Communicating Legitimacy: Putting Democratic Practice and
Representation in Context
March 30-31, 2007
South Lounge, Reynolds Club
5706 South University
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
(all events will take place in the South Lounge on the second floor of the Reynolds Club
except the keynote, which will take place in Stuart Hall, Room 101)
Friday, March 30
11 – 12:50
Panel 1. Exceeding the State: Protest, Resistance and the (Extra)Legal
Jillian Schwedler (University of Maryland, Government and Politics)
Legal Reform and the Construction of a "Liberal" Legitimacy in Jordan
Benjamin Schonthal (University of Chicago, History of Religions)
Monumental Beliefs: Monumentality and the Production of Political
Legitimacy among the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka
Dilip Gaonkar (Northwestern University, Communication Studies)
When Fictions Fail: Notes on Post-rhetorical Politics
Discussant: Amahl Bishara (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
12.50-2:20
Lunch
2.30- 4:40
Panel 2. Defining the People: Political Participation and the Production of
Citizenship
Anita Chari (University of Chicago, Political Science)
Direct Democracy and Legitimacy in Porto Alegre’s Participatory Budget
Process
Julia Paley (University of Michigan, Anthropology, Social Work)
Indigenous Movements and Aid Agencies: Tensions and Collaborations in
Ecuador
Josh Pacewicz (University of Chicago, Sociology)
“Like a Marriage”: Constituting the Democratic Speech Situation in the
Post-Industrial Age
Discussant: Michael Dawson (University of Chicago, Political Science)
5:00
Keynote: Nancy Fraser
(The New School for Social Research, Political Science)
Abnormal Justice
(in Stuart 101)
6:30
Reception
Saturday, March 31
8:00-9
Breakfast
9:00-11:10
Panel 1. Privatizing Citizenship: Harmonious Societies, Ethical Citizens
and Democratic Markets in the Neoliberal Era
Elana Shever (UC Berkeley, Anthropology)
Dictating a Democratic Oil Economy in Post-Dictatorship Argentina
Li Zhang (UC Davis, Anthropology)
“Building A Harmonious Society”? Contesting Legitimacy in Postsocialist
Urban Governing
Andrea Muehlebach (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
Legitimizing Neo-Liberal Reform: Notes on an Italian Politics and Poetics
of Persuasion
Nicholas Smith (University of Chicago, Political Science)
Neo-Liberal Democracy: Freedom, Economy and Governmentality in
South Africa
Discussant: John Kelly (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
11:10-11:30
Break
11:30-1:20
Panel 2. Tensions of Democracy I : The Uneven Relevance of Legality
Ritty Lukose (University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education)
Ethnography in Public: Feminism, Gendered Violence, and the Everyday
in Kerala
Anya Bernstein (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
Legality versus legitimacy: Political values and administrative practices
in Taipei
Annelise Riles (Cornell University, Anthropology)
Private Governance as Limit
Discussant: Jessica Cattelino (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
1:30-3:00
Lunch
3:00-4:50
Panel 3. Tensions of Democracy II: Contested Meanings of Politics
Jessica Greenberg (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
Depoliticized politics: Interest, Law and the Postsocialist Political Subject
Rosalind Morris (Columbia University, Anthropology)
A Tale of Two Coups
Jennifer Spruill (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
Smuggled Citizens, Smuggled Spouses: Sexuality and Political Legitimacy
in South Africa
Discussant: Danilyn Rutherford (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
4:50- 5:10
Break
5:10-7:20
Panel 4 Democratic Aspirations: Violence, Coercion and Surveillance
Samera Esmeir (University of Berkeley, Rhetoric)
Killing Violence: Reflections on Occupied Iraq, the End of the Democracy
Project, and the Political Workings of Wars
Andrew Gilbert (University of Chicago, Anthropology)
The Threat of Concrete Cases: Transparency and International Authority
in Bosnia-Herzegovina
David Lloyd (University of Southern California, English)
Countering Legitimacy: Prison Protest and the Colonial Welfare State
Mike Czaplicki (University of Chicago, History)
"Government by Investigation:" Congressional Inquiry and the Limits of
the New Deal Politics of Transparency
Discussant: Olga Sezneva (University of Chicago, Social Sciences)