[Pragmatismi] Ambiguity of Action: Ethnographic and Theoretical Perspectives, 10.-11.6., Helsinki

[Nelli Tiainen]

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to participate in the symposium "Ambiguity of Action:  
Ethnographic and Theoretical Perspectives"
June 10-11, 2014, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki

The symposium is organized by Vulnerable Lives –research project led  
by Prof. Marja Liisa Honkasalo.

The keynote speakers include Prof. Marja-Liisa Honkasalo (University  
of Helsinki and University of Turku), Prof. Mustafa Emirbayer  
(University of Wisconsin),  Lecturer and Fellow Robert Fairbanks  
(University of Pennsylvania). In addition, 13 papers will be presented  
and discussed in five workshops.

This two-day symposium invites social scientists to ponder on the  
ambiguity of action from ethnographic and theoretical perspectives.  
The starting point to the symposium arises from ethnographic research  
in which we have apprehended precarious modes of action that deserve  
more social scientific attention. But how to ask theoretical
questions without simplifying the messiness and ambivalence of the  
fabrics of life we study? With the burden of social scientific  
theorizing of action, how to approach modes of agency which are  
passive, small scale or ambiguous? Presentations and lectures engage  
with ambiguities of action and the ways in which action is intertwined  
with various social bonds and relations, as well as, material aspects,  
including the body and technology. We invite you to come to think and  
have a conversation with us about this pressing theme for empirical  
scholars interested in large, theoretical questions.

The symposium is free of charge. Please let us know if you are coming  
by 30.5.2014 by e-mailing Nelli Tiainen (nelli.tiainen at helsinki.fi).

Please find the program and abstracts on our website:  
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/ambiguityofaction/
Looking forward to an exciting symposium and lively discussions,

Marja-Liisa Honkasalo
Kaisa Ketokivi
Anna Leppo