Playing the Field

The final deadline for submitting written copies of presentations for publication in Playing the Field’s conference proceedings has been extended to February 28th, 2010. Although we have received a number of excellent submissions already, we’ve judged it necessary to extend the deadline in order to incorporate as many contributions as possible.

Submission guidelines remain the same: Papers should be double-spaced with 1 inch margins and in Times New Roman font. Please limit your papers to 10 pages or less, including references (using AAA format). We ask that you also include a cover page with all pertinent contact information and affiliations. We also ask that you submit documents saved in MS Word as .doc files in order to facilitate the reformatting of papers overall. Papers should be forwarded to the conference email address - playingthefield2009@gmail.com.

As always, we hope you will contribute.

We invite everyone who presented papers at Playing the Field to submit a written copy of their presentation. In the winter term, we will be gathering to assemble received submissions into an electronic publication of the conference proceedings to be hosted by our departmental website (Department of Anthropology at York University). The deadline for submitting your paper in this format will be January 31st, 2010. Papers should be double-spaced with 1 inch margins and in Times New Roman font. Please limit your papers to 10 pages or less, including references (using AAA format). We ask that you also include a cover page with all pertinent contact information and affiliations.

9:00 am – REGISTRATION OPENS – Vari Hall

9:00 am – BREAK ROOM OPENS– 2169 Vari Hall
(Refreshments, snacks, and conversation available throughout the event)

9:45 am – WELCOME ADDRESS – 2169 Vari Hall

10:00 am – 5:35 pm – PANEL SESSIONS –3005 Vari Hall, 3006 Vari Hall, 3009 Vari Hall

Session One          10:00 am – 11:25 am
Session Two          11:35 am – 1:00 pm
Lunch                       1:00 pm – 1:20 pm
Session Three           1:20 pm – 2:35 pm
Session Four             2:45 pm – 4:10 pm
Session Five              4:20 pm – 5:35 pm

6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – PLENARY LECTURE – Professor Anne Meneley,
Trent University – Vari Hall D

7:30 pm – 9:30 pm – RECEPTION – The Grad Lounge (166 South Ross)

Session One (10:00 am – 11:25 am)

PANEL 1             3006 Vari Hall
Dirty Anthropologies: Messy, Sticky, and Miasmal

Moderator: Claire Dalmyn
Presenters:
Claire Dalmyn, York University
   “Pervertible practices: Playing anthropology in BDSM”
Shalanda Phillips, York University
   “Burning things in the dark: A non-innocent noctuary”
Jessica Caporusso, York University
   “In the field, on the floor, in the bedroom: Striking a harmonic discord in a dirty/clean anthropology of sound”
Karen Angus, York University
   “‘Can I be the man this time?’ Subversive play among Toronto- area ballroom dancers”
Mandi Kohli, York University
   “Getting Hot and Sticky: Intimacy with Strangers”

PANEL 2             3009 Vari Hall
Ethics and Power Relations: Traversing Difficult Terrain

Moderator: Nayrouz Abu-Hatoum
Presenters:
Rodrigo Ferrari Nunes, University of British Colombia
   “Critical inconvenience: Power, conformity and collaboration in an ethnographic fieldwork setting”
Noora Sharrab, York University
   “Questioning Academia in the Field : A Case of Palestinian Refugees”
Onur Kovanci, Carleton University
   “Interviewing women as a male researcher”

PANEL 3             3005 Vari Hall
Fieldwork Surprise! Anthropologists’ Expectations Confounded

Moderator: Megan Cotton-Kinch
Presenters:
Lynette Schick, Trent University
   “Writing women: Feminist ‘fieldwork’ as a political act?”
Marta Castilho da Silva, York University
   “Surprises and trends revealed during the fieldwork”
Christine Baillargeon, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique
   “Attempting anthropological fieldwork: A personal journey”
Katie MacDonald, York University; Patricia Morris, Trent University
   “Discussing disjuncture: Conversations about protecting privilege through subversive research”

Session Two (11:35 am – 1:00 pm)

PANEL 4             3006 Vari Hall
Relationships in the Field: Getting to Know an Other

Moderator:  Michael Connors Jackman
Presenters:
Michael Connors Jackman, York University
   “Losing the Field: Where Ethnography Begins”
Laura Eramian, York University
   “Mistrusting the mistrustful: Fieldwork in a small town in Rwanda”
Juliet O’Farrell, University of Waterloo
   “The field after fieldwork”
Alanna Louise Felt, Memorial University of Newfoundland
   “Sex in the field: Examining erotic subjectivity in discourses of anthropological fieldwork”
Tasin S. Zaman, University of Waterloo
   “The Field and the Family: Negotiating Questions of Identity”

PANEL 5              3009 Vari Hall
Activism, Ethics, and Anthropology ‘At Home’

Moderator: Megan Cotton-Kinch
Presenters:
Ted Baker, York University
   “Fielding an anti-capitalist anthropology”
Jean McDonald, York University
   “Ethical Negotiations of an Activist Anthropologist”
Niki Thorne, York University
   “Anarchy & anthropology: Towards anti-authoritarian, anti-racist methodologies”

PANEL 6             3005 Vari Hall
Borders and Frontiers: Spatializing the Field

Moderator: David Lavictoire
Presenters:
Michelle Switzer, York University
   “Frontier fieldwork: Challenges and theoretical considerations when working on the border”
Lauren Elizabeth Harding, York University
   “Re-Imagining the field along the Great Divide”
John Van West
   “From apprentice to practitioner: Engaging in the science of anthropology among the commercial smelt trawlermen of Port Dover, Ontario, Canada, 1977-1978”
Robert Ferguson, York University
   “Campus Friction: A Short Ethnographic Engagement with Protest in Vari Hall”

Session Three (1:20 pm – 2:35 pm)

PANEL 7              3006 Vari Hall
Writing, Teaching and Editing: Notes on Pedagogy

Moderator:  Lauren Elizabeth Harding
Presenters:
Julian C. Sonik, Huron University College
   “Writing Process: Re-thinking the Writing Center Interview”
Jenny Lee Ferguson, University of Windsor
   “Theory and practice of composition studies: A personal essay”
Alicia Fahey, Trent University
   “Understanding the field of literary editing”

PANEL 8             3009 Vari Hall
Disability in the Field: What the Researcher Brings and Leaves Behind

Moderator: Jen Rinaldi
Presenters:
Athena Goodfellow, McMaster University
   “Paradoxical fieldwork”
Jen Rinaldi, York University
   “Disability studies fieldwork: Does the nondisabled researcher belong?”
Kaley Roosen, York University
   “Psychological health research: Can disability studies and psychology co-exist?”

Session Four (2:45 pm – 4:10 pm)

PANEL 9             3006 Vari Hall
Field of Affections: Methodologies and Studies of Emergent Materialities

Moderator:  Elysee Nouvet
Presenters:
Elysee Nouvet, York University
   “Affective power, Contagious images in El Barrio”
Melissa Atkinson-Graham, York University
   “Becoming material, becoming method: Notes on proximity and ethnography”
Susan McNaughton, York University
   “Conjugating the modern: Conceptualizing female religious agency”
Dylan Mackie, York University
   “A field of flesh: Collaborating with the “Body without Organs”
Laurie Baker Rogers, York University
   “Learning to configure the resonant body: How divine ferrets can root out the evidence of sin”

PANEL 10             3009 Vari Hall
Connectivities: Of Methods and Methodology

Moderator: Michelle Wyndham-West
Presenters:
Duncan Philpot, Acadia University
   “Tilling the digital field: Examining the issues of online fieldwork”
Tim Bisha, University of Western Ontario
   “From the archival field: Re-viewing the traditional fieldwork process”
Michelle Wyndham-West, York University
   “Studying ‘traffic’: Methodological approaches for navigating the congestion”
Candice Pike, York University
   “Doing fieldwork at the barre: A ballerina investigates gender and friendship ‘at home’ in the dance studio”

Session Five (4:20 pm – 5:35 pm)

PANEL 11             3006 Vari Hall
Deterritorializing the Field: Interdisciplinary Practice in Theory

Moderator:  Emily Simmonds
Presenters:
Matthew Hamilton, Trent University
   “The ‘fixing’ of the subject: Interrogating Ranciere’s challenge to Bourdieu”
Jesse P. Hiltz, Trent University
   “ADHD, an entity within the crisis of the field”
GaYan Kong, Trent University
   “The underside of the mask: Staking out the work of performativity in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled”
Kama Maureemootoo, Trent University
   “Locating the Ghost and the Work of Haunting in Toni Morrison’s Fiction and Non-Fiction”

PANEL 12             3009 Vari Hall
Playing the Home Field: Some Implications and Experiences of Doing Fieldwork at Home

Moderator:  Samantha Breslin
Presenters:
Samantha Breslin, Memorial University of Newfoundland
   “The sound of home”
Robert Dykstra, Memorial University of Newfoundland
   “Learning to field/work at home and away”
Laura Nelson-Hamilton, Memorial University of Newfoundland
   “Of raised beds and home communities: researching food security on common ground(s)?”
Malissa Farnham, York University
   “Going back home with the best of intentions: Hometown anthropology gets a dose of humour/humility”

GAME (1:20 pm – 4:10 pm)

Serious Play: An Activist Role-Play in Solidarity with Mine-Affected Communities

Elizabeth Farinango, University of Toronto
Megan Cotton-Kinch, York University
Indra Noyes, University of Toronto

Melissa Atkinson-Graham, York University
Christine Baillargeon, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique
Laurie Baker Rogers, York University
Ted Baker, York University
Samantha Breslin, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Jessica Caporusso, York University
Marta Castilho da Silva, York University
Michael Connors Jackman, York University
Megan Cotton-Kinch, York University
Claire Dalmyn, York University
Robert Dykstra, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Laura Eramian, York University
Alicia Fahey, Trent University
Elizabeth Farinango, University of Toronto
Malissa Farnham, York University
Alanna Louise Felt, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Robert Ferguson, York University
Athena Goodfellow, McMaster University
Matthew Hamilton, Trent University
Lauren Elizabeth Harding, York University
Jesse P. Hiltz, Trent University
Mandi Kohli, York University
GaYan Kong, Trent University
Onur Kovanci, Carleton University
Katie MacDonald, York University
Dylan Mackie, York University
Kama Maureemootoo, Trent University
Jean McDonald, York University
Susan McNaughton, York University
Patricia Morris, Trent University
Laura Nelson-Hamilton, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Elysee Nouvet, York University
Indra Noyes, University of Toronto
Juliet O’Farrell, University of Waterloo
Shalanda Phillips, York University
Duncan Philpot, Acadia University
Candice Pike, York University
Jen Rinaldi, York University
Kaley Roosen, York University
Noora Sharrab, York University
Lynette Anne Schick, Trent University
Julian C. Sonik, University of Western Ontario
Michelle Switzer, York University
Niki Thorne, York University
John Van West
Michelle Wyndham-West, York University
Tasin S. Zaman, University of Waterloo

YU Social Anthropology Graduates’ Association (SAGA) presents:
Interdisciplinary Conference at York University, Toronto, Canada
November 21, 2009

Playing the Field

playingthefield2009@gmail.com
www.playingthefield2009.wordpress.com

Throughout much of the history of socio-cultural anthropology, fieldwork, particularly that involving extended periods of participant observation, has been touted as the discipline’s methodological hallmark. However, the established tendency to conceptualize “the field” as the site where “fieldwork” is conducted, and “the fieldworker” as the actor who conducts it, obscures the complex and multiple material milieux informing their mutual constitution. This conference encourages participants to interrogate, complicate, demystify, and possibly re-enchant the concepts and practices of field/work/er, with special focus on their privileged, albeit shifting, contributions to the domains of knowledge making within anthropology and other disciplines. Alongside theoretical interrogations, we welcome submissions that speak to participant’s ongoing experiences, obstacles and successes as fieldworkers.

The Social Anthropology Graduates’ Association (SAGA) cordially invites fellow graduate students, activists and applied scholars to participate in an interdisciplinary and interactive forum on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at York University in Toronto, Canada.

We invite conference contributions in the following formats:
- Academic papers (presentation time: 15 minutes) and panels (presentation time: 75 minutes)
- Alternative media presentations (posters, video, poetry, other creative works)

Possible topics include:

• What and where is the field?
  
• How is it constituted, entered and exited by fieldworkers?
  
• Who is a fieldworker? How is she or he constituted by the practice of fieldwork?
  
• Where is the ‘work’ in fieldwork?
• How is fieldwork arranged and conducted?
• What are the experiences of fieldworkers?
• How does the experience of the field sometimes surprise fieldworkers?
• What kinds of interesting stories come out of fieldwork? Do these stories make it to the final draft?
  
• What is the relationship between disciplinary, regional, and performative fields?
• How is the face and place of fieldwork changing in academia?

To propose a paper, please submit a cover page with your name; institutional affiliation; contact information (mailing address, phone number and email) and a 250 word abstract of the paper. Presentations will be limited to fifteen minutes.

Panels of 3-4 presentations are especially welcome. To propose a panel, please submit a cover page including the title of the panel and the names of presenters; a panel abstract of 150 words; a separate page with the names of presenters, their contact information (mailing address, phone number, and email) and institutional affiliation(s), the titles of their presentations; and a 250-word abstract for each paper. Panels will be limited to one hour and fifteen minutes, including discussion periods.

Keynote address by Trent University Professor Anne Meneley: http://www.trentu.ca/anthropology/meneley.php

Please note that there will be a $20 registration fee for conference participants.

Submission deadline for abstracts and proposed panels (no longer than 250 words) is September 25, 2009. Please send abstracts and all other inquiries to playingthefield2009@gmail.com. Successful submissions may be assembled for later publication. Note: travel bursaries are NOT available.