For the 2012 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA, November 14-18, we seek contributions to the following proposed session:

ANTHROPOLOGIES OF UNEMPLOYMENT: DISCIPLINARY BORDERS AND CROSSINGS IN THE STUDY OF UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment and underemployment are common, and, perhaps, normal experiences in contemporary social life. Their ubiquity and salience have been spotlighted in the recent rise of political discontent, unrest, and rebellion across the Middle East and in the “Occupy” movements in the West. But too seldom have unemployment and underemployment been a central focus of anthropological inquiry. Their peripheral position in the discipline is less an artifact of their lack of significance than a consequence of their social-cultural complexity, and the rich diversity of subjects, locations, and methodological-theoretical perspectives (across disciplines and sub-disciplines) involved in their examination.

Deindustrialization, globalization, youth cultures, social welfare, migration, class, gender, race, homelessness, and urban poverty are some of the thematic approaches by which un- and underemployment have been examined. These studies have employed and innovated a range of theoretical insights, such as neoliberalism, temporality, space, affect, and social suffering, to reveal the complex structures and agencies of social and economic marginalization. This panel seeks to examine these disciplinary crossings and multiple theoretical orientations with the aim of assessing their intellectual productivity – to explore how unemployment and underemployment may not be peripheral anthropological concerns but critical to the vitality and relevance of contemporary anthropological projects.

Please send a title and abstract of no more than 250 words to Jong Bum Kwon (jongkwon00@webster.edu) and Carrie M. Lane (clane@exchange.fullerton.edu) by February 24, 2012. Because of considerable interest already, we are considering submission for invited session status.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to your paper proposals.

Best wishes,

Jong Bum and Carrie