3rd NECS Graduate Workshop, Belgrade, Serbia‏

After the success of the first NECS Graduate Workshop in Istanbul (Summer 2010)
and in anticipation of a successful second workshop in London (Summer 2011) we
are now organizing a two-day intensive workshop in Belgrade this Autumn focusing
on the topic Blurred Boundaries/Contested Geographies. The aim of the NECS
workshops isto bring young researchers and graduate students together in
fruitful debate creating a sustainable international network that meets
regularly throughout the year. Participants will find a platform where they peer
review works-in-progressand practice presentation and discussion skills in
preparation for academic conference participation.
While seeking to address the dissolution of traditional boundaries that mark
contemporary visual culture,with Blurred Boundaries/Contested Geographies we
hope to bring together a variety of research on the intersection between
mediation, representation and globalization. Blurred Boundaries/Contested
Geographies takes inspiration from the workshop’s location to encourage
discussions on the cinematic representations of divided and damaged landscapes.
The breadth of the workshop encompasses the geographies of both the shifting
frontiers in political/geographical/cultural landscapes, as well as those of
changing media ontologies which impact on the morphology of representational
space and image-migration. Papers are invited on, but are not limited to:
(inter)media modes of resistance to, transgression and blurring of frames and
fixed demarcations; interstitial spaces open to dialogue and transformation;
migratory aesthetics; distance and closeness; image appropriation;
genre-hybridity; globalization and its changing geographies.

Candidates are asked to submit a proposal (max. 300 words) with a short
biographical note (max. 150 words) to graduates@necs-initiative.org. The
deadline for submissions is 1 July 2011. The NECS graduate organizers will
select participants (max. 15) who will then be asked to provide a 3000-word
paper (excluding bibliography) by no later than 1 September 2011, to be
distributed among other participants in advance of the workshop. In order to
allow for a sufficient amount of discussion time, papers will not be read;
instead, participants will be asked to provide a short pitch of their argument
for a maximum of 10 minutes. Respondents will be assigned to each paper.
Discussion will take off from the basis of the papers and peer-feedback. In
addition to the workshop our program will include a film screening and
introductory keynote address. We explicitly encourage candidates to develop
their submitted papers further in view of a graduate panel proposal for the 2012
NECS conference.
The site of our workshop is the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, which was
founded in 1946 and exists as one of the oldest institutions of higher education
in the area of film studies. There is no fee for participation in the workshop
other than a NECS membership. Lunch will be provided. Participants are expected
to arrange their own travel and accommodation. For more information on NECS
please visit www.necs-initiative.org.

PhD Studentship - Emerging Sports in Serbia, University of Central Lancashite‏

Applications are invited for a full-time scholarship available in the
School of Sport, Tourism & The Outdoors. The scholarship is tenable for
up to 3 years for a PhD and is open to international applicants only.
UK/EU applicants are not eligible to apply. The scholarship will cover
the cost of tuition fees for 3 years.
Project Title:
Emerging Sports in Serbia: A case study of rugby league and cricket
Project Description:
The project will involve a case-study of two emerging sports in Serbia,
rugby league and cricket. A particular aim of the study is to examine
how these sports engage with and foster key dimensions of contemporary
policy agendas, including social cohesion, integration and
reconciliation. The study will involve a detailed examination of the
organisational working of these sports, their histories in Serbia, their
local demographics and their relationship with the international HQ
organisations.
Sport is seen within Serbia as an important aspect of that country’s
preparation for acceptance into the European Union. Accordingly, the
study will look at how these sports are playing their small part in this
process, especially in terms of explicit compliance with the EU agenda
on sport. The working relationship with the Serbian Ministry of Sport
and Youth will also be studied. In disciplinary terms the project will
operate at the intersection of the sociology of sport, organisations,
and community. The methodology is intended to be qualitative, relying on
fieldwork interviewing and document analysis. Access to both the Serbian
Rugby League Federation and the Serbian Cricket Federation has been
established by the project supervisor. Field-work for the project will
be centred in Belgrade. The successful student will need to be fluent
(spoken and written) in both Serbian and English languages.
Applicants should have, or expect to receive a qualification equivalent
to a high class UK honours degree. The project will suit students with a
social science background and related qualifications in areas such as
sociology, social anthropology, international relations and political
science.
Informal project related enquiries may be directed by email to
Professor John Hughson jehughson@uclan.ac.uk
Application Forms can be found at: www.uclan.ac.uk/studentships
Completed application forms should be emailed to
researchdegrees@uclan.ac.uk
The closing date for applications to the Graduate Research Office:
Friday 13 May 2011 5pm British Summer Time
Proposed Interview Date: To be advised

Anthropology Otherwise: Rethinking Approaches to Fieldwork in Different Anthropological Traditions, 1-4 September 2011, Valjevo, Serbia‏

Anthropology Otherwise: Rethinking Approaches to Fieldwork in Different Anthropological Traditions, 1-4 September 2011, Valjevo, Serbia‏

(1) generate a dialogue between researchers working on projects based in the Balkan region/Eastern Europe, yet in different ethnographic traditions. This includes those who use 'immersion’ (long-term fieldwork) and ‘back and forth’ (repeated short visits) models of ethnographic research. The aim is to discuss epistemological possibilities opened and closed by each of these models, and how these two models complement each other.

(2) participate in a forum in which to try out a consensus-based decision making process in order to find common ground between different research methodologies and foci. By using consensus-based decision making process, we hope to illustrate how the workshop process, and ultimately, the knowledge produced, is shaped by the organisational forms in which it takes place. Hence we take seriously the premise that the material and organisational culture(s) of an event or institution shape (if not determine) in an important way, the kinds of and qualities of knowledge produced.
The conference has two key aims:

1. To generate a dialogue between researchers working in different ethnographic traditions. Participants will come from traditions which use the 'immersion model' of research (loosely defined as Anglo-Saxon, which involves spending an extended amount of time, usually a year or more, in one location), and from traditions which use an approach which we will call the ‘back and forth’ model for the purposes of this conference (loosely defined as Balkan/Eastern European, whereby researchers make repeated short visits to a fieldsite for a month or so at a time). The conference will be a place for thinking about relations of different ways of doing a discipline, which has at least four names: social anthropology/cultural anthropology/ethnology/ethnography, through research - how do researchers do it? Instead of theorising different possibilities of producing theory in ‘the West’ as opposed to producing theory in ‘the Balkans’ or ‘(South) Eastern Europe’ we intend to theorise ethnographic research practices and their implications for knowledge production. Since there are different ways of doing fieldwork research, what are their similarities, and what are the differences? What is gained and what is lost through particular ways of doing ethnography? Where does the link between geographical regions and the two models come from? In what way can elements of one model be translated into the other? How do researchers combine them? In what way is the boundary between them constituted? The conference will open a discussion about existing ways of doing fieldwork, and of methodological, epistemological, and political issues brought up by existing fieldwork designs.

2. To provide a forum in which to try out a consensus-based decision making process.
Consensus method is a tool to challenge people who have been doing anthropology/ethnology in a particular way to find a common ground with people who have been doing ethnology/anthropology ‘otherwise'.
What is consensus-based decision making process and why use it?
The insights regarding the importance of material and organisational cultures (in shaping the kinds of and qualities of knowledge that is produced) are often applied to knowledge produced ‘in the field’ and less frequently to working contexts in academia as well. In academia knowledge comes out of institutional contact with other academics as much as, for instance, from texts and field experiences. Academic conferences are often quite hierarchically organised, with a chair, 'renowned' speakers, and academics who 'lead' discussions. Instead of a more traditional conference format, in which participants state their views and experiences and then ask questions challenging and criticising the views of others, the conference will use a format borrowed from anarchist modes of political organising, which is designed to minimise the presence or formation of hierarchies. It is committed to finding common ground rather than pitching one set of viewpoints against another. It is especially productive if there are participants who are committed to different approaches but who are asked to work together and find solutions to questions which suit the largest number of people present, rather than seeking to contrast one creative, often highly individual or idiosyncratic position with others.

Participants will attend two out of four offered sessions:
(1) Thinking through the particularities of different research methods. What kinds of topics, research questions and themes can be addressed through different kinds of ethnography?
(2) How can we rethink the oldies (old ethnograhies) from the region? What value do such classical ethnographies have today?
(3) ‘Field Guide’ Session. The aim of the session is to produce a 'field guide' where we aim to reach consensus on what difficulties researchers setting out to do fieldwork in the region may expect to come across.
(4) What is the place of sensory media in an ethnographic research? How do we use it �" to tell a story, to convey an experience, to theoretically generate an anthropological knowledge, or for something else?

Key note speakers: to be announced soon
Working language(s)
primary: English
also: Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian
Eligibility:
Applications are welcomed from researchers who have an active interest in practicing ethnography in a variety of fields: social/cultural anthropology/ethnology/ethnography would be the most obvious choice, as well as researchers working in fields of political science, sociology, cultural studies, etc. who (plan to) utilise ethnography.

Applications:
Please send a CV and the application form, including 3000 characters (with spaces) explaining in what way the conference themes are of interest to you and/or relate to your work. Also indicate your
order of preference for the session, putting 1 next to the most, and 4 to the least preferable choice. The application should be sent to anthropology.otherwise@gmail.com

There is no conference fee. Accommodation and meals are covered, and there is a possibility of refunding travel expenses.
Organisers: Èarna Brkoviæ (University of Manchester), Vanja Èelebièiæ (University of Manchester), Marina Simiæ (University of Belgrade), Andrew Hodges (University of Manchester)
Deadline for applications: 1st June 2011
Successful candidates will be informed by 1st July 2011
For more details about the conference and conference themes, please visit http://anthropologyotherwise.blogspot.com/ 

nthropology Otherwise: Rethinking Approaches to Fieldwork in Different Anthropological Traditions

September 1st-4th 2011, Petnica Science Centre, Valjevo, Serbia
supported by the Wenner Gren Foundation