Paper Short Abstract:

This study examines the precarity of public schooling in the US and why families are selecting homeschool as a viable alternative in times of uncertainty. Motivating factors and the quest for agency are explored as the connecting thread between such families.

Paper Abstract:

This study examines the precarity of public schooling in the US and why families are selecting homeschool as a viable alternative in times of uncertainty. Using grounded theory and qualitative methodology, this study uses sociological and anthropological perspectives to explore how families today are reimagining schooling alternatives. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated and catalyzed widespread fresh motivations, organizing power, networking competence, and justification for alternative educational approaches amongst increasingly diverse families opting out of mainstream US schooling. Whether the motivating factor is faith-based, safety-related, nature-inspired, or politically-driven as a way to reject neoliberal and colonizing curricula mandates, the quest for agency is explored as the connecting thread between such families. By examining current homeschooling trends in the US, this study provides a platform for international discourse on alternatives to traditional school models that support and reimagine transnational educational flows. The analysis draws on 16 interviews with parents who currently homeschool their children, data collected from three different homeschooling conventions, and multiple homeschooling social media platforms.

Paper Short Abstract:

What modes of well-being(s) might we uncover if we collaborate to reflexively experience relatedness through collage making to deconstruct exclusionary power dynamics normalized by the colonial logics of institutions all around us? Let's co-explore!

Paper Abstract:

My paper tries to re-envision Anthropology and Ethnography as an atelier, a collaborative space of collective worlding, and an anthropologist as a collaborator. Contextually, it stems from ethnographic interactions with a cohort of art therapists and their clients coming together for collective engagement. Theoretically, I put Niewohner’s (2016) idea of co-laborative ethnography as joint epistemic and [affective] work in conversation with Stewart’s Weak Theory (2008), and Pandian’s Possible Anthropology (2020) to imagine the possibilities of anthropological action in and through collaboration to create shared spaces of well-being that disrupt the power dynamics of structural and ontological politics of identity making.

Here, I propose an immersive collaborative collage making experience, where the collective making-thinking-relating space that I call an anthropological thought atelier (Schroeder Yu 2024) emerges as a shared space of sense making (Stewart 2007), in which well-being is experienced relationally through an affective attunement with being-in-the world.

I wish to collectively explore the following: What sense(s) of relatedness can we evoke while collaborating as anthropologists in action? What kinds of curiosities can such collaborations provoke for us that might be used to understand worldings of well-being ethnographically? How might we curiously relate with/to our colleagues and interlocutors to create space for anthropologies of well-being to emerge? Throughout the paper collective making becomes a space of experiencing shared well-being, which in turn is a critical action necessary for anthropologists to disrupt colonial logics of dominance we see prevalent today.

Paper Short Abstract:

This paper examines Sri Lanka’s socio-political decline, culminating in the 2022 Aragalaya. Drawing parallels to Jesus' crucifixion, it explores actor-activist Jehan Appuhami’s act of carrying a cross to Galle Face as a symbol of resistance and hope, reflecting the nation’s collective struggle again

Paper Abstract:

In approximately 33 CE, during the reign of Pontius Pilate, Jesus of Nazareth was arrested by Roman authorities and compelled to carry the cross to Calvary, where He was crucified. The symbolic power of the cross re-emerged in Sri Lanka during the citizens' unarmed uprising—known as the Aragalaya or "struggle"—against an oppressive regime in April 2022. Among the many acts of resistance, Jehan Appuhami, an actor and social activist, carried a cross for several kilometres, traversing paths that included Christian churches devastated by the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. His journey culminated at Galle Face, the epicentre of the people's struggle, where the cross became a profound emblem of resilience and hope.

The geopolitical and social processes surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus profoundly shaped the trajectory of human history and cultural identity for centuries. Similarly, Appuhami's act of carrying the cross tree emerges as a poignant and symbolic reflection of the contemporary political climate within Sri Lankan civil society. This paper critically examines the gradual erosion of Sri Lanka's social and political fabric in recent decades, culminating in the historic Galle Face struggle ("Aragalaya"). By tracing the multifaceted pathways—social, economic, and political—that led to this watershed moment, the study explores the intersections between symbolic acts of resistance and the collective aspirations of a society in turmoil.

Paper Short Abstract:

The paper examines the influence of intermingling of diverse communities on cultural festivities. It does so by emphasizing on the aspect of alternative space for shared harmony. Ethnographic fieldwork determines the fusion of the lost and the gained in newly formed ethnoscapes.

Paper Abstract:

With the world getting increasingly interconnected, it paradoxically becomes more susceptible to exclusionary identity politics. Yet, in this globalized mosaic of cultures, festivals emerge as counterpoints to such divisive forces, offering spaces for collaboration and shared humanity. As individuals and communities navigate the global stage, their local festivals traverse borders, embedding themselves in ethnoscapes far removed from their origins. The dynamics between a sense of rootedness and the realities of mobility generates tensions, wherein identities associated with specific locations endure while simultaneously being reshaped by connections to distant places(Burnley and Murphy, 2004; Duffy and Waitt 2013).

This paper explores the evolving landscape of festivals, examining the introduction of alternatives and the subtle dilutions of meaning as practices adapt to smaller, more constricted communities. Methodologically, this study engages with ethnographic fieldwork and critical discourse analysis to investigate whether these adaptations constitute the emergence of entirely new cultural forms or represent a strategic repackaging of the old. Extending on Appadurai’s framework of cultural flows and ethnoscapes on how globalization homogenizes traditions, this study argues that festivals gain new layers of meaning through their interaction with diverse influences, often rebranded as “authentic” or “traditional” in their adapted forms interrogating whether these changes represent the survival of festivals under new guises or the emergence of entirely novel cultural practices(Appadurai, 1996). Festivals function as living artifacts, constantly negotiated and redefined in the global arena.

Paper Short Abstract:

Rolando Toro's "Science of Movement" integrates emotional, social, and existential dimensions, positioning movement as central to understanding identity. This paper explores Toro’s theory through Merleau-Ponty’s embodiment and Csordas’s cultural body, examining how movement reveals human culture.

Paper Abstract:

During the 1984 “II Congresso Latino Americano de Biodanza” (São Paulo, Brazil), Chilean psychologist and anthropologist Rolando Toro Araneda proposed a systemic model for categorizing human movement. This model, if not a Science of Movement, was described by Toro as “a vision and an expression of the whole, of the organism as a hologram in progressive and profound integration.” His approach redefined movement far beyond psychomotricity and a set of kinesis—for him, movement is a medium for human experience that integrates emotional, social, and existential dimensions.

This presentation examines Toro’s Science of Movement through the lens of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s “Phenomenology of the Body” and Thomas Csordas’s “Embodiment as a Paradigm for Anthropology”. Merleau-Ponty’s notion that the body is the primary medium of experiencing and interpreting the world provides a foundational philosophical context, while Csordas’s assertion of embodiment as central to meaning-making situates the body as both subject and agent in anthropology. Toro’s vision complements and expands these frameworks by presenting movement as a site of individual, collective, and cosmic identity.

This paper, thus, explores how Toro’s model illuminates the intersections of embodiment, identity, and relationality in anthropological inquiry. Complementary to this critical exploration is the laboratory “Charting Anthropology’s Movements. Literally,” which will provide an embodied experience of Toro’s Science through an introductory Biodanza class, bridging theory and practice to “live” anthropology’s movements in action.

Keywords: Rolando Toro, embodiment, movement, identity, anthropology.

Paper Short Abstract:

This paper discusses the transits between anthropology and artistic practices as part of the project ‘#ECOS. Exiles, to counter silence: memories, objects and narratives of uncertain times’. How did this experience result in alternative, horizontal and critical spaces for collaboration and dialogue?

Paper Abstract:

This paper discusses the transits between anthropology and artistic practices as part of the European project ‘#ECOS. Exiles, to counter silence: memories, objects and narratives of uncertain times’ (2018 – 2022). The project was carried out by a transnational (Portugal, France, Denmark) and multidisciplinary team (academics, artists, exiles, students, teachers) who worked in a permanent network, allowing the themes and content produced (often translated into more than one language) to be appropriated by different groups of citizens in Europe.

The project explored the narratives of Portuguese exile in Europe to discuss the production of unequal citizenships, highlighting the different mechanisms of solidarity and integration in European societies. The aim was to contribute to the construction of a European and transnational history, using storytelling and material culture as fundamental tools for transmitting memory and establishing biographical narratives.

The aim of this paper is to discuss more specifically the collaboration between the anthropologists and the Casa da Esquina theatre company, which resulted in three staged readings of the play ‘Exílio(s) 61-74. O meu país é o que o mar não quer’ [Exile(s) 61-74 My country is what the sea doesn't want] and two theatre writing workshops (Contemporary Political Dramaturgies “Memory and Resistance” and “Revolutions”). How did anthropology and the politics of theatre writing come together? How did this experience, from the point of view of anthropology, resulted in alternative, horizontal and critical spaces for collaboration and dialogue? How did we think, act and draw attention to our shared humanity?

Paper Short Abstract:

On Russian-language Ficbook.net, communities appear surrounding fandoms just like on other sites. However, after Roskamnadzor's targeting of Ficbook, the creation and maintenance of community surrounding Putin-favourite literature poses new possibilities for community building and resilience online.

Paper Abstract:

Among the sources used to create fanfiction are “classic” novels, particularly the Russian literary canon. These authors and their works are consistently celebrated by Putin for their “Russian spirit” and ability to guide the readers-students towards particular values such as nationalism, humanism, and morality (Romanenko 2020, p. 28, Sarsenov 2010, p. 503). The use of these classic works as source material for fanfiction shows a creative impulse which I plan to bring into conversation with education, queer identity, societal biases, and the legacy of canon.

Considering the very visible exploration of non-traditional sexuality and gender on fanfiction sites, there is tension between the function of fanfiction as self-exploration and the values the Russian Federation insists are in classical literature. On 9 July 2024, Roskomnadzor, the Russian Federal Government’s supervision of media, blocked Ficbook in Russia due to its slash and femslash content – or content about homosexual relationships. In response, on 4 October 2024 Ficbook announced they would sue Roskomnadzor and told Russian users to download a VPN (Ficbook 2024). Roskomnadzor’s attack indicates the visibility of fanfiction depicting non-traditional sexuality to the Russian government and how online spaces are currently battling for creative and personal freedom. My attention to slash and femslash fanfiction on Ficbook.net will reveal how Russian citizens use the literary canon to oppose Putin’s values, instead seeking new or reopening obscured interpretations of these works within communities that are now in defiance of the government in accessing Ficbook.net.

Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores the evolving cultural identity of youth in the Global South, emphasizing how social media shapes self-perception. In an era of increasing digital interactivity, Media platforms become central spaces for young people to express, negotiate, and transform their cultural identities.

Paper Abstract:

This study examines the changing cultural identity of young individuals in the Global South, focusing specifically on the influence of social media on self-image and social conduct. In a time marked by heightened digital engagement, these platforms have emerged as vital arenas for youth to articulate, navigate, and reshape their cultural identities. Thus, this study examines how youth use social media to navigate their sense of self while engaging with local and global cultural influences. It explores how these platforms facilitate the negotiation of cultural identity, provide a space for self-expression, and influence youth behavior in a rapidly changing digital landscape. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research combines digital content analysis of social media platforms with youth interviews to investigate how social media impacts their behaviors and identities. This focuses on how social media shapes personal and group identities, fosters the adoption of cultural trends, and plays a role in negotiating social norms. It reconsiders the broader implications of online engagement, examining how digital spaces can both empower youth and present challenges, such as pressures to conform to idealized cultural standards or engage in performative behaviors. By focusing on the complex interplay between social media and cultural identity, this study seeks to understand better how digital platforms impact youth behavior and identity formation in an increasingly interconnected world.