Ethnographies of Conferences and Trade Fairs: Shaping Industries, Creating Professionals

177 Pages·2017·5.438 MB·English

by  Hege Høyer Leivestad, Anette Nyqvist (eds.)

Ethnographies of Conferences
and Trade Fairs
HegeHøyerLeivestad(cid:129)AnetteNyqvist
Editors
Ethnographies
of Conferences
and Trade Fairs
Shaping Industries, Creating Professionals
Editors
HegeHøyerLeivestad AnetteNyqvist
DepartmentofSocialAnthropology DepartmentofSocialAnthropology
StockholmUniversity StockholmUniversity
Stockholm,Sweden Stockholm,Sweden
ISBN978-3-319-53096-3 ISBN978-3-319-53097-0(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-53097-0
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017940398
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A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ThisvolumeistheproductofaseriesofconversationsattheDepartment
ofSocialAnthropologyatStockholmUniversityovertheroleandimpact
ofconferencesandtradefairsinvariousanthropologicalresearchfields.In
2014, Mia Forrest, Hege Høyer Leivestad, Anette Nyqvist and Hans
Tunestad noted that we, despite our diverse research fields and interests,
all conducted parts of our respective ethnographic fieldwork at confer-
encesandtradefairs.Aswecametogethertodiscussthepresenceoflarge-
scale professional gatherings in our respective fields, the nature of them,
theiroverlapsanddifferences,wealsobeganthinkingofthepossibilityofa
jointprojectandan anthologyon the topic.
Weshouldliketothankallthecontributorstothevolumefortheirhard
work and fascinating material. We are indebted to the editors at Palgrave
Macmillan whoalready atanearly stagebelieved inthisbook.
Many thanks.
v
C
ONTENTS
1 IndividualsandIndustries:Large-ScaleProfessional
Gatherings asEthnographicFields 1
Anette Nyqvist, HegeHøyer Leivestad andHansTunestad
2 ScheduledSchmoozing: NotesonInterludal Practices
atResponsible Investors’ Conferences 23
Anette Nyqvist
3 WhiteCorporate FeminineSpirituality: The Rise
ofGlobal ProfessionalWomen’s Conferences
inthe New Millennium 43
Melissa Fisher
4 TheTherapeutic Square: The PsychotherapyFair
fromanAnthropologicalPerspective 65
HansTunestad
5 Establishingthe Complexityof Obesity:The Conference
asaSite ofUnderstanding Obesityasa MedicalCondition 87
Mia Forrest
6 TheBiennial of Dakar:Scalesof ArtWorlds-Networks 107
Thomas Fillitz
vii
viii CONTENTS
7 BeyondInformality:Intimacy and Commerce
atthe Caravanning TradeFair 129
Hege Høyer Leivestad
8 TraversingTradeFairs andFashion Weeks:
OnDependenceandDisavowal in the Indian
FashionIndustry 147
Tereza Kuldova
Index 171
C
ONTRIBUTORS
Thomas Fillitz is Associate Professor at the Department of Social and
CulturalAnthropology,UniversityofVienna,Austria.Hisresearchinter-
estsare:globalart,(WestAfrican)artworldsandartmarkets.Hispresent,
ongoing research concerns the biennial of Dakar. He is the editor (with
Jamie Saris) of Debating Authenticity. Concepts of Modernity in
Anthropological Perspective (Berghahn).
MelissaFisheriscurrentlyaVisitingAssistantProfessorintheDepartment
of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University and an Associate
Researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm
University. Her research is situated in the interdisciplinary fields of CMS,
American Studies, Urban Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as
anthropology.HerbookWallStreetWomen(DukeUniversityPress,2012)
ethnographicallyexamineshowthefirstcohortofwomeninfinanceenacted
marketfeminisms.
MiaForrestisaPhDcandidateattheDepartmentofSocialAnthropology
at Stockholm University, Sweden. She is currently completing her PhD
thesis on the medical treatment of obesity in Sweden, a project which
looks at the epistemology of the obese body amongst these experts.
Forrest’s background is in anthropology and gender studies and her
researchinterestsmedicineandembodiment.
ix
x CONTRIBUTORS
TerezaKuldovaiscurrentlyaResearcherattheDepartmentofArchaeology,
Conservation and History of the University of Oslo and Visiting Senior
Researcher at the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology,
UniversityofVienna,Austria.Sheistheauthoroftheacademicmonograph
LuxuryIndianFashion:ASocialCritique(London:Bloomsbury,2016)and
editor of the volume Urban Utopias: Excess and Expulsion in Neoliberal
SouthAsia(PalgraveMacmillan,2017).
HegeHøyerLeivestadiscurrentlyaresearcherinSocialAnthropologyat
Stockholm University. Her research is focused on the intersections of
mobilitystudiesandmateriality/materialculture.Leivestadhasdonefield-
work in Sweden and Spain and written extensively on the theme of
caravanningand mobilehomesin Europe.
AnetteNyqvistisAssociateProfessorofSocialAnthropologyandSenior
Lecturer at the Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm
University, Sweden. Nyqvist’s research is focused on issues of power at
thenexusofstatecraftandmarket-making.Herongoingresearchisonthe
financial and political strategies of institutional investors and her earlier
work was on the financialization and individualization of social security
systems.
Hans Tunestad works as a Lecturer at the Department of Social
AnthropologyatStockholmUniversity.HereceivedhisPhDin2014witha
dissertation entitled The Therapeutization of Work: The Psychological
ToolboxasRationalizationDeviceduringtheThirdIndustrialRevolutionin
Sweden.
CHAPTER1
Individuals and Industries: Large-Scale
Professional Gatherings as Ethnographic
Fields
Anette Nyqvist, Hege Høyer Leivestad and Hans Tunestad
INTRODUCTION: ENTRANCE, REGISTRATION AND WELCOME
The venue is a large and anonymous space in the outskirts of the city.
Perhaps you took the metro, or parked the car in the adjoin parking lot,
later finding your way directed by the signs and cartels announcing the
themeofthisweek’sconferenceevent.Youarehereforalimitedtime.To
meetoldcolleagues,encounternewones,scopeoutopportunities,tofind
out what is next in the business, gain knowledge, exchange experiences,
signdealsandshowoff.Youwaitinlinetoregister,arecheckedoffthelist,
receiveyournametagandacatalogue,perhapsatotebagcontainingflyers,
pens and pins. Everyone who is anyone in your industry is here. In fact,
maybethisisyourindustryinacondensedandconfinedevent.Theseare
the people and products, ideas and innovations that your industry puts
on display right now. Welcome to the conference or trade fair where
industries take shape and identities of professionals are created. Take a
A.Nyqvist(*)(cid:1)H.HøyerLeivestad(cid:1)H.Tunestad
DepartmentofSocialAnthropology,StockholmUniversity,
Stockholm,Sweden
©TheAuthor(s)2017 1
H.HøyerLeivestad,A.Nyqvist(eds.),EthnographiesofConferences
andTradeFairs,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-53097-0_1