Friday May 17th, 14:00 – 16:00, Room 329, Cornwallis East, University of Kent
Hosted by the Centre for Ethnographic Research, this event will explore emerging theoretical and epistemological assumptions that inform how social scientists study the consequences and perceptions of ‘austerity’, as a key contemporary issue for those researching welfare state change, civil society and citizenship, and everyday lives in a range of contexts.
Considering the breadth of social experience encapsulated by the notion of austerity, the event will focus on refining the concept—analytically and methodologically. We will explore austerity in life experiences, life writing, visual representation and theory. We will take special care to examine the efficacy and ethics of particular ethnographic methods—such life histories, interviews and participant observation—and the opportunities they generate for the study of austerity. Research presented will include projects examining changes in welfare state provision and patterns of consumption, organising and resistance, and political discourses and institutions.
The event will take the form of a half-day workshop, inviting South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS) students and staff, but also theorists from outside the consortium to participate in a forward-looking conversation. The three main sessions of the workshop are designed to encouraged dialogue and the sharing of perspectives from senior and early career scholars. The first session will provide a forum for sharing the profiles of austerity-affected individuals in life-history format. The second session will focus on the social-science use of the term ‘austerity’, inviting four researchers to reflect about conceptual and definitional challenges. The third section will take a dialogical form, structured by a set of prearranged challenging questions. The afternoon will culminate in an open forum of debate.
The event is free and open to all.
Programme of events
14:05 – Welcome and introductions
14:10 – Case studies: real people affected by austerity
Chair: Dr Eleanor Jupp (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR), Kent)
- Professor Dimitrios Theodossopoulos (School of Anthropology and Conservation (SAC), Kent): An austerity nightmare: an unemployed actor dreams about the impoverished middle-class
- Dr Elisabeth Kirtsoglou (Department of Anthropology, University of Durham): The Cretan Mustafa from Aleppo
- Dr Carin Tunaker (SSPSSR, Kent): ‘Hug a Hoodie’: the effects of austerity on homeless youth in Britain
- Ms Keira Pratt-Boyden (SAC, Kent): Benefits, Workfare and Psycho-compulsion among Mental Health Activists in London
- Ms Ilektra Kyriazidou (SAC, Kent): Austerity profile from Thessalonika
- Professor Sarah Vickerstaff (SSPSSR, Kent): Precarity and older women workers
15:20 – Coffee break
15:45 – Austerity politics and contexts? Refining our engagement with the concept
Chair: Professor Larry Ray (SSPSSR, Kent)
- Professor João de Pina-Cabral (SAC, Kent): Irony and ambivalence about austerity
- Dr Sevasti-Melissa Nolas (Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths): Playing with austerity: stretching a concept with the help of the Connectors Study children and Roald Dahl’s Matilda
- Professor Leah Bassel (Department of Social Sciences, University of Roehampton): Women of colour resist!
- Dr Anna Traianou (Department of Educational Studies, Goldsmiths): Interviewing members of a national political elite: ‘Fair game’ for ‘unethical’ research in an age of austerity?’
- Professor Alex Stevens (SSPSSR, Kent): Austerity kills: how the divisive welfare state kills people who use drugs
16:30 – What are the challenges of researching austerity? A structured dialogue about methodology, theory and ethics
Chair: Professor Dimitrios Theodossopoulos
- Summary of perspectives by Dr Eleanor Jupp
- Introductory questions by Becci Geach (SSPSSR, Kent), Siobhan Collins (Kent Law School, Kent), Jack Warner (SSPSSR, Kent), Alice Reynolds (Department of Geography, Royal Holloway)
18:00 – Refreshments