Appreciating Local Knowledge

From 21st to 22nd of November 2013, this conference is held by the Centre of Ethics and Poverty Research at the University of Salzburg (www.uni-salzburg.at/zea) and the international research centre for social and ethical questions (ifz, www.ifz-salzburg.at), in cooperation with the Social Geography Research Group at the University of Salzburg (www.socialgeography.at), Bildungszentrum St. Virgil Salzburg (www.virgil.at), and Austria’s first social festival Keep the ball rolling. (www.tu-was.at).

In the light of a globalization, (post-)modernization, social fragmentation and economization of many of our living contexts, local knowledge has regained increased attention in social sciences like ethnography, poverty and inequality studies, social anthropology or social geography, just to mention a few. Commonly, local knowledge indicates a counterpart to both rational forms of an explicit knowledge of facts and knowledge of universal validity. Local knowledge attempts to appreciate a more comprehensive view on people’s skills, capabilities, experience, and sophistication. On the other hand, the reference to ‘local’ implies an imagination of bounded applicability of knowledge in specific spatial-cultural environments. There thus seems to be a similarity in nature to indigenous knowledge.

Call for Papers
(Deadline 24th of June 2013)

Further information about the conference and the call for papers can be found here:
Appreciating Local Knowledge