{"id":3658,"date":"2019-04-09T15:57:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T15:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/?p=3658"},"modified":"2019-05-15T11:17:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T11:17:34","slug":"event-researching-austerity-concepts-methods-and-debates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/2019\/04\/09\/event-researching-austerity-concepts-methods-and-debates\/","title":{"rendered":"Event – Researching austerity: Concepts, methods and debates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday May 17th, 14:00 – 16:00, Room 329, Cornwallis East, University of Kent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hosted by the Centre for Ethnographic Research<\/a>, this event will explore emerging theoretical and epistemological assumptions that inform how social scientists study the consequences and perceptions of \u2018austerity\u2019, as a key contemporary issue for those researching welfare\u00a0state change, civil society and citizenship, and everyday lives in a range of contexts.<\/p>\n

Considering the breadth of social experience encapsulated by the notion of austerity, the event will focus on refining the concept\u2014analytically and methodologically. We will explore austerity in life experiences, life writing, visual\u00a0representation and theory. We will take special care to examine the efficacy and ethics of particular ethnographic methods\u2014such life histories, interviews and participant observation\u2014and the opportunities they generate for the\u00a0study 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.<\/p>\n

The event will take the form of a half-day workshop, inviting South East Network for Social Sciences<\/a> (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\u00a0are 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\u00a0second session will focus on the social-science use of the term \u2018austerity\u2019, inviting four researchers to reflect about conceptual and definitional challenges. The third section will take a dialogical form, structured by a set of\u00a0prearranged challenging questions. The afternoon will culminate in an open forum of debate.<\/p>\n

The event is free<\/strong> and open to all<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Programme of events<\/h3>\n

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14:05 – Welcome and introductions<\/p>\n

14:10 – Case studies: real people affected by austerity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chair:<\/strong> Dr Eleanor Jupp<\/a><\/strong> (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR), Kent)<\/p>\n