EH.N: CfP: Business and Labour History Group, Symposium and Special Issue of Consumption, Markets & Culture

[Greg Patmore]

Consumption, Markets & Culture
Mirrored Histories: Consumption and Work in the Asia Pacific
Special Edition Call for Papers

Editors:
Dr. Teresa Davis, The University of Sydney, Australia
Associate Professor Greg Patmore, The University of Sydney, Australia

This special issue will focus on a particular objective of 
Consumption, Markets & Culture as articulated by the editors "to take 
part in inquiring in and construction of the material conditions and 
meanings of consumption and production."

Varman and Vikas (2007) in a recent Consumption, Markets & Culture 
article re-examine consumption as the 'new' definer of identities and 
individuals (Belk 1988 and Ritzer 2004) and suggest that production 
(work) still constrains and constructs aspects of the 
'consumer-citizen'. "Thus the separation of production and 
consumption is itself an elitist privilege only to be exercised by a 
small minority in the globalized world" (p.123).

The intertwined worlds of the worker who is the consumer, the 
consumer who co-produces, and the pro-sumer need to be revisited in 
this new borderless market place. In this special issue we wish to 
focus particularly on Baudrillard's (1998) notion of the dual 
'orders' of production and consumption and the evolution of their 
relationship over time. Thus we seek papers that focus on a 
historical perspectives/methods to examine the shifts and changes in 
shaping, constructing the spheres of work and consumption, and of the 
worker/consumer.

Is the role of markets in creating these identities more than merely 
a mechanism for translating the individual worker/consumer's 
preferences into production? If the market is left as the single 
institution of legitimation in our societies, do other political, 
social and cultural institutions no longer have the legitimizing 
authority that they traditionally had? (Firat, Sherry and Venkatesh 
1994 p.315).

Papers that examine the way work/production and consumption play out 
in the dynamic discourses of the marketplace are invited.

Topics for papers could include (but is by no means limited to) 
historical perspectives/methods focusing on:

Nostalgia in Work and Consumption

Constructing the worker/consumer/citizen

Retail Co-operatives

Retailing, distribution and the family

Geographies of retailing and distribution

Migration, work and consumption

Shopping, leisure and work

Advertising, work and consuming

Geographically, the Asia -Pacific as a region is of particular focus.

Intending contributors should electronically submit an abstract (1000 
words) to the editors by the 21 March 2008 for consideration. 
Intending contributors are encouraged to participate in a 
symposium/workshop to be held at the University of Sydney, Australia, 
on 20 June 2008. Full papers (5,000 -10000 words) will be due on 6 
June 2008. The date for submission of the final paper for the 
consideration of the special issue of Consumption, Markets & Culture 
(not restricted to symposium participants) will be Friday 18 July 
2008.

A limited amount of financial assistance will be available for 
overseas participants in the symposium/workshop.

The symposium is organised by the Business and Labour History Group, 
Faculty of Economics and Business, The University of Sydney and we 
acknowledge the financial support of the Faculty of Economics and 
Business, The University of Sydney. All enquiries regarding the 
symposium and the special issue of Consumption, Markets and Culture 
should be addressed to the editors at either t.davis at econ.usyd.edu.au 
or g.patmore at econ.usyd.edu.au

References

Baudrillard, Jean. (1998) Consumer Society: myths and Structures. 
Translated Chris Turner, Sage Publications Ltd: London

Belk Russell W. (1988) Possessions and the Extended Self. Journal of 
Consumer Research 15: 139-68

Firat, Fuat, John Sherry, and Alladi Venkatesh. (1994). Post 
modernism, marketing and the Consumer. International Journal of 
Research in Marketing 11: 311-16.

Ritzer, George. (2004). Enchantment in a Disenchanted World: 
Revolutionizing the Means of Consumption. Second edition Thousand 
Oaks: Pine Forge.

Varman, Rohit and Ram Manohar Vikas. (2007). Freedom and Consumption: 
Toward Conceptualizing Systemic Constraints for Subaltern Consumers 
in a Capitalist Society. Consumption, Markets and Culture 10: 117-131