Markets and Modernities
An interdisciplinary colloquium presented by the Asian Institute at the University of Toronto, 2007-2009.
Colloquium Statement
The two-year colloquium investigates sites in Asia to examine the relationship between two types of historical and contemporary transformation: the formation of modern subjects and the formation of "the market" as a central feature of modern capitalism.
Both “the market" and modern subjects are produced through specific political programs, regimes of knowledge, forms of regulation and applications of force. They are also produced through cultural work in the media, in literature, and in the intimate spheres of family and community life. Such work is contentious, and often contested. The notion of entrepreneurship, for example, is differently valorized depending on prevailing ideologies of gender and ethnicity, city and village; collective subjects or self-conscious social groups may form within or against market processes; and the interface between capitalism and colonial, fascist, democratic or neoliberal agendas is fraught with contradictions.
By placing Asia at the center of the field of vision as it examines these complex dynamics, the colloquium aims to contribute to debates that too often take capitalism as it arose in Europe as “normal capitalism,” the fixed point from which variations can be assessed. In so doing it aims to generate insights that are at once empirical and theoretical.
The colloquium will feature visiting fellows based at the AI in 2007-2009, and a seminar/ visiting speaker series. There will be working papers posted on the AI website. If you would like to receive notice of colloquium events and publications, kindly send an email to asian.institute@utoronto.ca.
The Markets and Modernities colloquium is convened by Professors Tania Li and Joshua Barker in Anthropology, Ritu Birla and Tong Lam in History, Katharine Rankin, Alana Boland, Rachel Silvey and Ken MacDonald in Geography, Ken Kawashima and Jesook Song in East Asian Studies, and Kanishka Goonewardena in South Asian Studies.
Website design by Ritchie Thai