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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

February

04/02/13
05/02/13
05/02/13
05/02/13
05/02/13
05/02/13
05/02/13
06/02/13
06/02/13
06/02/13
07/02/13
  • Generation and Ritual among young Shias in the UK
  • Kathryn Spellman Poots, Research Associate, London Middle East Institute, SOAS, University of London
  • Shia Muslims make up approximately fifteen percent of the estimated 2.8 million Muslims living in the UK, and come from a range of backgrounds including South Asian, East African, Iranian, Iraqi, Afghani, Lebanese, Bahraini, Saudi Arabian, and Yemeni. This paper will discuss the development of local and transnational Shi’a institutions and religious practices in British society, taking a gendered and generational view.

07/02/13
07/02/13
  • Poetics of the infra-ordinary
  • Elvira Dyangani Ose (Curator, International Art, Supported by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc - Tate Modern); Chaired by Prof. John Picton (SOAS)
07/02/13
08/02/13
08/02/13
  • The study of the Ganden phodrang aristocracy (1895-1959): new results through prosopography
  • Dr Alice Travers (CNRS)
  • This presentation discusses a socio-historical investigation into the aristocracy of the central government of Tibet (1895-1959). Oral and written sources built into a computerized database provides a basis to analyze noble lineage and government service. The database gives new insights into the general development of careers and marriage patterns.

09/02/13
11/02/13
14/02/13
  • Seminar on the Pisa Griffin and the Mari-Cha Lion
  • This seminar is intended to further our understanding of these bronze objects by sharing the results of the scientific analyses and the historical and art-historical investigations that have taken place in the last ten years.

16/02/13
18/02/13
19/02/13
19/02/13
19/02/13
19/02/13
19/02/13
19/02/13
  • Iran's Nuclear Programme: A Surge into Modernity
  • David Patrikarakos, Author and Journalist
  • Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Programme on the Contemporary Middle East, The Middle East - Changing Economic and Political Landscapes.

19/02/13
20/02/13
20/02/13
20/02/13
21/02/13
  • The Feminist Judgements Project.
  • Professor Rosemary Hunter, School of Law, University of Kent.
  • The UK Feminist Judgments Project and other feminist judgment-writing projects provide a fruitful source of both empirical data and theoretical reflections on processes of feminist judg(e)ment.  In this paper I consider the extent to which a feminist ethics of care has informed – or might inform – feminist judging, and the potential value and limitations of such an approach.

21/02/13
  • Postgraduate Open Evening
  • Representatives from departments across the School will be available to answer your questions about postgraduate studies at SOAS.

21/02/13
21/02/13
22/02/13
22/02/13
22/02/13
22/02/13
23/02/13
25/02/13
25/02/13
26/02/13
26/02/13
26/02/13
27/02/13
27/02/13
27/02/13
27/02/13
28/02/13
28/02/13
28/02/13
  • Three papers on Islamic Art in the 19th Century
  • Convened by Professor Anna Contadini
  • Anna McSweeney, The Afterlife of the Alhambra. Architectural revivals in the 19th century Middle East  

    Melanie Gibson, Colouring the surface: a taste for 'Persian' tiles in English domestic architecture, 1860-1910

    George Manginis, Iznik in Athens: Ottoman-style tile revetments on inter-war public buildings in Greece

28/02/13
28/02/13
  • Himalayan Ascetism and Mysticism
  • Dr Sondra Hausner (Oxford University)
  • This talk will describe contemporary South Asian sadhus, or ascetics, and consider whether they live up to the legendary roles that have been attributed to them.  Certainly their religious practices, or tapas, are modelled after those of the great mahasiddhas in Himalayan mythology, but being an ascetic in real life poses particular kinds of challenges.  Do all ascetics necessarily aspire towards mysticism -- and do all mystics practice an ascetic lifestyle?

March

01/03/13
02/03/13
  • Gender and Identity in Muslim Contexts
  • Prof Nadje Al-Ali (SOAS), Dr Kathryn Spellman-Poots (AKU-ISMC), Prof Deniz Kandiyoti (SOAS), Ms Marta Pietrobelli (CGS, SOAS, PhD Candidate), Prof Sami Zubaida (Birkbeck College)
  • Challenging stereotypical understandings of gender roles in Muslim societies, this course will highlight the multiple and changing constructs of these roles and identities both historically and in contemporary contexts.
02/03/13
04/03/13
  • Title TBC
  • Sarah McMillan (the Prince's Youth Business International)
05/03/13
05/03/13
05/03/13
05/03/13
05/03/13
  • Iran’s Expanding Relations with Latin America
  • Manouchehr Dorraj, Texas Christian University and a Visiting Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for International and Regional Studies, Doha, Qatar
  • Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Programme on the Contemporary Middle East, The Middle East - Changing Economic and Political Landscapes.

05/03/13
  • TBC
  • Somnath Batabyal
06/03/13
06/03/13
06/03/13
06/03/13
06/03/13
06/03/13
06/03/13
07/03/13
  • SOAS Master Class
  • Professor Stephen H. West (Foundation Professor of Chinese at Arizona State University and formerly Louis Agassiz Professor of Chinese at UC Berkeley)
07/03/13
07/03/13
  • The Origins and Meaning of Om Manipadme Hum
  • Dr Alex Studholme
  • 'Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ' is first recorded the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra, one of the first Buddhist books to arrive in Tibet, this work reflects an early stage of Buddhist tantrism in India.  The mantra reflects creative religious synthesis. Its meaning, “in the jewel-lotus” expresses a central symbol of Mahāyāna: rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitābha.

07/03/13
08/03/13
  • Women Mean Business
  • Various
  • Highlighting opportunities and how pioneers are working to create and grow sustainable and profitable partnerships with women.

08/03/13
08/03/13
09/03/13
11/03/13
11/03/13
12/03/13
12/03/13
12/03/13
12/03/13
12/03/13
12/03/13
  • Revolt in Syria: Eye-Witness to the Uprising
  • Stephen Starr, freelance journalist
  • Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Programme on the Contemporary Middle East, The Middle East - Changing Economic and Political Landscapes.

13/03/13
13/03/13
13/03/13
14/03/13
15/03/13
15/03/13
18/03/13
19/03/13
19/03/13
19/03/13
20/03/13
20/03/13
20/03/13
21/03/13
21/03/13
22/03/13
23/03/13
  • Religion, Media and Marginality in Africa since 1800
  • The list of speakers is confirmed below
  • This workshop is inspired by recent scholarship that investigates the connections between new electronic media, traditional print media and the growth of religious, social and political constituencies, publics and communities. 

23/03/13

April

05/04/13
08/04/13
17/04/13
18/04/13
18/04/13
24/04/13
25/04/13
30/04/13

May

01/05/13
02/05/13
  • When was Zarathushtra?
  • Professor Martin West (All Souls College, Oxford)
  • Presenting the Fifteenth Dastur Dr Sohrab Hormasji Kutar Memorial Lecture

    Follow by reception.

03/05/13
08/05/13
08/05/13
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
  • The workshop aims to focus on these grammatical aspects, using Japanese as a model or starting-point for analyses of mimetics in other languages.

15/05/13
23/05/13
24/05/13
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

06/06/13
  • Postgraduate Open Evening
  • Representatives from departments across the School will be available to answer your questions about postgraduate studies at SOAS.

12/06/13
21/06/13

July

September

04/09/13
05/09/13
  • Max Weber, China and the Spirit of 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.

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

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.