Mediating the Global Economic Crisis in SEE, Croatia

Deadline: 15 May 2013
Open to: Motivated participants interested in the topic of global economic crisis in South East Europe
Venue: Marija Bistrica, Croatia, 8-10 November 2013

Description

The Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Zagreb, invite abstract submissions for a two day workshop in Marija Bistrica (an hour north of Zagreb in Zagorje) to explore how the global economic crisis has been mediated locally in the Balkans since 2008.

Organizers are looking for contributions in the form of contextualised case studies which analyse the social impact of the crisis and/or social responses to the crisis. They do not assume that economic crisis is a one-dimensional process. Social actors may be attributed agency in the way in which they respond (though responses may be very constrained).

Topics

The economic crises has exacerbated an already precarious social position for many citizens leading to even more severe levels of unemployment and working poor, frequently in unstable political contexts with depleted welfare states.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• mechanisms of social welfare and redistribution
• activism and social movements
• the position of precarious intersectional social categories like unemployed, working poor, (former) workers, LGBT, refugees, ethnic minorities, young people, pensioners, women
• coping strategies
• crises as normality (in many states economic crises since the early 1980s is more often than not the norm)
• narrating the crises

How to apply

We invite abstracts (max 400 words) and short CVs (max. 3 pages) to be submitted by May 15th to rory.archer@uni-graz.at. Accepted participants will be notified in early June. Draft papers of 5,000-8,000 words need to be submitted by the 15th of October 2013.

Costs

Accommodation will be covered by the organizers and limited travel grants will be made available (contingent on the timely submission of papers).