Papers – SFAA 2020 Annual Meeting                                            We invite paper submissions for our proposed session on Contested Cultural Citizenship and Family Inclusion: Insights from the Field. If interested, please email the session organizers (contact information below) by October 7^th with your interest in joining the session and working paper title. All individual paper abstracts must be submitted by the 10/15 SFFA annual meeting deadline alongside conference registration.

Session Organizers                                                                                                    Anne Pfister, PhD, University of North Florida, apfister10@gmail.com

Courtney L. Everson, PhD, Colorado State University, Courtney.Everson@colostate.edu

Session Title                                                                                                                Contested Cultural Citizenship and Family Inclusion: Insights from the Field

Session Abstract                                                                                                        Fluid concepts of family organization, and movement of families within dynamic socio-political structures, are important in envisioning services aimed at children and families (Bomar, 2004; Cowan et al., 2014; Vindrola-Padros et al., 2015). This session brings together applied researchers interested in how families and children negotiate nuanced layers of diversity and contested cultural citizenship that shape their experiences of learning, belongingness, and identity formation. Our discussion focuses on the richness of interdisciplinary frameworks for exploring cross-generational, multi-sited research and facilitating applied impacts aimed at improving a variety of supports for families and children.

CFP: RETHINKING CHILD AND YOUTH MARGINALITIES: MOVEMENTS, NARRATIVES, AND EXCHANGES

Anthropology of Childhood and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG) Biennial Conference

March 7-9, 2019 

Rutgers University—Camden, NJ

Co-Sponsored by: AAA Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group, Department of Childhood Studies (Rutgers-Camden), Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice (Rutgers-Camden), and The Graduate School (Rutgers-Camden) 

In a world centered on adults, ‘childhood’ as a social category is marginal. Such marginality makes complex tracks on child and youth bodies, psyches, relationships, and spaces. Existing research on children and youth has expanded our understanding beyond a binary and static reading of their lives by framing the multiple sources of marginality as active sociocultural processes that are embedded in—but are not overdetermined by—enduring effects like structural violence, capitalism, racism, homophobia, and nationalism. This scholarship compels us to pay attention to the movements, narratives, and exchanges that mark these processes of making, breaking, and negotiating marginalities.  This conference aims to rethink child and youth marginalities in generative and creative ways that situate young people at the center, and that resist their dehumanization, whether through criminalization or romanticization.

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Taking place  on Monday 26^th and Tuesday 27^th March 2018 in the Hamilton Centre, Brunel University London

This interdisciplinary 2 day conference aims to advance conceptual understanding of how young people form, experience and deploy aspiration; the global institutions and processes that shape young people’s aspirations; and the outcomes of aspiration for young people and for wider society. Recent empirical research from diverse contexts worldwide has reported on the expressed desires of young people to ‘become someone’. Meanwhile, global institutions and national governments represent aspiration as a key to understanding inequality and a motivating force that can inspire social change. Aspiration is understood to play a key role in shaping young people’s engagement with education, politics and migration. Yet despite the burgeoning attention to aspiration in both research and policy, its theorisation remains relatively neglected.

Key note speakers

Professor Jo Boyden, University of Oxford

Professor Sam Punch, University of Stirling

A full programme will be sent to attendees before the conference takes place. In the meantime registration has opened and you can sign up here: Theorising-aspirations

The price of tickets are as follows; £30 for unwaged attendee ,

£50 for waged attendees

For further information please contact  claire.dungey@brunel.ac.uk

Toronto, June 24th, 2018. Proposal deadline February 9th, 2018.

Building on the Ada Slaight Education Centre’s strong focus on Theatre for Young Audiences and Drama-in-Education, the ‘Children, Youth, and Performance Conference’ will bring together scholars, performers, and practitioners from different areas of the world. This conference is intended to be an exchange of knowledge, research innovations, and practical methods, examining the future applications and implications of performance work with, by, for, and about children and youth. This peer-reviewed conference will put performance research to work and discuss its effects on the lives of young people.

Proposals

We welcome proposals based on cutting-edge research, theories, and practices which focus on any of these five streams:

1. Drama, Justice, and Advocacy

2. Theatre by and for Young People

3. Global Perspectives on Children, Youth, and Performance

4. New Directions for Drama-in-Education

5. Youth Performance Across Disciplines

Each proposal should outline the presentation’s purpose, method, findings (for case studies and panels), and what will take place during the session. Please clearly indicate which conference stream your proposal best fits into, and which of the following formats your presentation will take:

Case Studies (15 minutes): These presentations should discuss case studies and projects relevant to one of the above conference themes. We welcome interactive, innovative presentation approaches, veering away from traditional ‘lecture-style’ paper presentations.

‘On-Your-Feet’ Workshops (45 minutes): Workshops should be directly relevant to one of the conference themes, and welcoming to participants with varying levels of performance or research experience. Please ensure your workshop carefully adheres to the allotted timeframe (including all required set-up and/or take-down), as sessions will be back-to-back. Workshop presenters are responsible for their own materials and set-up. Please clearly indicate space needs (empty room, chairs, tables, etc.), and the specific activities that will take place.

Panels (30 minutes): We welcome panel proposals of three to five participants, showcasing initiatives and projects relevant to one of the above conference streams. Panels may include any combination of researchers, practitioners, performers, and/or young people, in a collaborative, discussion-style format.

Original Performance Pieces (up to 15 minutes): All proposed performances must fit within the allotted timeframe (including all required set-up and/or take-down). These pieces or excerpts should be original works created with, by, for, or about children and/or youth. Performances should be flexible for a variety of potential spaces (such as a classroom or studio) and should indicate specific resource needs (chairs, tables, etc.).

Your proposal should be no longer than one page, clearly stating the presentation title (20 words max.), presenter name(s) and bio(s) (100 words max.), the appropriate conference stream, the presentation format (workshop, panel etc.), and summary (250 words max.). Proposals must be sent directly to Abigail Shabtay, Conference Chair at conference@youngpeoplestheatre.ca no later than February 9th, 2018 at 4pm EST. Inquiries about facilities/accessibility can be directed to Karen Gilodo, Associate Artistic Director, at kgilodo@youngpeoplestheatre.ca. Accepted presenters must register and confirm attendance by the registration deadline to be included in the program schedule (registration details will follow letters of acceptance).