The eleventh international Karl Polanyi Conference will be held at Concordia University, Montreal from December 4-6, 2008. The theme of this conference, marking the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy at Concordia University, is “The Relevance of Karl Polanyi for the 21st Century”.

At this anniversary conference, we invite papers on the relevance of the work of Karl Polanyi for scholarship and social change in the 21st century. The influence of Karl Polanyi in the social sciences and the humanities continues to grow, contributing to an intellectual counter-movement. Recent publications call for a renewed political economy inspired, among others, by the work of Karl Polanyi. His contribution to interdisciplinary approaches within the social sciences has been acknowledged as foundational. Within economics, Polanyi’s work is contributing to the construction of a socially rooted, historical and institutional heterodox economics that is effectively challenging the excessively abstract approach of mainstream theory and the limitations of its underlying hypotheses. New research on democratic socio-economic alternatives as they emerge throughout the world also refers extensively to the importance of Polanyi. Researchers are increasingly drawing upon Polanyi’s writings that preceded and followed The Great Transformation. References to Karl Polanyi also appear in the popular media in many parts of the world, reaching a broader public. Polanyi’s contribution to the development of critical approaches in theory, action and policy at the beginning of the 21st century is acknowledged within the academic community and by those directly engaged in social transformation strategies. We welcome papers from these many perspectives.

The Great Transformation has been translated into many languages, most recently into modern and also traditional Chinese, with a Korean edition forthcoming. We invite papers on the international resonance of the work of Karl Polanyi.

Unlike previous calls for papers in which we proposed several thematic sub-topics to correspond with a large conference theme, at this time, we have chosen to propose a broad theme to discuss the relevance of Karl Polanyi at a critical time in our history.

As in all previous conferences, we also welcome presentations on the life and work of Karl Polanyi; the role of Polanyi in the history of thought in economics, sociology, history and anthropology.

We invite proposals for individual presentations as well as proposals for panels on specific themes.

Please send abstracts to the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy (polanyi@alcor.concordia.ca) by March 15, 2008. Abstracts must not be more than 300 words. If you propose panels, please include details on the panelists (no more than four) as well as their abstracts.