Communicating Legitimacy: Putting Democratic Practice and Representation in Context

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2007

11:00am-12:50pm — Panel 1
Exceeding the State: Protest, Resistance and the (Extra)Legal
Discussant: Amahl Bishara, Anthropology, University of Chicago

“Legal Reform and the Construction of a “Liberal” Legitimacy in Jordan”
Jillian Schwedler
Government and Politics, University of Maryland

“Monumental Beliefs: Monumentality and the Production of Political Legitimacy among the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka”
Benjamin Schonthal
History of Religions, University of Chicago

“When Fictions Fail: Notes on Post-rhetorical Politics”
Dilip Gaonkar
Communication Studies, Northwestern University

12:50-2:20pm — Lunch

2:30-4:40pm — Panel 2
Defining the People: Political Participation and the Production of Citizenship
Discussant: Michael Dawson, Political Science, University of Chicago

“Direct Democracy and Legitimacy in Porto Alegre’s Participatory Budget Process”
Anita Chari
Political Science, University of Chicago

“Indigenous Movements and Aid Agencies: Tensions and Collaborations in Ecuador”
Julia Paley
Anthropology and Social Work, University of Michigan

“‘Like a Marriage’: Constituting the Democratic Speech Situation in the Post-Industrial Age”
Josh Pacewicz
Sociology, University of Chicago

5:00pm — Keynote
“Transnationalizing the Public Sphere”
Nancy Fraser
Political Science, The New School for Social Research

6:30pm — Reception

7:00pm — Dinner for presenters and discussants

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2007

8:00-9:00am — Breakfast

9:00-11:10am — Panel 1
Privatizing Citizenship: Harmonious Societies, Ethical Citizens and Democratic Markets in the Neoliberal Era
Discussant: John Kelly, Anthropology, University of Chicago

“Dictating a Democratic Oil Economy in Post-Dictatorship Argentina”
Elana Shever
Anthropology, UC Berkeley

“‘Building A Harmonious Society?’ Contesting Legitimacy in Postsocialist Urban Governing”
Li Zhang
Anthropology, UC Davis

“Legitimizing Neo-Liberal Reform: Notes on an Italian Politics and Poetics of Persuasion”
Andrea Muehlebach
Anthropology, University of Chicago

“Neo-Liberal Democracy: Freedom, Economy and Governmentality in South Africa”
Nicholas Smithm
Political Science, University of Chicago

11:10-11:30am — Break

11:30am-1:20pm — Panel 2
Tensions of Democracy I : The Uneven Relevance of Legality
Discussant: Jessica Cattelino, Anthropology, University of Chicago

“Ethnography in Public: Feminism, Gendered Violence, and the Everyday in Kerala”
Ritty Lukose
Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

“Legality Versus Legitimacy: Political Values and Administrative Practices in Taipei”
Anya Bernstein
Anthropology, University of Chicago

“Private Governance as Limit”
Annelise Riles
Anthropology, Cornell University

1:30-3:00pm — Lunch

3:00-4:50pm — Panel 3
Tensions of Democracy II: Contested Meanings of Politics
Discussant: Danilyn Rutherford, Anthropology, University of Chicago

“Depoliticized Politics: Interest, Law and the Postsocialist Political Subject”
Jessica Greenberg
Anthropology, University of Chicago

“A Tale of Two Coups”
Rosalind Morris
Anthropology, Columbia University

“Smuggled Citizens, Smuggled Spouses: Sexuality and Political Legitimacy in South Africa”
Jennifer Spruill
Anthropology, University of Chicago

4:50-5:10pm — Break

5:10-7:20pm — Panel 4
Democratic Aspirations: Violence, Coercion and Surveillance
Discussant: Olga Sezneva, Social Sciences, University of Chicago

“Killing Violence: Reflections on Occupied Iraq, the End of the Democracy Project, and the Political Workings of Wars”
Samera Esmeir
Rhetoric, University of Berkeley

“The Threat of Concrete Cases: Transparency and International Authority in Bosnia-Herzegovina”
Andrew Gilbert
Anthropology, University of Chicago

“Countering Legitimacy: Prison Protest and the Colonial Welfare State”
David Lloyd
English, University of Southern California

“Government by Investigation:” Congressional Inquiry and the Limits of the New Deal Politics of Transparency”
Mike Czaplicki
History, University of Chicago

7:30pm — Dinner
open to all conference participants and attendees