Plenary Session I
Re-defining Europe: Perspectives from Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Convenor:
Andre Gingrich, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Andre.gingrich@oeaw.ac.at

Europe is going through complex and contradictory processes of transformation and re- definition. The current phase of globalization thus inspires creative creolisation and re-invention, as much as protective reaction and active adaptation. On this basis, recent developments - ranging from the war in Iraq to negotiations with new incoming EU member countries, on to debates about a European constitution- have indicated widespread concerns about the possible future of identities not only in Europe, but also of Europe in wider contexts. These concerns go far beyond the political sphere, they also relate to science and technology, education and the arts, gender roles and social status, minority rights and nationhood. It is thus high time that social anthropology considers anew some of the crucial fields in which Europe is being re-defined, and re-defines itself.

Speakers:

Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge
Europe, the Scientific Citizen, and the Anthropologist - Download Abstract(PDF)

Susan Gal, University of Chicago
"What's News: Media Circulations and the Politics of Truth in the East of Europe" - Download Abstract(PDF)

Jean-Loup Amselle, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris
What is at Stakes with the Deconstruction of Europe? - Download Abstract(PDF)

Andre Gingrich, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Transnational Politics and the Reconfiguration of Europe - Download Abstract(PDF)