CFP: CASCA à Victoria

CFP for CASCA 2013: "Citizen Participation and Democratization in a Time
of Turbulence: New Social Actors for a Changing World ?



Organizers: Marie Nathalie LeBlanc (UQAM) and Alexandrine
Boudreault-Fournier (University of Victoria)



Abstract:

Papers included in this panel examine national, regional and transnational
dynamics that account for the reconfigurations of the social, political
and cultural spheres in major urban centers.

In the context of an increasingly globalized world that has encouraged the
emergence of a number of new political and economic actors, it is
increasingly important to understand the impact

of different forms of local citizen participation. Most notably, NGOs and
grassroots organizations often aim at addressing the absence and/or a
diminution of state effectiveness to reach politics

and actions in local affairs. As such, they are expected to fulfill a
'state role' at the local level, a challenging task not easily achieved
considering the difficulty to obtain funding,

not to mention an official NGO status in certain context such as in Cuba.
These organizations are struggling for recognition and agency in a time of
turbulence, a time in which the

state is losing ground and in which citizenship is taking new forms and
expressions of action.



This panel pays attention to the practices of these local social and
cultural actors and helps to nuance the idée reçue that the opening up of
transnational and mediated spaces brings

about a process of democratization in which they can voice their points of
view and in some cases manage to exert influence over political, economic
and social processes of decision-making.

In other words, the panel acknowledges the potential of NGOs and
grassroots organizations to push the boundaries of the public space, at
the same time as it questions the democratic potential

of such emerging spaces in a time of turbulence. Papers included in this
panel are based on recent empirical field research in Africa, South
America and other regions of the world.



Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words, along with your contact

information (name, institutional affiliation, department, and email

address) to Marie Nathalie LeBlanc (Université du Québec à Montréal) at
leblanc.marie-nathalie@uqam.ca

or, Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier (Victoria University) at alexbf@uvic.ca

by 25 February 2013.



Information about the upcoming CASCA conference is available here:

http://www.cas-sca.ca/conference/upcoming-conference/2013-call-for-papers

Marie Nathalie LeBlanc

Présidente sortante/Past president
Société canadienne d'anthropologie/CASCA

Professeure
Département de sociologie
Université du Québec à Montréal