In recent years, abstract entities such as the State, the Citizen and Power inherited from political philosophy have been reassessed empirically, notably under the influence of pragmatist considerations in social science approaches of the political order. This important development has led to a much more concrete understanding of modern democracies, now seen as a contingent process rather than the direct outcome of institutional structures. The workshop will contribute to this development through presentation and discussion of related research projects. These projects have in common an observational approach to the situated practices through which political phenomena emerge in the first place.

Situated Practices Seminar 2009
19-20 March 2009

Department of Social Sciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Organised in collaboration with the Research Committee "Interpretative Sociologies" of the Swiss Sociological Association. Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Sociological Association

In recent years, abstract entities such as the State, the Citizen and Power inherited from political philosophy have been reassessed empirically, notably under the influence of pragmatist considerations in social science approaches of the political order. This important development has led to a much more concrete understanding of modern democracies, now seen as a contingent process rather than the direct outcome of institutional structures.

The workshop will contribute to this development through presentation and discussion of related research projects. These projects have in common an observational approach to the situated practices through which political phenomena emerge in the first place. Ethnographical and video-supported enquiries are expected to demonstrate how the practices examined exhibit an orientation to their political dimension. While this dimension may concern the organisation, modification and discussion of ‘life in common’, how it is specifically produced remains to be described and explicated in each instance. In other words, the political character of the analysed practices has to be demonstrated as relevant for the participants involved and consequential for the organisation of their unfolding activity.

The aim of the workshop is twofold: first, to assess how relevant and important observational studies of situated practices are to the sociological understanding of political phenomena; second, to discuss key epistemological and methodological issues in the observational study of situated practices with a focus on their political dimension. In sum, the workshop is expected to provide a greater understanding of the concrete realisation of the political order, understood as a contingent and situated achievement. The results (and their publication in an edited volume) should therefore be of particular interest to the scientific community as well as to any citizen involved in the (re)organisation of the world we live in.

The workshop will be the second in a series of Situated Practices Seminars, following the ‘Scientific Practice as Ordinary Action’ International Workshop (March 2007 - Department of Social Sciences, University of Fribourg). The Situated Practices Seminars are intended to contribute to, and suggest the advantages of, a ‘practical turn’ in the study of social phenomena.

The workshop will be conducted in English and French.

PROGRAMME

19 March 2009

Chair: Esther González Martínez (University of Fribourg)

8:30 – 9:00
Registration

9:00 – 9:30
Welcome and introduction
Alain Bovet (University of Fribourg), Esther González Martínez (University of Fribourg) and Philippe Sormani (The University of Manchester)

9:30 – 11:00
Louis Quéré (Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris)
Qu’est-ce qu’une pratique politique? Comment se rend-elle observable?

Discussant: Baudouin Dupret (CNRS-ISP, Cachan)

Break

11:15 – 12:45
Christoph Maeder (Pädagogische Hochschule Thurgau)
Negotiating performance. Human resources management as an interpretive and political practice

Discussant: Yasmine Siblot (University of Paris I)

Lunch

2:15 – 3:45
Baudouin Dupret (CNRS-ISP, Cachan) and Jean-Noël Ferrié (CNRS-PACTE, Grenoble)
On deliberative politics in action: A praxiological stance

Discussant: Henrike Padmos (University of Groningen)

Break

4:00 – 5:30
Yasmine Siblot (University of Paris I)
Les dimensions politiques et morales des rapports aux administrations en milieu populaire

Discussant: Christoph Maeder (Pädagogische Hochschule Thurgau)

Break

5:45 – 7:15
Ivan Leudar (The University of Manchester) and Jiri Nekvapil (Charles University, Prague)
War on terror revisited. On historical contingencies of membership categorisation analyses of political discourse

Discussant: Cédric Terzi (Université de Lille 3)

20 March 2009

Chair: Philippe Sormani (The University of Manchester)

9:00 – 10:30
Tim Berard (Kent State University)
Sovereignty and jurisdiction as practical accomplishments. Reflections on praxis and prosecutions in cases of contested authority

Discussant: Louis Quéré (Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris)

Break

10:45 – 12:15
Henrike Padmos (University of Groningen)
The discursive construction of the citizen identity in public debates on GMOs

Discussant: Ivan Leudar (The University of Manchester)

Lunch

1:45 – 3:15
Thomas Scheffer (Freie Universität Berlin)
Strong and weak procedures

Discussant: Tim Berard (Kent State University)

Break

3:30 – 5:00
Philippe González (Université de Lausanne) and Cédric Terzi (Université de Lille 3). Lorsque l'incantation se fait politique. La politisation des évangéliques à la croisée du politique et du religieux

Discussant: Jean-Noël Ferrié (CNRS-PACTE, Grenoble)

5:00 – 5:15
Conclusion
Alain Bovet (University of Fribourg), Esther González Martínez (University of Fribourg) and Philippe Sormani (University of Lausanne)

Organising Committee 

Alain Bovet (Université de Fribourg), Esther González Martínez (Université de Fribourg) and Philippe Sormani (The University of Manchester).

Workshop website: http://www.unifr.ch/sociomedia/2007/index.php?page=sps