In recent years, a great deal of academic research has focused on the negative effects of neo-liberalism and neo-liberal economic policies. Such scholarship often presumes the retreat or decline of the state. "Neo-liberalism" in this context often takes on a deterministic and ghostly character -- acting as a primary agent that reshapes socio-economic and cultural practices and permeates all forms of political life. However, research in comparative and historical contexts provides a more complex picture of the nature and causes of inequality. States, while restructured in varying ways, continue to play a central role in shaping the causes and responses to inequality. The nature of state formation affects processes of economic restructuring. Social movements that respond to various forms of inequality are immersed in complicated political dynamics with both the state and transnational and national capitalist actors. The objective of this symposium is to move beyond surface invocations of "neoliberalism" and provide an in-depth working group on the nature and practices of the post-liberalization state from historical, comparative and transnational perspectives.
Speakers:
Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Graduate Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, City University of New York
Ujju Aggarwal, The New School
Amy Lind, University of Cincinnati
Lamia Karim, University of Oregon
Nancy Naples, University of Connecticut
Eunice N. Sahle, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Christina Heatherton, Center for Place, Politics, and Culture, City University of New York
Suzanne Bergeron, University of Michigan
Dolly Daftari, Western Michigan University
Leela Fernandes, University of Michigan
Sponsor: Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
Cosponsors: Department of Political Science, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Department of Women's Studies, Latina/o Studies, Center for South Asian Studies, Department of Anthropology, Department of Sociology
