WORKSHOP The Creativity of Property: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Reinvention of Ownership. UCL, London, UK. 26.6.2012

The Creativity of Property: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Reinvention of Ownership
One-day workshop on the 26th of June at UCL

Aleksi Knuutila, UCL Anthropology (a.knuutila.11@ucl.ac.uk)
David Jeevendrampillai, UCL Anthropology (david.jeevendrampillai.10@ucl.ac.uk)
Gabrielle Ackroyd, UCL Anthropology (gabrielle.ackroyd.10@ucl.ac.uk)
The workshop invites contributions on the topic of property and ownership in moments of change, i.e. the way concepts, institutions and structures of ownership are being negotiated and reinvented, how notions of ownership are being symbolically challenged and promoted, and how the constraints of property elicit creative responses. It will explore what it is, in our times, to possess or author something; on what grounds a place belongs to people or people to a place; what it takes to claim something or to make it common for everyone; and how people are creatively making something of their own out of the institutions of property. It explores the reasons and consequences behind the constitution of property, showing how it fabricates certain categories of persons, groups and objects, and assigns originality or origination.

The day will consist of two panels, which will be oriented towards the themes of “Space and Place” and “The Self and Materials”. We have confirmed Eric Hirsch <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/sss/anthropology/staff/eric-hirsch> and James Leach <http://www.jamesleach.net/> as discussants for the workshop. The day will end in a roundtable discussing bringing together the themes of the day, which is likely to be chaired by Susanne Kuechler. The workshops will consist of inclusive discussions for the improvement of the presented papers and the identification of key themes that warrant further academic work in this area.

Participants from all social sciences and history working on property and creative practice are invited. The call for papers is now closed but if you wish to attend without presenting a paper, please register your interest by email with the organizers above.

This workshop is funded by the UCL Anthropology Reading Group and Research Fund.