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Informal Session: Value in Motion: (E)motions of Exchange We had a very productive session with six presentations and long discussions on how people prioritize certain aspects of the material and immaterial world; how they define what they deem worth striving for as well as what they regard as less relevant. Thinking about the ethnographically specific factors that characterize such value negotiation in our field sites includes considerations of value based on movements in time and space, emotions or rhetorical formulas, and constructions of age and gender. We started out by suggesting that attention to emotions and other inner states on the one hand, and to the observable movements of persons and things on the other might help us understand value better. Topics in the session included the value of precious people, objects, and animals; empowering actions of give-and-take; and discourses on moral and economic value. These, we believe, may serve as doors into the field of local contexts and priorities, hopefully leading towards a better understanding of more general principles of economic and political actions. Papers in the session discussed:
We have decided to proceed to a working session in 2013 and will begin to circulate drafts over the summer. Four participants could not make it to the meeting but will continue to be in the loop. Papers include so far:
Susanne Kuehling, Department of Anthropology, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S0A2, CANADA; tel. 1 307 569 0730; Susanne.kuehling@uregina.ca Katharina Schneider, Institut für Ethnologie, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Sandgasse 7, 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY; katharinahk@gmail.com |
