Conference for Georgian PhD Students of Socio-Cultural Anthropology
Organisers: Tbilisi State University (Ketevan Khutsishvili), Ilia State University (Florian Mühlfried)
Time: Friday and Saturday in May 2021
Participants: PhD students of socio-cultural anthropology from Georgian universities
Outline
This conference is meant to bring together the current PhD students of socio-cultural anthropology in Georgia who are involved in fieldwork in the Caucasus. First of all, this conference provides a venue for exchange. By presenting their projects, PhD students will receive feedback from their peers as well as more senior colleagues. By discussing other projects, PhD students will enter a dialogue with other young researchers and contextualise their works in the works of others. Secondly, the conference provides the opportunity to discuss fieldwork methodology, to compare various methodological approaches and to receive feedback from experienced colleagues. Finally, the conference is dedicated to the particularities of doing fieldwork in the Caucasus – both in respect to the region and in respect to doing fieldwork “at home”, as literally all of the contemporary Georgian PhD students in the field of socio-cultural anthropology conduct fieldwork in Georgia or (rarely) elsewhere in the South Caucasus. Each of the expected 10-15 PhD students will provide a presentation of his PhD research of about half an hour (including questions). The sessions will be chaired by senior socio-cultural anthropologist from Georgia (including the two organisers). One external discussant will provide comments to the presentations of each session. An internationally well-renown social anthropologist will be asked to provide a keynote to the conference. The first day of the conference will be dedicated to discussing the individual research projects of each PhD student, whereas the second day will be used for roundtable discussion on issues of methodology, theory and writing.
The working language of the conference is English.
Given the current insecurities in respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference takes place physically at one of the universities if the situation allows, otherwise virtually.
Application
Applicant must be PhD students of a Georgian university. They are either enrolled in a program of socio-cultural anthropology, ethnology, ethnography or a related field. Their fieldwork should be situated in the Caucasus. In addition to a short outline of their PhD project of about three pages, each applicant should provide a short letter of recommendation from their supervisor.
The deadline for applications is 1 January 2021. Please submit your application electronically per email to ketevan.khutsishvili[at]tsu.ge and florian.muehlfried[at]iliauni.edu.ge.