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The 7th Annual Joint University of Liverpool Management School and Keele University Institute for Public Policy and Management Symposium on Current Developments in Ethnographic Research in the Social and Management Sciences

The 7th Annual Joint University of Liverpool Management School and Keele University Institute for Public Policy and Management Symposium on Current Developments in Ethnographic Research in the Social and Management Sciences

In association with the Journal of Organizational Ethnography and the Journal Ethnography

Ethnographic Horizons in Times of Turbulence

University of Liverpool Management School Liverpool, United Kingdom
29th – 31st August 2012

Dr. Manuela Nocker, University of Essex Business School (Email mnocker@essex.ac.uk)
Dr. Geoff Pearson, University of Liverpool Management School (Email: pearsong@liv.ac.uk) 

Organising Committee
Dr. Matthew Brannan, Keele University Institute for Public Policy and Management
Dr. Jason Ferdinand, University of Liverpool Management School
Dr. Manuela Nocker, University of Essex Business School
Dr. Geoff Pearson, University of Liverpool Management School
Dr. Mike Rowe, University of Liverpool Management School
Dr. Frank Worthington, University of Liverpool Management School

Call for Papers
The annual Liverpool and Keele Ethnography Symposium is a leading international forum for debate and dialogue on the theory, practice and form of ethnographic work in the social and management fields. Provoked by debate and discussion during our 2011 symposium at Cardiff Business School, we are now making the call for papers for the 7th Symposium to be held back at the University of Liverpool, where the idea for this event was born. The title of this year’s symposium is Ethnographic Horizons in Times of Turbulence and we are inviting papers from all disciplines that put forward ethnographic work and arguments.

As Geertz tells us, ethnographic research must be invariably microscopic if we are to provide a rich and thick account of organizations, cultures and sub-cultures. However, we should not forget the wider social, historical, legal, political and economic environment in which the actors operate and as we enter 2012, we are part of a world in a state of political and economic upheaval. This year’s symposium therefore encourages papers that engage with the wider context.

We are also inviting papers that focus on the general themes of turbulence, change, and shifting horizons within organizations, communities and social groups as well as individual lives. The impact of rapid technological change, wide-spread deregulation, globalization and intensified competition induce us to adopt new organizational forms and modes of coordination locally and across the globe. The effects of unprecedented interdependence can be felt in very different spheres from business, to work, to our private lives.

Papers might therefore focus on ethnographies of lived experience during crisis and transition, providing a view of coping strategies. They might engage with action in volatile and temporary environments, the challenges of ethics and morality at the personal and organizational level. They might address the increasing pressures to adopt quick solutions; the impact and cost of short-term orientations and the perceived lack of vision. They might stress the adaptation to ways of being and working under conditions of fear, loss, marginalization, and rampant exploitation as well as political and financial instability in a globalised world. They might analyze the multiplication of social movements and activism, and different forms of organized resistance in an attempt to change (or defend) the status quo and give voice to different stakeholders. They might engage with the difficulty for individual human beings of experiencing a surge of acceleration of processes while yearning for a slower pace of life and work.

We welcome papers contributing to ethnography theoretically, empirically or methodologically within the broad scope of these themes. We seek to encourage a diverse range of submissions, across disciplines, and welcome work-in-progress from emerging scholars.

Submission Details
Abstracts (up to 750-words), should be submitted to Geoff Pearson (pearsong@liv.ac.uk) by Friday 10th February 2012. Abstracts should be submitted in .pdf format and include author, contact and institutional affiliation details. Decisions on acceptance of papers will be given by email, subject to external refereeing by the 29th of February 2012.

We ask that delegates submit full papers prior to the conference no later than Friday 27th July 2012. Delegates also have the option to include their work on the conference website (http://www.liv.ac.uk/ethnography/). However, this is not compulsory and submission should indicate if you do not wish your paper to be included in the website.

Best Paper Award
This year the symposium will be running a 'best paper' award co-sponsored by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. This award will be made at the symposium and chosen based on the submission of full papers.