Roundtables

RT1: More-than-human moves: of everyday entanglements and the Academy

03 May, 16:00-17:30, MNT 202
Organiser: Paul Hansen (Hokkaido University)
Participants: Kelly Abrams (University of Western Ontario), Andrea De Antoni (Ritsumeikan University), Hiroaki Kawamura (University of Findlay), Gergely Mohacsi (Osaka University), Melanie Rock (University of Calgary), Scott Simon (University of Ottawa), Alan Smart (University of Calgary)

Within the humanities and social sciences a nonhuman or more-than-human approach to writing and research has become a prominent genre. This is an epistemological move that underscores humans are ever-entangled with nonhuman animals, technologies, the environment and spiritual entities. Anthropologists, perhaps due to the centrality of anthropos in the discipline, were slow to respond to broader moves to decentre the human subject. However, the publication of the special issue The Emergence of Multispecies Ethnography in the journal Cultural Anthropology in 2010 prompted a growing number of anthropologists to focus on more-than-human conceptualizations as valuable in understanding and describing everyday interactions. Nevertheless, movement towards such an approach in anthropology is often resisted by the power structures of universities where more quantitative and rigid regimes of classification—nature/culture or human/animal for example—remain. This round table discussion focuses on how the nonhuman turn informs the work of participants and how they maneuver within the academy. Put concretely, why and how is the nonhuman turn prominent in your work and what are the implications of more-than-human research for methods and practices?

RT2: Resurgent racism, ethno-nationalism and xenophobia in a world of mo(u)vement: The global rise of populist politics and its challenges for world Anthropologies [IUAES and WCAA initiative]

04 May, 08:30-10:00, MNT 202
Organisers: Andrew 'Mugsy' Spiegel (University of Cape Town), Ellen Judd (University of Manitoba)
Participants: Michael Asch (University of Victoria), Michal Buchowski (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland), Parin Dossa (Simon Fraser University), Gustavo Lins Ribeiro (Autonomous Metropolitan University of Iztapalapa, Mexico City), Mariella Pandolfi (University of Montreal), Thomas Reuter (University of Melbourne, Australia), Alisse Waterston (City University of New York)

Panelists will address the implications for world anthropologies of contemporary (re-)emergences of negative racial, ethnic and gender discrimination and xenophobic hatred towards ‘others' – as supported and encouraged by populist politicians and political parties. Discussion will focus on deployments of racist expressions and actions, ethnic nationalisms and religious chauvinism in the exercise of power in colonial pasts and especially in present-day continuing-colonialism contexts. It will also consider the medium- to long-term implications of a politics of strategic culturalist essentialism for anti-colonial struggles in contexts of ever-present threats to, and resistance by, oppressed populations whose members, having long been subjected to systemic structural violence, increasingly now recognise it as viscerally, sensorily/affectively and culturally experienced. The panel will provide a springboard for establishing a global anthropological committee, commission and/or taskforce to develop a programme supporting anthropologists globally in their efforts to use their disciplinary skills to help address this challenging contemporary conundrum.

RT3: Capital’s work of devaluation

06 May, 08:30-10:00, FSS 1006
Organiser: Gavin Smith (University of Toronto)
Participants: Jaume Franquesa (SUNY, Buffalo), Sharryn Kasmir (Hofstra University), Ida Susser (CUNY), Chair: Winnie Lem (Trent University)

Conventionally the expanded reproduction of capital is achieved through the extraction of relative surplus value from labour (exploitation) or the appropriation of rents through financial instruments. We know, however, that non-capitalist forms and relations are essential for the reproduction of capitalist society as a whole and in all its complexity – from the spaces of ‘nature’ to the practices of denigrated workers. These latter involve the devaluation of places and people through political, ideological and violent means. This roundtable will be used to exchange participants’ observations of the historical and geographical particularity of these practices.

RT4: À propos des valeurs en commun pour les pratiques anthropologiques : la conversation se poursuit
Common values for anthropological practice: the conversation continues

03 May, 17:45-19:15, MNT 202
Organiser/organisatrice: Janice Graham (Dalhousie University)
Participants: Udo Krautwurst (UPEI), Brian Thom (University of Victoria), Eric Thrift (University of Winnipeg), Chair/présidente : Martha Radice (Dalhousie University)

Canadian anthropology does not have a code of ethics: CASCA is a rogue society. We lurk in the interstices of the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS), institutional Research Ethics Boards, government and private contracts and other working agreements. But what are we really thinking? What values underpin our anthropological practice, and what do we need to advance our collective cause? An ad hoc committee has been meeting at CASCA over the past few years with the aim of developing a non-prescriptive, living document that would guide us and guide others toward the principles we stand by. This would be useful for anthropologists practicing both within and outside the academy. This roundtable will continue the conversation from CASCA meetings in 2015 and 2016 about our common values - for nothing is more like an honest anthropologist than a rogue who knows the trade. All are welcome to join in.

L'anthropologie canadienne n'a pas de code d'éthique : la CASCA est une société polissonne. Nous nous glissons dans les interstices de l'Énoncé de politique des trois Conseils, des comités d'ethique de la recherche institutionnels, des contrats gouvernementaux ou privés parmi d'autres accords de travail. Mais que pensons-nous en fait ? Quels valeurs sous-tendent notre pratique anthropologique et de quoi avons-nous besoin pour faire avancer notre cause collective ? Un comité *ad hoc *se réunit depuis quelques années aux colloques de la CASCA avec pour but de développer un document non-prescriptif et vivant qui nous guiderait, et qui guiderait les autres, vers les principes auxquels nous tenons. Un tel document serait utile tant pour les anthropologues qui travaillent au sein du monde universitaire que pour ceux et celles qui travaillent en dehors de celui-ci. Cette table ronde continuera la conversation amorcée lors des colloques CASCA de 2015 et 2016 au sujet de nos valeurs communes - car rien ne ressemble tant à un(e) honnête anthropologue qu'un(e) polisson(ne) qui connaît son métier. Tous et toutes sont invité(e)s à y participer.

RT5: Voices of the precariat

04 May, 16:00-17:30, MNT 202
Organiser: Eric Henry (Saint Mary's)
Participants: Lori Barkley (Selkirk), Nicole Hayes (Waterloo), Katja Neves (Concordia), Ian Puppe (Western), Joshua Smith (UNC-Chapel Hill), David Thorsen-Cavers (Outstitute), Marty Zelenietz (Saint Mary's)

With over half of faculty at some Canadian universities being contingent or part-time, many anthropologists now live a precarious existence: they are marginalized intellectually, institutionally, professionally, and financially within the academy and within the discipline. This roundtable aims to publicize the experiences of precariously employed faculty and highlight their increasing role in the delivery of today's anthropology curriculum. Recognizing and representing the many types of precarity, participants will share insights and advice about teaching and scholarship in increasingly corporatized universities and colleges. Collectively we will work to encourage a dialogue between precariously and stably employed faculty, and develop strategies to advocate for equality within academia. This roundtable is sponsored by the Network for Precarious Anthropologists.

RT6: Animating nature, animating capital: environmental anthropology across new and old materialisms

02 May, 15:00-16:30, DMS 1120
Organisers: Danielle DiNovelli-Lang (Carleton), Reade Davis (Memorial), Karen Hébert (Carleton)
Participants: Sabrina Doyon (U Laval), Tyler Hale (Carleton U), Chair: Karen Hébert (Carleton)

Scholarship associated with “the new materialism” is typically defined by its rejection of humanism and by associated critiques of traditional materialist approaches, which tended to characterize nature as an “inanimate storehouse of resources” to be harvested and distributed to satisfy the desires of human beings (Davis and Zanotti 2014). Many have sought to invert this relationship by decentring the human subject and drawing attention to such things as: the subjectivity of animals (DiNovelli-Lang 2013; Lowe 2006; Nadasdy 2007); the agency of natural and technological artifacts (Hayles 1999; Latour 2005; Tsing 2016); and the world-making power of self-organizing systems (Lansing 2003; Wolfe 2010), including the ways in which cells and bacteria constitute human bodies (Haraway 2016; Helmreich 2009; Ingold and Palsson 2013). These contributions have brought forward a number of provocative question, such as: What form might a post-human ethics take?; and How might we begin to rethink longstanding understandings of environmental crises in ways that attend to the interests, perspectives, and actions of non-humans? Still, questions remain about whether the strong emphasis on emergent properties and nonhuman agency in new materialisms can be reconciled with the critical force of earlier materialist analyses, which emphasized the centrality of capitalist labour relations and exploitation along lines of race, class and gender in constructing the contemporary world. This roundtable will draw upon works from cultural anthropology, human geography, and environmental history as well as participants’ own fieldwork experiences in exploring the prospects and perils of combining old and new materialisms in contemporary environmental anthropology.

RT7: North of 49, West of GMT, South of Pecos: anthropology & technoscience mo(u)vements in Canada and beyond

05 May, 08:30-10:00, FSS 1030
Organiser: Brian Noble (Dalhousie University)
Participants: Steffan Igor Ayora Diaz (UADY, Mexico), Mark Doerksen (Concordia University), Janice Graham (Dalhousie University), Kregg Hetherington (Concordia University), Christina Holmes (St Francis Xavier University), Udo Krautwurst (University of Prince Edward Island), Jeremy Schmidt (Durham University), Gabriela Vargas-Cetina (UADY, Mexico)

A longstanding conversation needs to be had on how Anthropological engagement with technoscience (reckoned broadly) has developed in Canada and elsewhere – yet beyond US anthropology, (even if in dialogue with it). This roundtable is meant to begin that national discussion, and is necessarily open-ended, reaching out to other anthropologists, mostly based outside the US. Several questions will be explored: What is the character of these anthropological engagements with Technoscience? What sorts of projects are underway? Are there consistencies with/divergences from lines of practice dominating US, European approaches? How do worldly events and forces impinge on our work? How might productive conversations challenge this community of interest to grow in new directions? The 12 presenters will follow a format of 3-minute quick-reflex presentations meant to generate motion, with the idea of picking this up both post-session, and in more diverse and pointed panels, interchanges in subsequent CASCA and IUAES gatherings.

RT8: Cross-disciplinary Research in Gender and Feminist Research, Epistemology and Teaching [CASCA Women's Network]

05 May, 16:00-17:30, MRN Aud
Organiser: Pauline McKenzie Aucoin (University of Ottawa)
Participants: Nadia Abu-Zahra (University of Ottawa), Ruksana Ahmed (University of Ottawa), Lori Burns (University of Ottawa), Sharon Cook (University of Ottawa), Chair: Marie-Claude Haince (University of Ottawa)

This Roundtable provides an opportunity to discuss cross-disciplinary feminist research and teaching that engages a broad range of issues concerning gender: cultural practices and representation, equity and inclusion, subjectivity, strategies to counter racism, gendered space, resistance, and sexuality. This year’s Roundtable welcomes three University of Ottawa scholars: Profs. Lori Burns whose interests include popular music and video, contemporary female musicians, representations of violence, narrative and lyric analysis; Nadia Abu-Zahra who has addressed equity and development through research on Palestinian resistance movements, the current refugee crisis, and leadership programs among Inuit youth; Ruksana Ahmed who has worked to improve communication strategies for health care among marginalized communities, and studies new forms of multicultural media; and Sharon Cook (History and Education) whose research has covered a broad spectrum of issues from gender and peace history, representations of working women in cigarette advertising, to developing curriculum on gender issues in for public education.

RT9: Social justice research in Israel/Palestine: ethnographic perspectives (on an Anthropology of Social Justice in the context of Israel/Palestine)

06 May at 14:00-15:30, FSS 1006
Organiser: Jasmin Habib (Waterloo University)
Participants: Virginia Dominguez (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Nadeem Karkabi (Jerusalem), Maya Rosenfeld (Independent Scholar), Amalia Saar (Haifa University)

As new legislation quickly makes its way through the Knesset, much of it targeting human rights and peace activists and NGOs, surprisingly little attention has been trained on the constraints inherent in conducting social justice research in Israel. In this roundtable, anthropologists who have fieldwork experience in Israel will discuss the practical as well as political limitations they have faced, along with the promise such research holds. Organised and chaired by Jasmin Habib, the roundtable includes: Amalia Sa'ar, who will discuss parallel research on insecurities of Palestinian and Jewish citizens and the challenge of integrating incommensurable realities in a single ethnographic project; Nadeem Karkabi whose research focuses on how young Palestinians constructively play with risk and fear while practicing parkour to elude the structural power of occupation in East Jerusalem; Maya Rosenfeld, who has developed a socio-historical study of the movement of Palestinian political prisoners and its impact on the public political sphere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; Virginia Dominguez, who will discuss how suggesting that Palestinians in Israel are not dangerous foreigners makes one suspect, as does pointing out that there are dissidents in Israel, both Jews and non-Jews; and Jasmin Habib, whose focus is on how Jewish Israeli activist recollections of Palestine assert a re-membering of Palestine that informs their everyday lives in ways that have not been fully articulated or even appreciated to date.