Dr John Postill

Events

This page offers an overview of some of the academic events I have attended in recent years with links for further reference.

Écriture & Literacy: the constitution of a field of research in Great Britain and France, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) Paris, 25 June 2007

A meeting organised by Béatrice Fraenkel and Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye (both at EHESS) that brought together French and British scholars working on literacy studies aimed at comparing the two national traditions and exchanging information on recent trends. The meeting threw up some interesting parallels as well as contrasts between the two traditions. Some false friends were in evidence, e.g. whereas for the British the notion of ‘literacy events’ (derived from speech events) refers to any observable slice of everyday life mediated by texts, the French reserve the term événement for major historical ruptures such as September 11. My own contribution was a paper in which I suggested we abandon the English notion of 'literacy' as a theoretical concept (but retaining it as a useful emic notion) and explored some possible areas of future international collaboration between literacy studies and media studies. Participants agreed that the day was a great success and hope that a follow-up meeting will take place in Britain in the near future.

Old and new reconceptualizations of sociality, a Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) Annual Conference workshop, Toronto University, 8-12 May 2007.

The second in a series of meetings organised by Vered Amit (Concordia University) aimed at finding ways of conceptualising contemporary social life, including its more fluid and ephemeral manifestations, but without relying too heavily on bounded notions of sociality such as community or group. On this occasion participants turned their attention to the anthropological genealogy of sociality concepts, grounding again their discussions in contemporary ethnographic research. My paper reviewed the history of anthropological concepts such as 'action-set', 'action-group', 'coalition' and the like, assessing their contemporary relevance for the study of Internet activism and so-called 'smart mobs'.

New mediators: culture, policy and practice in electronic governance and government, an EASA Biennial Conference workshop, Bristol, 21 September 2006

A session organised by Monika Rulfs (Bremen) and Tom Wormald (Manchester) arising out of the work of Netcultures, a team of social anthropologists that researched the uses of digital technologies for 'local governance' in multiethnic neighbourhoods of several countries in 2002-2005. One key finding from all case studies was the critical importance in each locale of a handful of creative individuals with a rare mix of political acumen and technical skills. I presented a paper on just such individuals based on my fieldwork in Subang Jaya, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur.