The Conference embraces and endorses a broad, ambitious view of ethnographic research. Ethnography is understood as an inquiry into the processes, implications, and meanings of social life and culture in groups, organizations, and institutions across diverse social spaces and settings. Accordingly, contributions to the conference can be based on a variety of methods, including but not limited to participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group, auto-ethnography, visual ethnography, discourse studies, video-based research and other forms of inquiry inspired and informed by ethnographic sensibility. The Conference welcomes theoretically informed and methodologically sound proposals that contribute to the substantive knowledge of the social world. 

Argument

Since 2006, the Bergamo Conference of ethnography has become an increasingly recognised and established scientific meeting for social researchers at the Italian national level. In 2014, the conference has been opened to international participants adopting English as second working language. The 2016 Conference aims to preserve and renew the rich intellectual discourse engaged in the previous editions. Researchers from across the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, political sciences, arts & humanities, education, social work, geography, cultural studies, science and technology studies, and gender studies are invited to present their research and discuss their findings in a lively, relatively informal environment. The mission of the Conference is to:

- foster scholarly exchange and facilitate collaborative research among senior and junior scholars based at different universities and research centres in Europe and abroad;
- support the dissemination of fresh research;
- encourage PhD students at different stage of their research career to share and present preliminary findings and fieldwork experience;
- welcome graduate and under-graduate students as audience to the conference and active participants in the discussion.

The Conference embraces and endorses a broad, ambitious view of ethnographic research. Ethnography is understood as an inquiry into the processes, implications, and meanings of social life and culture in groups, organizations, and institutions across diverse social spaces and settings. Accordingly, contributions to the conference can be based on a variety of methods, including but not limited to participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group, auto-ethnography, visual ethnography, discourse studies, video-based research and other forms of inquiry inspired and informed by ethnographic sensibility. The Conference welcomes theoretically informed and methodologically sound proposals that contribute to the substantive knowledge of the social world. The format is based on 3-hour sessions with 5 paper presentations per session, leaving as much room as possible to open discussion. 

Sessions

Submission guidelines

To submit your proposal please send an e-mail to the convenor/s of the session of your choice and to the conference committee (erq.conference@unibg.it), indicating the title of the chosen session. Please send:

• the title of your talk and an abstract of maximum 1000 words (.doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, .rtf);
• your contact details (full name, e-mail, post address and affiliation) and those of your co-author/s, if any;
•  if you like (we would like!), a short videotalk (2 min. max.), not necessarily a piece of what your proposed talk would be, but a sort of teaser trailer for it, and a piece of you too (by sending the video, you thereby allow the organizing committee to upload the video at its discretion, in full or cut form, on the youtube channel ofEtnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa: www.youtube.com/channel/UCTAnycGjE5KzDCr-AnFJwow/feed).

Abstracts (and video talks) must be submitted in English. The official languages of the conference, however, are Italian, English, and French; for each session, languages will be used depending on the participants composition.

Proposal must be submitted by 

January 15, 2016.

Acceptance of proposals will be notified by March 8, 2016.

Contributors must register by April 15, 2016 to be included in the program.

Organizing & scientific committee

• Chiara Bassetti, University of Trento & CNR (chiara.bassetti@unitn.it / @loa.istc.cnr.it)
• Elena Bougleux, University of Bergamo (elena.bougleux@unibg.it)
• Andrea Mubi Brighenti, University of Trento (andrea.brighenti@unitn.it)
• Luca Carollo, University of Milano (luca.carollo@unimi.it)
• Nick Dines, Middlesex University (n.dines@mdx.ac.uk)
• Giolo Fele, University of Trento (giolo.fele@unitn.it)
• Elena Fontanari, University of Milano (elena.fontanari@studenti.unimi.it)
• Paola Gandolfi, University of Bergamo (paola.gandolfi@unibg.it)
• Pier Paolo Giglioli, University of Bologna (pierpaolo.giglioli@unibo.it)
• Marco Marzano, University of Bergamo (marco.marzano@unibg.it)
• Gianmarco Navarini, University of Milano Bicocca (gianmarco.navarini@unimib.it)
• Francesca Pasquali, University of Bergamo (francesca.pasquali@unibg.it)
• Domenico Perrotta, University of Bergamo (domenico.perrotta@unibg.it)
• Federico Rahola, University of Genova (federico.rahola@unige.it)

The Conference is organized by:

• the University of Bergamo: www00.unibg.it/en_index.asp
• the Journal Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa (ERQ) / Ethnography and Qualitative Research – The Italian Journal of Ethnography: www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/1973-3194– ERQ is also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EtnografiaeRicercaQualitativa
• il Mulino publishing house: www.mulino.it

For further information: www.etnografiaricercaqualitativa.it; erq.conference@unibg.it