CALL FOR PAPERS - King’s India Institute Graduate Workshop

King’s India Institute Graduate Workshop

FIELDWORK AND ITS FRAGMENTS

July 1, 2016

CALL FOR PAPERS

             The definition of ‘the field’ in contemporary India research is evolving. Landscapes – not least the digital – are viewed from new and revealing angles. The village (never truly bounded) is ever more permeated by transnational influences; the expanding city sets new precedents for urban and peri-urban existence; new archives are accessed and old ones reluctantly yield new treasures; work, health, creativity, education, religions and ethnicities are imbricated in a democratic politics whose substance is often as troubling as its procedure is admirable.

           Fieldwork changes everything. Or, at least, it should. The research experience challenges preconceptions and provokes new ideas – about our work and also on occasion about ourselves. And when we reach the next stage, our writing is not merely a transcription of our notions of the field, but becomes a means of challenging the formulaic, be it through the development of new analytical frameworks, or supplementing the empirical substance of existing theory.

           For discussion at the 4^th annual King’s India Institute Graduate Forum workshop, we invite papers that draw on any interpretation of ‘the field’ in contemporary India, but which include reflection on the ways in which the challenges and rewards of fieldwork and writing-up have influenced the final shape of your research and/or your sense of self as a researcher. Papers might speak to specific challenges such as gaining access and facing restrictions within the field, or they might consider the ways in which conducting research in constrained or perplexing circumstances can both impede and enrich the process. We also invite papers that reflect on how our own identities as researchers – which might be related, but not limited, to gender, sexuality, health and disability, or age – inform our experience by helping, hindering or altering the research we conduct. 


               A complete submission will include paper title, an abstract of no more than 250 words, complete contact information, academic affiliation, discipline, year in graduate program and a brief one-page CV. Please submit abstracts by April 3rd 2016 to kiigradforum2016@gmail.com. 

                                                                --------------------------------

The King’s India Institute was created as a hub to facilitate global engagement with contemporary India and foster long-range thinking on India's most essential dilemmas, and deepen international comprehension of the distinctive character of India's growth trajectory, the opportunities and challenges that lay in its path. Under the auspices of the institute, the King’s Graduate Forum was conceived in 2012 to serve as a focal point and venue for current PhD students to present their ongoing research within the institute. This one-day workshop will bring together the work of advanced graduate students and recent PhDs working on topics of current interest in the study of contemporary India