EDEN Conference 2020 Call for Papers

“The Age of the Precariat: Identity and Precarity”: All Island Interdisciplinary Conference
Hosted by the Early Doctoral Exchange Network (EDEN) at NUI Galway.
National University of Ireland, Galway. 24th-25th April

Plenary Speaker: Dr Mariya Ivancheva, University of Liverpool

EDEN invites submissions by postgraduate and early doctoral researchers that explore the themes of Identity and Precarity.

As we look to the start of a new decade, we pause and reflect on the legacy of the 2010s. In the aftermath of the global recession, compromises of austerity, steadily increasing inequality, political upheaval and the redefinition of the working life, precarity has become the status quo.

It is in this state of flux and uncertainty that we explore the concepts of identity: a state of being that is itself precarious, fluid and multiple; and precarity: a state of existence in which material provision and psychological wellness are adversely affected by a lack of professional and career security and a lack of regular, secure income. This conference asks how circumstances of instability challenges identity but also creates the opportunity for new or forgotten modes of understanding the self, interpersonal relationships and community to be developed.

While the scale and ubiquity of precarity is recent, it is by no means a new experience to those marginalized sections of the population who have always been forced to work flexibly and adapt invisibly to unstable conditions: immigrant populations, indigenous people, sexual and gender minorities, people of colour, people with disabilities and intersectionally for women.

This conference provides a platform for us, as researchers, to engage with Identity and Precarity, ideologically, academically, socially, and practically as we navigate our own professional identities under circumstances of precarity. This interdisciplinary research conference will provide an exciting opportunity for postgraduates from across the humanities and social sciences to share their unique responses to this topic.

The theme invites a broad interpretation of the relationships between people, identity and the precarity of our modern societal context; allowing for scholarship addressing topics related to politics and sociology, identity, language, human rights, geography, drama, film, literature and law. The conference welcomes submissions for academic papers, short performance pieces, and practice-based explorations.

Proposals for 20-minute papers are welcome on any new research by postgraduate researchers on topics including (but not limited to):

  • Population and populism
  • Precarious accommodation and living circumstances
  • Class, race, nationalism, and identity
  • Sexual and gender minorities
  • Endangerment and extinction of languages, cultures and environments
  • Voices and perspectives
  • Historicising precarity
  • Mobility and migration

Abstracts of 250 words, along with a short biography of approx. 50 words, can be submitted by February 3rd 2020 to eden.nuigalway@gmail.com