Objects, Places and Habits : Different Perspectives on Interdisciplinary Research These three seminars are to take place in March, April and May 2009, providing a platform for the discussion of issues arising from interdisciplinary post-graduate research and writing. The outcome of the series will be a conference held at Birkbeck College in June 2009 where the participants to the seminars, other research students and scholars will be invited to discuss their findings. The choice of a research subject is often intertwined with the objects, the places and the habits that you will engage with in order to conduct your research. Each is culturally coded and invested with a number of underlying presuppositions that can contribute to the direction your questions, reflections and arguments might take. How can interdisciplinary approaches provide means to encompass these dimensions? Each seminar will take the form of a brief presentation introducing an object, a place and a habit from a variety of cultural perspectives. The participants are then encouraged to engage in discussion on the basis of the introduction, the recommended readings and their own research. The sessions will be chaired by Dr Martine Rouleau, lecturer at Birkbeck and Goldsmiths. The seminars are free and open to all research students. Please register ahead at interdisciplinary.birkbeck@gmail.com in order to be informed of the venue and to access the online resources. Seminar one: Object Meat: In Old English, the term was used to designate all food. Now it refers mostly to animal flesh meant for human consumption. Some people choose to shun it and others consume it everyday. Whether it's a source of nourishment or a cause for concern, meat is present in our lives. Meat will be discussed as an object of research for sociology, philosophy, health, economy, art, anthropology and gender studies. Saturday March 28th 2009. 10h-12h Seminar two: Space Walls: They keep us in or keep us out; whether they literally mark borders or figuratively establish limitations, walls delimit the environment that surrounds us and dictate the paths we take to move through it. They are often objects of research for architecture, geography and history, but they can also highlight areas of philosophy and art. Saturday April 18th 2009. 10h-12h
Walking: It is believed that we think at the same speed as we walk, that is, approximately three miles per hour. One can cover approximately 2 miles in half an hour, thus burning approximately 200 calories. 25% of all journeys in Great Britain are made entirely on foot. The first human mode of transport highlights connections between performance, architecture and social space, sociology, politics, health, philosophy and anthropology. Saturday May 30th 2009. 10h-12h
|
|||
 |
Marxism & Psychology Research Group (MPRG) |
|
|
|