Current Ethnography and Social Theory is an intellectual forum that invites substantive and continuous conversation between students in anthropology and those located in other disciplines historically concerned with social, economic, and cultural analysis.

Founded in 2023, we offer students opportunities to theorize common concerns and share ongoing work with peers. This workshop centers anthropological theory and methods without narrowing the conversation to those undergoing professional training in sociocultural anthropology. We take inspiration from moments in which, for example, anthropologists have enriched their work through dialogue with historians, philosophers, economists, sociologists, and a vast range of other disciplinary practitioners to think critically about social life from diverse geopolitical positions. We believe that opening an academic space centering ethnographic methods is particularly important given that innovations in ethnography provide critical tools and ways of thinking that address pressing issues, ranging from legacies of colonial violence to the anticipated exigencies of climate change. In this workshop’s first year, we have seen ethnography’s capacity to open up questions across past and future, across geographic locations, and across human and non-human forms of life. This has sparked interest in scholars from inside and outside the University of Chicago. Sharing works-in-progress from students at varying stages of their education in an interdisciplinary community will foster collaboration, enable students to build scholarly networks, and formulate stronger research projects, contributing to important questions in the social sciences.

Faculty Sponsors

Professor Julie Chu, Anthropology

juliechu@uchicago.edu

Professor Natacha Nsabimana, Anthropology

natachansa@uchicago.edu