[Reader-list] Conference on History of Work/Labour in Brazil

[prabhat kumar]

Call for papers:



*Place*: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC (Florianópolis, SC,
Brazil)
*Date*: 25th to 28th October 2010.

*Promoting Institutions*:

·       GT Nacional Mundos do Trabalho - Working Group "Worlds of Labour"
(ANPUH - Brazilian National History Association)

·       History Graduate Program - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina;

·       History Graduate Program - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do
Sul;

·       History Graduate Program - História da Universidade Federal Rural do
Rio de Janeiro;

·       Projeto PROCAD – CAPES “Cruzando fronteiras”.

The members of the GT Nacional Mundos do Trabalho - Working Group "Worlds of
Labour" (ANPUH - Brazilian National History Association) invite scholars and
researchers to submit paper proposals for their first *International Seminar
*, to be held in Florianópolis, 2010, on the theme:  *“Labour Histories
from the Global South”*.

The purpose of this conference is to bring together researchers who are
interested in a variety of issues involving the historical studies of
labour in a global perspective.

The genesis of such a meeting in Florianópolis arose from the interactions
with Indian and South African researchers, in international symposiums with
similar objectives, which had taken place in these countries during the last
few years. Our explicit intention here is to deepen such initial exchanges,
widening them further with the collaboration and networking with other
researchers from Latin America.

Keeping in mind  that a  limited and constraining nationalist
framework--which had  characterized a considearble proportion of
the historiography of labour--has been largely unable to engage with the
fundamental dimensions of the working class experiences-- such as its ethnic
and cultural diversity, their displacements and the multiplicity of its
experiences and identities. We therefore propose discussing the current
challenges in the field of labour history from a transnational or global
perspective as a general approach .

The emphasis on the connections and comparisons is also stressed from the
realization that, in spite of the evident disparities, there are overlapping
areas highlighting the distinctive place that the world of labour occupies
in the societies of the so-called Global South – that is, in the
post-colonial and “developing” countries, especially in Latin America,
Africa and Asia. These regions show strong similarities in their
contemporary labour experience. Apart from varying periods, forms  and
practices of the slave labour, compulsory or heavily exploited labour have
characterized the trajectories of these societies during the processes of
capitalism and the development of market society.


       The classical themes and frameworks of labour history had been till
recently  formulated from the working class experience of the North. The
recent attention attributed to the specificities of the worlds of labour
from the Global South, opens the possibility of engaging with various new
themes, such as the ambiguous boundaries that exist and define slave work
and the so-called free-work, the multiple forms of compulsory work
(including indigenous), domestic work, compulsory migration, as well as
circulation and transnational sociability networks, cultural and ethnic
diversity of workers and a fluidity between rural and urban. In addition to
these themes, we are interested in issues that would  enrich the analyses of
the historians of work, such as the experience of the working class and
their diversity, leisure, and their forms of association  less
directly related  to the workplace (parties, recreational, dance and sport
clubs, etc.) We further intend to focus on the intense traffic of such
associations with organized political parties, the gendered relations as
conflict and intra-class solidarities instruments of analysis; the
associative culture and public powers; the diverse set-ups and the daily
survival strategies (including the utilization of legal forms) adopted by
workers in urban and rural settings.

Besides the South-South comparative perspective to highlight specificities
of the Brazilian reality, the comprehension of global circulation of ideas,
people and commodities is a move to transgress the national boundaries,
revealing the complementary aspects of its inner working; on the one hand,
of production, distribution and control processes, and on the other, the
multiplicity of the experiences shared by the workers. Our aim, therefore,
is to encourage proposals that discuss the world of labour in all its
potential magnitude.

*General objectives and expected results:*

·        To promote collaboration amongst Brazil, Latin America, Africa
and Asia Labour/Work Historians

·        To promote the development of comparative studies with the history
of labour in Brazil as a reference for other countries of the so-called
Global South;

·        To rethink the  agenda of the historical research
of labour in Brazil in the light of the specific processes and connections
that emerge from the global debate;

·        To introduce new approaches and debates within the field
of labour history and, more specifically, Brazilian and South-American
historiography related to work;

·        To propose the creation of a space to follow up international
historiographical discussions through their regional unfolding, also
contributing with this to build a more inclusive notion of work and working
class.

*Works contemplating the following possible subjects will be welcomed:*

   -         Compulsory workers migrations, including traffic of women and
   workers in the contemporaneity;
   -         Work and diasporas in the Southern Hemisphere;
   -         Slave labour, indigenous labour and coercive labour in
   the Americas, Africa and Asia;
   -         Labour and the multiple meanings of ethnic and racial
   identities;
   -         Labour History in “post-emancipation” societies;
   -         Race, gender and nation in labour history;
   -         Prostitution, infant labour and domestic labour;
   -         Informal and precarised labour
   -         Labour market and migrations;
   -         Immigration and politics in the formation of national
   identities;
   -         Labour, colonialism and post-colonialism;
   -         Political ideologies and social movements;
   -         Political actions and organizations;
   -         Anarchism, communism, socialism, syndicalism and
   internationalism;
   -         Diversity of workers associative logic;
   -         Labourig classes and their relations to the State
   and Political Institutions;
   -         Labour legislation in comparative perspective;
   -         Work and militarization;
   -         Work and the environment;
   -         Work places, forms and processes;
   -         Class cultures;
   -         Workers biographies and trajectories;
   -         Workers in the arts and in the media;
   -         Sociability and politics networks;
   -         Conflicts, solidarities and rivalries amongst workers;
   -         Diversity and fluidity of countryside/city relationships in
   the labour world configuration;
   -         The concept of working class in the light of new discussions
   about the Global South;

 We will accept proposals dealing with specific aspects of the above
mentioned areas, both in the locall as well as in the global comparative
framework. Proposals about correlated subjects will be equally analyzed. The
presentations can be in the official languages of the event: Portuguese,
Spanish and English.
Partial or full sponsoring for foreign speakers unable to meet their travel
and stay expenses in Brazil will be requested to the event sponsoring
agents. Proposals selected by the scientific committee might obtain such
sponsoring. Therefore the symposium organizers strongly advise the
submission of papers coming from universities and research institutions from
other Latin American countries as well as India and African countries.
Speakers of scientific institutions from the Northern Hemisphere will not be
sponsored, but are equally welcome to present their proposals. The
organization of the event will support the international participants in
their requests for sponsoring to their respective sponsoring agencies and
institutions.

*Participants:*

Papers from any proponents that have conducted research on the wide subjects
contemplated on the event will be considered.

Due to limitations of space and time, the acceptance of papers will be
conditioned to the evaluation by the event’s scientific committee, which
will select the papers to be presented.
Obs.: The presentation of the complete text will be, to all participants,
the final condition for the inclusion of papers previously accepted during
the event scheduling.

*Important dates:*

Proposals forwarding: 01/12/2009 – 20/01/2010

Replies: 31/01/2010

Final deadline for sending papers in: 15/05/2010

Confirmation of the final presentation schedule: 20/05/2010
Disclosure of papers which will be partially or fully sponsored will be
performed in time for travelling.


*Proposals formating*:


The presentation proposals must be sent by email to the event organizers and
must include a résumé of up to 300 words, containing title and name of
author, as well as a brief résumé of the proponents’ CV.


Proposals should be sent to:

*trabalho.global at gmail.com* <trabalho.global at gmail.com>



*Texts formating*:

Digital (Word compatible), Times New Roman 12, 1½ spacing, 2,5 cm margins,
12-20 pages long.
Presentations formating: The texts will be displayed on the event’s web
Page; presentations will be 15 minutes long, followed by commentary of the
readers chosen by the organizing commission.


http://www.labhstc.ufsc.br/sulglobaleng.htm



-- 
Prabhat Kumar
PhD student
(Department of History, SAI, University of Heidelberg)
Address
Cluster of Excellence,
Karl Jaspers Centre
University of Heidelberg,
Room No. 118, Voßstraße 2,
Building No. 4400
69115 Heidelberg
Germany
kumar at asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de
Mobile: +49 176 850 500 77
Office:  +49 6221 54 4306
Fax: +49 6221 54 4012
http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/research/areas/b/projects/b1-gauging-cultural-asymmetries/prabhat-kumar