East-European and Russian Philosophy before and after the
Collapse of Communism
Thinking in/after Utopia

27-30 October, 2005
Organizer: The Havighurst Center for Russian & Post-Soviet
Studies,
Miami, University of Ohio (Oxford, OH)
The Havighurst Center’s Site:
http://casnov1.cas.muohio.edu/havighurstcenter/
Plenary speakers: Mikhail Epstein (Emory University) and Vladimir
Tismaneanu (University of Maryland).
The 2005 annual Havighurst young researchers’ conference is
dedicated to exploring the state of East-European and Russian
philosophy today.
How philosophical ideas contributed (or didn’t contribute) to the
process of dismantling of the Communist system• The effects that
the collapse and Communism had on shaping new
configurations/movements of philosophical ideas in Eastern Europe
and Russia.
The conference is conceived of as a forum where young researchers
in the field of East-European and Russian studies/philosophy
come, from all over the world, and share their views and the
outcomes of their research,interact with senior researchers in
the field, and with Miami University faculty and students.
We are interested in bringing together papers that deal not
necessarily with philosophical problems/topics taken in
themselves, but especially with the sophisticated, ever-changing
interplay that took place in the Communist countries between
philosophy and politics, philosophy and ideology, philosophy and
social life, philosophy and the other humanities, philosophy and
the arts. What role (if any) did various philosophical practices
(teaching, research, philosophically-informed cultural journalism
or philosophically-inspired civic movements, etc) play in
undermining the Marxist ideology in East-Europe and Russia? On
the other hand, how precisely did philosophy (Marxism included)
permeate the (societal, intellectual, cultural) life in the
Communist regimes? What happened with philosophy ? and with the
net of relationships that it had established with politics,
ideology, social life, etc. ? when the system collapsed? Wh! at
happens with the life of mind when one school of thought
(Marxism) becomes the only accepted school of though? What
happens with that school of thought itself under such conditions?
What happened with all the Marxist philosophers of Eastern Europe
and Russia in the 90’?
What have become of them? What are, in general, the sources of
the post-communist Russian and East-European philosophy? To what
extent the “dissident philosophers” (Patocka, Havel, and others)
can be seen as practitioners of the ancient conception of
“philosophy as a way of life”? These are only some of the issues
to be addressed in the course of the conference.
Call for papers:
Young scholars (ABDs, Post-docs, Assistant-Professors, etc.)
working in the field of East-European and Russian thought are
hereby cordially invited to submit abstracts on these or any
other issues related to the conference’s topic.
Funding:
Those selected to present papers will be provided with
accommodation for the duration of the conference, ground
transportation from/to the airport,and partial travel funding (up
to $250 for domestic travel and up to $500 for international
travel).
Publication:
We plan to publish the conference papers in an edited volume with
a major US academic press.
Deadline for abstracts: 10 April, 2005. Email submissions are
strongly encouraged. Please send abstracts (no longer than 300
words) and a copy of your CV to:
Dr. Costica Bradatan,
Havighurst Fellow & Conference Coordinator
Department of Philosophy,
221 Hall Auditorium,
Miami University,
Oxford, OH-45056
USA
Email: bradatc@muohio.edu

Ethnographies of aid and development

25th April - 29th April 2005

In recent years, ethnographic studies of aid and development have
become increasingly important. These studies focus on ‘how’
development works rather more than on ‘whether’ development
works, and seek to situate aid and development ‘projects’ and
‘programmes’ in the context of social, political and economic
relations and power inbalances between ‘donors’, ‘implementing
agencies’, ‘recipients’ and all manner of intermediary actors and
agencies.
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AID AND DEVELOPMENT
Theoretically, considerable impetus for this work has derived
from the ‘discursive’ or ‘cultural’ turn in the social sciences,
and the theorization of social power associated with Foucault’s
notion of governmentality. In this tradition, the domain of aid
and development is studied as “a matrix of narratives and
subjectivities” (Gould, 2004; 285).
Moving beyond Foucault allows for governmentality to be seen as
an “uneven and partial process that has to proceed through
alliances, compromises, and conflicts in which subjects succumb,
sign up or comply – but also resist, or are recalcitrant and
troublesome” (Clarke, 2004; 70).
A related, but somewhat divergent, starting point comes from
Lefebvre’s theorization of space and, in particular, the notion
of scale not as “a preordained hierarchical framework for
ordering the world” but, rather, as “a contingent outcome of the
tensions that exist between structural forms and the practices of
human agents” (Marston, 2000; 220). Again, ethnographic
approaches appear particularly well suited to capturing elements
of ‘scale-making’ as a political process, as a key component of
all aid and development encounters and relationships.
Based in part on Stuart Hall’s complex re-reading of Gramsci,
Michael Burawoy provides some of the necessary theoretical
apparatus for studies of ‘grounded globalizations’ and ‘scattered
hegemonies’ (Grewal and Kaplan (eds), 1994) as composed of
‘forces’, ‘connnections’ and ‘imaginings’ (Burawoy, 2000; 348),
such that aid and development represent particular instances of
the uneven, unstable, and contested impacts of transnational
neo-liberalism.
In the context, then, of the shifting dynamics of aid
relationships and new modalities of aid and development, the
course will explore the often complex, and sometimes baffling,
reconfigurations of discourses and practices of power which
constitute new ‘intermestic’ aid and development regimes in which
the internal/external disctinction is increasingly blurred.
THE ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
Another strand of the literature takes seriously aid and
development organizations as organizations, as composed of a
series of complex processes and engaged in overlapping networks
in constant flux (cf. Hilhorst, 2004; 5), but also bounded by
“material incentives and organizational imperatives” (Gould,
2003; 350) that affect the strategic behaviours of diverse aid
and development actors.
The importance of the origins, role, ownership, approach and
financial structure of diverse aid and development organizations
should not detract attention from the importance of
organizational discourses, in particular what Hilhorst has called
their ‘claim-bearing activities’, nor the increasing
hybridisation and flexibilisation of organizational mandates,
structures and forms (cf. Wedel, 2000).In particular, the growing
presence of transnational intermediary actors in aid and
development, blurring distinctions between the public and the
private, also needs to be addressed, as well as the complex
relationships between transnational, national and sub-national
actors and agencies. If Stubbs (2003) is correct in outlining the
contours of an intermediate sphere composed of oligopolising
INGOs and emerging international consultancy companies, then more
attention needs to be paid to modalities of ‘new’ management,
informal networks and the increasing importance of emerging
brokerage and translation roles in the field. The type of
organizational cultures found within aid and development
agencies, ranging from the traditional hierarchichal to the
‘networked’ and ‘hollowed out’ frames of new actors, need to be
studied.

STUDYING SITES OR STUDYING LOCALITIES
The pluralization in the term ‘ethnographies’ of aid and
development is meant to convey the “current popularity of
invoking ethnogaraphy in ways and places Malinowski never
considered” (Gould, 2004). In place of a mono-disciplinary canon,
we now have increasing experimentation with, and
cross-fertilization of, methodologies in a form which aspires to
multi-disciplinarity, if not yet ‘post-disciplinarity’ (Jessop
and Neilsen, 2003).
Many scholars within aid and development studies look to
ethnography as a means to critical, even counter-hegemonic,
perspectives on modernity that are grounded in an epistemology of
first-hand experience. However, one of the most contentious and,
indeed, practically problematic, issues becomes the question of
field site which can no longer be simply equated with ‘locality’.
In all such research, the issue of identifying, delimiting and
theorizing the research context, the field, is at the core of
strategy and design. Following Gould (2004) ethnography can and
should be seen as a form of ‘hunting and gathering’, with the
element of surprise always at the core of ethnographic
enquiry.And yet, aid and development are prime examples of
processes that transcend delimited localities so that a balance
needs to be struck, akin to a trade off, between rich thick
contextualised description, on the one hand, and studying the
translocal and multiscalar focrces and processes that mold
localized relations on the other. The expansive scale of the
social-economic-political-ideological configuration under study
overwhelms the physical capacity, and certainly the travel
budget, of an individual researcher, or even a team of
researchers, however well-endowed, materially and professionall.
Whilst it is useful, again following Gould (2004), to see
localities as “points of convergence of various actors and
interests as well as of the contexts in which they are
emebedded”, huge problems arrise in identifying the dimensions
and limts of a research site, which are always unfinished and
reworked heuristic constructions rather than ontological facts.
Identifying what CARE or Oxfam or Price Waterhouse Coopers is,
can only be addressed once their multi-level and multi-sited
nature is studied within the wider context of their
inter-relations with bilateral public aid agencies, multi-lateral
institutions, a whole range of supposedly ‘domestic’ actors, and
each other.
Questions of ethics, of power and of trust, always relevant in
social scientific research, also take on an additional meaning in
the context of ethnographies of aid and development. Questions of
the social positionality of researchers, framed within complex
questions of belonging and identity, including but not limited
to, nationality, gender, age, and professional background, raise
wider questions of a normative kind.
This course starts from the fact that aid and development is
comprised of multi-sited, multi-level, trans-scalar flows and
processes, and suggests that this causes certain dilemmas, as
well as opportunities, in terms of defining, collecting,
organizing and interpreting ethnographic material.
References
Burawoy, M. (2000) ‘Grounding Globalization’ in Burawoy, M. et al
(eds.)
Global Ethnography: forces, connections, and imaginations in the
modern world.
University of California Press.
Clarke, J. (2004) Changing Welfare, Changing States Sage
Gould, J. (2004) ‘Positionality and Scale: methodological issues
in the ethnography of aid’ in Gould, J. and Secher Marcussen, H.
(eds.)
Ethnographies of Aid: exploring development texts and encounters
IDS
Roskilde Occasional Paper 24.Grewal, I. and Kaplan, C. (19994)
Scattered Hegemonies University of Minnesota Press.
Hilhorst, D. (2004) The Real World of NGOs: discourses, diversity
and development Zed Press.Jessop, B. and Neilsen, K. (2003)
‘Institutions and Rules’. Research papers on Institutional
Network Theory no. 11.Marston, S. (2000) ‘The Social Construction
of Scale’ in Progress in Human Geography 24 (2); 219-242.
Stubbs, P. (2003) ‘International Non-State Actors and Social
Development

Policy’ in Global Social Policy 3 (3); 319-48.
Wedel, J. (2000) Collision and Collusion: the strange case of
Western aid to Eastern Europe Palgrave.
THE COURSE
This course is aimed at postgraduate students from any
discipline, who are currently engaged in work on any aspect of
aid and development and who are committed to exploring, or are
already utilising, ethnographic methods and approaches.
Applications are also welcomed from aid and development
practioners and researchers with an interest in these themes.
The course will contain a mixture of three different types of
sessions:
1. Keynote presentations by resource persons (45 minutes) –
leading scholars working within the ethnography of aid and
develop will present reflections based on their own work, with an
emphasis on the complex relationship between theory, methodology
and the field. For each keynote presentation, two course
participants will act as initial discussants (5 minutes).
2. Methods clinics – in a workshop format, small groups will work
on issues of concern for those doing ethnographies of aid and
development. The topics will be chosen at the start of the
course, and will be amplified by case material derived from
course participants and others.
3. Participant presentations – in small groups, attended by at
least one resource person, participants will present papers (up
to 30 minutes) based on their research. These papers (maximum
6,000 words) should, ideally, be circulated in advance.
The course will take place from 09.30 – 12.30 and then from 15.30
– 17.30 each day. On Wednesday and Friday, there will be no
afternoon session but organised sight seeing and/or boat trips
will be arranged. Certificates of attendance will be presented to
all participants.
THE INTER-UNIVERSITY CENTRE
The Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (IUC), founded in 1971, is
an independent international institution for advanced studies. It
is a meeting ground for learning and scholarship which is
co-sponsored by some two hundred member universities and
institutions of higher learning around the world. Over the years,
more than 40,000 scholars and students have participated in the
Centre's courses and conferences. Web: www.iuc.hr
DUBROVNIK
The ancient city of Dubrovnik is situated in the Southern most
part of the Dalmatian region of Croatia and is a UNESCO-protected
World Heritage site. A popular destination for tourists,
Dubrovnik is at its best in the Spring.
See www.dubrovnik-online.com
APPLICATIONS
Applications are welcome from postgraduate and doctoral students
as well as from experienced development practioners and
researchers. Applicants should send a brief cv and full contact
details, plus a short abstract (maximum 500 words) of probable
course presentation to Dr Paul Stubbs email: pstubbs@eizg.hr by
28 February 2005. Places are limited and particpants will be
chosen so as to ensure a range of interests and experiences.
Candidates will be notified of whether their application has been
successful no later than 15 March 2005.
COSTS
A course fee of 40 Euro is payable by every participant to the
IUC. In addition, half-baord accomodation can be found in
Dubrovnik, (we recommend Hotel Lero), for approximately 60 Euro
per night. Please mention the IUC when booking. Dubrovnik has an
airport with good links to Western Europe either directly or via
Zagreb.
BURSARIES OSI/HESP scholarships, covering either travel or
accommodation costs, may be available for graduate students and
faculty from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo,
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
Further detials and an application form can be found on the IUC
web site www.iuc.hr
The organisers are exploring the possibility of obtaining limited
funds to offset the costs of some particpants, particularly those
from developing countries. Applicants should indicate if they are
unlikely to be able to raise their own funds to cover costs.
FURTHER DETAILS
Further information can be obtained from Dr Paul Stubbs email:

pstubbs@eizg.hr,
The Institute of Economics, Trg J F Kennedya 7
HR-10000
Zagreb Croatia.
Course Directors
Jeremy Gould , University of Helsinki, Academy of Finland
Elissa Helms , Central European University, Budapest
Henrik Secher Marcussen , Roskilde University
Paul Stubbs , Institute of Economics, Zagreb
Course Lecturers
Steven Sampson , University of Lund
Working language:English

POLITIKON – THE IAPSS Journal

The International Association of Political Science Students
(IAPSS) is proud to announce that POLITIKON - The IAPSS Journal
has reached its 9th issue.
POLITIKON is an academic journal meant to offer a proper
framework for students -under and postgraduate- who have a
special interest in Political Science. It is a unique opportunity
for you to contribute to the political science community by
having your paper reviewed and published in our journal!
Do you want your paper to be discovered by people from more than
fifty countries? Respond to our challenge: Is democracy working?
You can follow these guidelines:
Democracy - more than an electoral process
The erosion of classic democracies
Young democracies at work
Democracy - a universal solution or not
The democratic peace theory etc
The requirements for the papers are:
English language
A half page abstract
A minimum of 15 pages and a maximum of 25 pages written in Times
New Roman, size 12, 1.5 lines
Bibliography (minimum 5 references, see the rules for references
in the attached document)
The deadline for submitting the papers is the 20th of January
2005.
The articles should be sent at the following address:
politikonjournal@iapss.org
For questions and suggestions, please feel free to write us at
the e-mail address mentioned above.
International Association for Political Science
Students Kongresni trg 12
1000 Ljubljana – Slovenia
e-mail: info@iapss.org
Tel +386 1 2443730
Fax +386 1 2443731
AINSEE