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Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Livelihoods at the Margins

Livelihoods at the Margins

Two-day international conference
Thursday 8th & Friday 9th July 2004
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Livelihoods at the Margins is a two-day international conference, bringing together a wide selection of multi-regional ethnographic research carried out with people who derive incomes in ways generally excluded from mainstream economic analyses.

Twenty-one papers explore a range of topics in diverse locations, from children and young people living on the streets of Dhaka, Kampala and Rio de Janeiro, to women's responses to coping with financial insecurity in Kenya, Thailand and India. Several papers present research on informal and semi-illegal trades - from city street vending in Bolivia to poaching in the forests of West Bengal - while others explore migrant labour and marginalised occupations, such as those of traditional healers and of agro-pastoralists in Tanzania. One paper looks specifically at how elderly people in post-Soviet Russia manage their survival. Men and women involved in sex work and at the borders of international tourism - in Europe, in South Asia, and on the shores of Lake Malawi - also provide the focus for a number of papers.

Common themes running through the papers include social exclusion; everyday coping-strategies; the relationship between the local activities described and wider national and international perspectives; and the implications of livelihoods at the margins for NGO action and Government policy. Contributions come from across the social sciences - notably, anthropology, development studies and geography - and will allow delegates to consider how different disciplinary approaches might contribute to our understanding of common subject matter.

Papers will be pre-circulated to delegates and will be presented in 20-minute slots on panels of either three or four speakers with a common discussant, allowing time for questions and discussion on both days. A draft schedule can be emailed on request, and a final conference pack will be emailed to all registered delegates in mid-June.

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Registration details Unfortunately the conference is already over-subscribed, with a long waiting list. However, more information about the conference – including the programme, abstracts and papers – can be found on these webpages, and you are invited to follow the conference electronically. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please email the conference organiser, Dr James Staples (js2@soas.ac.uk), for further details.

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2013

April

08/04/13
10/04/13
11/04/13
15/04/13
16/04/13
16/04/13
17/04/13
17/04/13
18/04/13
18/04/13
18/04/13
18/04/13
18/04/13
18/04/13
19/04/13
19/04/13
20/04/13
22/04/13
22/04/13
22/04/13
23/04/13
  • Upgrade presentations
  • Anneliese Smit, Wasitthee Chaiyakan

  • Anneliese Smit: The Dynamics of the Mao Cult in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution

    Wasitthee Chaiyakan: Pan-Tai Notions in Thai Text Books

23/04/13
24/04/13
  • Spanish-Welsh Bilingualism in Patagonia
  • Prof. Margaret Deuchar, Bangor Univeristy

  • This workshop will deal with the process involved in building multilingual corpora, including the initial stage of planning, data collection, data transcription and analysis.

24/04/13
24/04/13
25/04/13
25/04/13
25/04/13
26/04/13
26/04/13
29/04/13
29/04/13
30/04/13

May

01/05/13
02/05/13
02/05/13
  • When was Zarathushtra?
  • Professor Martin West (All Souls College, Oxford)

  • Presenting the sixteenth Dastur Dr Sohrab Hormasji Kutar Memorial Lecture

    Follow by reception.

02/05/13
  • Sake Tasting

  • Several types of Japanese Sake tasting with Japanese music AFTER FIVE, which encourage book enthusiast and non-book enthusiasts to come and have a look at the new exhibition at Brunei Gallery.

03/05/13
03/05/13
03/05/13
03/05/13
07/05/13
  • Third-year research presentations
  • Shazwani Binti Haji Shahibulbahri, Chia-lin Huang, Carol Ann Boshier

  • Shazwani Binti Haji Shahibulbahri: The Integration of Basilan Island into the Philippines 1946-1986

    Chia-lin Huang: Formosa Revisited – British Commercial Interests and Local Business Networks, 1860-1895

    Carol Ann Boshier: Leslie Fernandes Taylor and the 'lost' Linguistic and Ethnographic Survey of Burma

08/05/13
08/05/13
  • Text and Image in Japanese Books

  • This workshop will focus on examining the relationship between text and image in a variety of Japanese genres. The workshop is in conjunction with the SOAS exhibition of ‘1000 Years of the Art of Japanese Books’ from the Tenri Library.

08/05/13
08/05/13
09/05/13
  • Calligraphy
  • Nobu Takeuchi and others

  • Nobu Takeuchi and others present your name in Japanese.  If you wish, why not have a go and learn how to do it yourself.

09/05/13
  • Tantric Arts and Crafts in Bhutan
  • Timea Tallian

  • Timea Tallian discusses her work in Bhutan as a conservation supervisor for artwork exhibited in the Ta Dzong Museum in Trongsa. This work involved the restoration of important ancient Buddhist artifacts and sacred objects from the Royal collection. 

10/05/13
  • Grammar of Mimetics

  • Mimetic or “sound-symbolic” words in Japanese (giongo/giseigo/gitaigo) constitute a significant lexical category.

10/05/13
11/05/13
11/05/13
  • Nautanki
  • Dr Devendra Sharma (California State University)
13/05/13
15/05/13
15/05/13
18/05/13
  • Gagaku and Japanese Tea ceremony
  • Dr Hughes (SOAS), Mr Shimizu (Tenri University) and Master Mineko Miura

  • Gagaku - Dr Hughes (SOAS) and Mr Shimizu, the head of Tenri cultural centre in Koln present Gagaku, the oldest surviving orchestra in the world.
    Japanese tea ceremony – Enshuryu School presented by Master Mineko Miura from Holland.  

20/05/13
21/05/13
22/05/13
22/05/13
22/05/13
22/05/13
23/05/13
23/05/13
23/05/13
23/05/13
24/05/13
29/05/13
31/05/13
  • Years of Radical Change: Korean Screen Culture
  • The list of speakers will be confirmed in due course

  • Following on from last year’s successful workshop on South Korean film held at SOAS, the Centre for Korean Studies will host a two day symposium that aims to investigate wider aspects of Korean screen culture - cinema, television and music.

June

01/06/13
  • Muslims, Multiculturalism and Trust: New Directions

  • The aim of the conference is to analyse current critiques of multiculturalism, measure them against other, perhaps more progressive interpretations, and consider the potential offered by lived experience and creative visions of intercultural exchange to offer new ways of envisaging multicultural experience.

05/06/13
06/06/13
06/06/13
  • Postgraduate Open Evening

  • Representatives from departments across the School will be available to answer your questions about postgraduate studies at SOAS.

07/06/13
08/06/13
  • Origami
  • Mr Masa Takeuchi

  • Mr Masa Takeuchi, Central St. Martin graduate, presents the art of Origami

11/06/13
11/06/13
12/06/13
  • Undergraduate Open Day
  • This Open Day is aimed at anyone interested in studying at SOAS at undergraduate level.
12/06/13
13/06/13
  • Origami
  • Mr Masa Takeuchi

  • Mr Masa Takeuchi, Central St. Martin graduate, presents the art of Origami

15/06/13
  • Calligraphy
  • Nobu Takeuchi and others

  • Nobu Takeuchi and others present your name in Japanese.  If you wish, why not have a go and learn how to do it yourself.

17/06/13
  • Classical Indian Singing
  • Mehboob Nadeem
  • Discover the World of Indian Music with your Voice
    Classes: 17-21 June, Mon-Fri 5-7pm
17/06/13
17/06/13
17/06/13
  • Didgeridoo
  • Jonathan Cope

  • Learn one of the oldest wind instruments known
    Classes: 17-21 June, Mon-Fri 7-9pm

19/06/13
20/06/13
  • Origami and Calligraphy
  • Nobu Takeuchi and Masa Takeuchi

  • Nobu Takeuchi and others present your name in Japanese.  If you wish, why not have a go and learn how to do it yourself.

21/06/13
21/06/13
22/06/13
  • Jews Harps
  • Jonathan Cope

  • Mouth or jews harp: an instrument for all!
    Class: Sat 22 June, 11am-5pm

22/06/13
24/06/13
24/06/13
24/06/13
  • Klezmer Music
  • Ilana Cravitz
  • Klezmer Music for everyone!
    Classes: 24-28 June, Mon-Fri 7-9pm
24/06/13
  • Mongolian Overtone Singing
  • Michael Ormiston & Candida Valentino
  • Learn Khöömii, the amazing Mongolian Overtone singing style
    Classes: 24-28 June, Mon-Fri 7-9pm
28/06/13
  • World Music in the Classroom
  • SOAS Music Teaching Associates
  • World Music Performance Teaching for the Classroom (with Certificate option)
    Classes: Fri 28 June, 9.30am-5.30pm

July

01/07/13
  • Indian Tabla
  • Sanju Sahai
  • Study the Indian tabla drums - the backbone of Classical Indian music
    Classes: 1-5 July, Mon-Fri 5-8pm
01/07/13
  • Kora
  • Kadialy Kouyate
  • Learn the 21 stringed Mandinka kora from Senegal
    Classes: 1-5 July, Mon-Fri 5-7pm
01/07/13
  • Mbira
  • Linos Wengara Magaya
  • Study the Zimbabwean mbira, a thumb piano used by the Shona people
    Classes: 1-5 July, Mon-Fri 5-7pm
01/07/13
  • Cuban Music Big Band
  • Sara McGuinness & Elpidio Caicedo

  • Whatever your instrument, here’s a chance to play some classic Cuban styles
    Classes: 1-5 July, Mon-Fri 6-9pm

01/07/13
05/07/13
08/07/13
08/07/13
  • Balinese Gamelan
  • Andy Channing
  • A unique opportunity to learn to play the seven-tone Balinese gamelan based at SOAS.
    Classes: 1-6 July, Mon-Fri 7-9pm, Sat 11am-5pm

September

04/09/13
05/09/13
  • Max Weber and China: Culture, Law and Capitalism

  • The conference brings scholars from the social sciences and humanities together in a West/East dialogue central both to mutual understanding between China and the West and also to an exploration of the possible varieties of capitalism.

17/09/13
19/09/13
  • Plants, animals, words: a multidisciplinary workshop
  • The list of speakers will be confirmed in due course

  • This workshop is designed to encourage interdisciplinary research in the areas of linguistics and ethnobiology by bringing together researchers from these fields and others.

October

02/10/13
  • TBC
  • Sharalyn Orbaugh
08/10/13
11/10/13

November

07/11/13

December

04/12/13
  • Annual Presentation on Asia for Sixth Form Students 2013
  • The list of speakers will be confirmed in due course

  • The aim of the day is to introduce students to subjects and concepts they may not have previously explored as part of their curriculum and, which will, we hope, inspire them.

07/12/13