Calendar
Neoliberal Regimes and Institutions of Knowledge Production
April 27-28, 2012
Room 100, Classroom Office Building, 800 East Third St.
Neoliberalism has become a remarkably widespread political and economic perspective, so much so that over the past three decades many institutions have altered their practices to incorporate neoliberal principles. Yet not all institutions are adopting the same neoliberal principles, nor are these institutions all easily or eagerly accommodating neoliberal transformations. By asking how different institutions respond to neoliberalism in institutionally specific ways, we are also following Wendy Brown, David Harvey and Phil Mirowski in taking neoliberalism to be fundamentally distinct from earlier forms of capitalism. This conference will explore the uneven processes of neoliberalization comparatively, focusing on how different institutions respond to neoliberalism. Because neoliberal philosophy and policy places so much emphasis on transforming the ways in which knowledge is owned, produced and circulated, this workshop will focus on institutions that centrally engage with creating, labeling, and circulating knowledge: certification regimes, universities, corporate research parks, courts, and administrative legal regimes. Key questions will include: how have institutional practices surrounding knowledge production, management, and dissemination been reworked in response to neoliberal policies, and what new discourses or institutional logics accompany these changes?
Day One
| 9:00–10:00 | Nick Cullather, Dept. of History, Indiana University Why Central Intelligence Thrives Amid Dogmas of Decentralization and Privatization [Abstract] |
| 10:00–10:45 | Tim Bartley, Dept. of Sociology, Indiana University Global Production, Neoliberalism, and the Puzzle of Rules [Abstract] |
| 10:45–11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00–11:45 | Tad Mutersbaugh, Dept of Geography, University of Kentucky Certify Everything: the everyday entanglements of practical neoliberalism(s) [Abstract] |
| 11:45–1:00pm | Lunch |
| 1:00–1:45pm | David Caudill, Law, Villanova University Legal fantasies of science free from economics [Abstract] |
| 1:45–2:30pm | Rosemary Coombe, Dept. of Communication and Culture, York University Vital World: Life on the Line… [Abstract] |
| 2:30–2:45pm | Coffee Break |
| 2:45–3:30pm | Becky Mansfield, Dept. of Geography, Ohio State University Liberal biopolitics of environmental health: contamination, risk, and race at the EPA [Abstract] |
| 3:30–4:15pm | Rebecca Lave, Dept of Geography, Indiana University Science, regulatory agencies, and markets in neoliberal environmental management |
| 4:15–5pm | Discussion of first day’s papers |
Day Two:
| 9:30–10:15 | Stephanie C. Kane (Criminal Justice) and Eden Medina (Informatics), Indiana University Narrative Control and the Inept State: Seismic Anomalies, Technological Glitches, and the Failed Tsunami Alert of February 27, 2010. [Abstract] |
| 10:15–11:00am | Andrew Herman, Dept. of Communication Studies, Wilfred Laurier University Hiding the Hiding: Network(ed) Capital and the Performativities of Digital Labour [Abstract] |
| 11:00–11:15am | Coffee Break |
| 11:15–noon | Bonnie McElhinney, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Toronto Changing Forms of Knowledge Production in Late Capitalism: Language as a Contested Terrain [Abstract] |
| 12:00–12:45pm | Ilana Gershon, Dept. of Communication and Culture, Indiana University From the Fordist Phone to Neoliberal Facebook: Standardizing New Media Practices [Abstract] |
| 12:45–1:45pm | Lunch |
| 1:45–2:30pm | Wesley Shumar, Dept. of Culture and Communication, Drexel University Consumer Capitalism’s Higher (Ed) Contradiction: Commodification meets Audit [Abstract] |
| 2:30–3:15pm | Stuart Kirsch, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Michigan Virtuous Language in Industry and the Academy [Abstract] |
| 3:15–3:30pm | Coffee Break |
| 3:30–4:15pm | Bonnie Urciuoli, Dept. of Anthropology, Hamilton College Lovemarking College [Abstract] |
| 4:15pm–5:15pm | Conference wrap-up. |