CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: Rethinking Inheritance

Call for Participants

The New School for Social Research

2012 Anthropology Conference: “Rethinking Inheritance”

April 28th, 2012

The Theme: Inheritance has typically been conceived as a passive process of reception. Yet, inheritance also implies claims to something. Claiming inheritance and claiming selves, communities, nations and other units as heirs is an active practice. How can we better conceptualize the labor involved in establishing inheritance? How are inheritances rejected, resisted, renewed, reformed, or renegotiated? How are identity and belonging implicated in inheritance?

As we begin to think of inheritance in multiple registers, we hope to challenge its supposed passivity and expand its conceptualization. What does it mean to inherit a citizenship, a nationality, a legal framework, or an ethnicity, and what are the modes for these inheritances? How can inheritance be employed to think through temporal relationships of historical consciousness, collective memory, and their narration? We also hope to think together about how active inheritance relates to materialities and economies, financial institutions, and the act of making claims on properties, whether virtual or physical. Similarly, we can consider inheritance in terms of spaces and boundaries, wondering how territories are passed down and how borders are maintained.

Seeking

Rather than curating panels in which participants read papers, we seek an active, dialogue-driven event featuring multiple conversations through which attendees can move, beginning with a keynote address from an innovative scholar, and closing with a second address that reflects on what we have thought and experienced in the course of the day. To prompt discussion and encourage an expansion of the mediums with and through which we think inheritance, we encourage submissions of “objects” (including, but not limited to, physical objects, artifacts, short film clips, photographs, texts, games, artwork, music/sound, and performance) alongside a brief 300-500 word statement explaining your choice of “object” and how it relates to our theme. When selecting participants, we will primarily be looking for innovative ideas that identify a "site" of inquiry that attendees will engage with during the event. We are NOT looking for finished papers or solidified arguments. Rather, your submitted “object” will inspire new questions and interventions targeting inheritance. Selected participants will attend the event, informally present their “object” as it relates to Rethinking Inheritance, and take part in workshop conversations.

How to Submit: Email submissions, 300-500 word statement, and, if you are including an object or prompt, a picture or description to inheritanceconference@gmail.com by February 20th, 2012. Please also include your full name, academic affiliation, and a current CV in the email.

Visit Our Blog: http://inheritanceconference.wordpress.com

: Participants who are engaged in creative and critical rethinking of inheritance in ways that may include, but certainly are not limited to the ideas above. As part of this process, we are reimagining the conference format that we have inherited as scholars.