”Globalisation, identity and standardisation”

Interdisciplinary, international workshop in Trondheim, Norway.

March 11. and 12., 2005.

Tord Larsen and Eric Monteiro

Globalization studies have mainly focused on processes of homogenization, commodification and quantification - processes which effect the commensuration of objects, subjects and institutions. However, the same changes provoke efforts to singularize and particularize objects and identities - from commodity branding to the essentialization of postcolonial, gendered and ethnic identities.

One of the aims of the conference is to see these superficially contradictory processes as dialectically linked, and examine their empirical variation. The social production of identity and difference sometimes derive from technological standardization and economic integration, which produce new idioms of interaction and new subjectivities. They raise problems of moral pluralism and global justice, and shape disciplines like the sociology of commensuration and the study of cultural circulation.

The conference welcomes papers which contribute to an understanding of all these fields, and will include themes like the following:

· standardization - technical, economic, social and cultural

· branding of objects and identities

· moral co-presence and moral pluralism

· technology, personhood and human rights

· identity politics

· social commensuration and cultural circulation

· processes of classification and reclassification

· liberalisms and fundamentalisms: idioms of identity and difference

· the production and integration of Others

· technologies and identities: genetic engineering, biometrics and bio-ethics

· history and theories of measurement

Dates and practicalities

3-6 speakers will be invited to participate, in addition to interested scholars who submit abstracts for acceptance, or who simply wish to attend the conference. Speakers include :

· Elizabeth Povinelli (anthropology, Columbia),

· Joel Michell (psychology, Sydney)

· Stefan Timmermans (sociology, Brandeis, Boston)

· Kenneth R. Olwig, SLU-Alnarp, Sweden

Potential contributors must submit abstracts (max. 1 A4 page, including name, affiliation, email address) by

· February 10^th, 2005

to both Tord Larsen (tord.larsen@svt.ntnu.no and Eric Monteiro (eric.monteiro@idi.ntnu.no ). Abstracts (and possibly papers) will be made accessible on the Internet.

Registration

Participation is free of charge and is open (first come, first serve) also to participants without a paper.

Please use this electronic form to register. Note that hotel facilities are limited and need to be booked by Feb. 15th. Further questions may be put to Mari Sæterbakk (mari.saterbakk@ntnu.no).