10th Edition, 2025

  • ConvenorsMaria Urso, University of Palermomaria.urso01@unipa.it Martina Lo Cascio, University of Palermomartina.locascio@unipa.it This panel seeks to explore various dimensions of gender-based violence in intimate relationships through ethnographic research. We would like to exchange views with scholars who have focused in ethnographic studies on gender-based violence, the system that generates it and the self-organised and or institutional…

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  • ConvenorsPaola Bonizzoni, University of Milanpaola.bonizzoni@unimi.it Giacomo Lampredi, University of Milangiacomo.lampredi@unimi.it Multiple and repeated crises — stemming from various events, such as environmental, military, migratory, and health-related issues — along with their resulting social, economic, and political divisions and polarizations, have, in recent years, contributed to reconfiguring the role of volunteering, the third sector, and social…

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  • ConvenorsAndrea Mubi Brighenti, University of Trentoandrea.brighenti@unitn.it Andrea Pavoni, DINAMIA’CET, Centre for Socioeconomic and Territorial Studies, University Institute of Lisbonandrea.pavoni@iscte-iul.pt Urban ethnography, grounded in the observation and participation in the everyday lives of city dwellers, offers a unique set of challenges and opportunities for writing. Urban spaces are alive with movement, interactions, and contradictions, requiring ethnographers…

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  • ConvenorsStefano Brilli, University of Urbinostefano.brilli@uniurb.it Oscar Ricci, University of Milano-Bicoccaoscar.ricci@unimib.it As Gary Alan Fine has argued, reputational politics is a field of competition for the control of memory, where «difficult reputations» play an essential role (Fine, 2001). This session will explore the social dynamics and cultural significance of «despicable» public personas. These figures, labelled as morally reprehensible, elicit…

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  • ConvenorsVeronica Buffon, University of Messinaveronica.buffon@unime.it Camilla De Ambroggi, University of Paduacamilla.deambroggi@unipd.it Over the last few years, migration scholars have largely recognized that the restructuring of supply chains and the disintegration of enterprises due to outsourcing have massively affected migrant workers (Drahokoupil, 2015), producing an ethno-racial segmentation of the labour market (Fellini, Fullin, 2018). Most migrants…

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  • ConvenorsHanen Chebbi, Institut Pasteur/ECUMUShanen.chebbi.cherif@gmail.com Simone Di Cecco, École française de Rome, Institut Convergences Migrationsesse.dicecco@gmail.com The production and management of waste hold a particular place in the history of capitalism, to the point that some authors propose using the concept of Wasteocene to describe «the contaminating nature of capitalism and its persistence within the socio-biological fabric,…

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  • ConvenorsSebastiano Citroni, Università degli Studi dell’Insubriasebastiano.citroni@uninsubria.it Massimiliano Raffa, Università degli Studi dell’Insubriamassimiliano.raffa@uninsubria.it The ongoing transformation of urban fabrics and their concomitant social relationsnecessitates an urgent recalibration and reinterpretation of predominant approaches to ethnographic urban analysis. Global urbanisation, the proliferation of megalopolises in the Global South and their attendant waves of civil unrest, demographic ageing in…

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  • Convenor Michael Sierra-Arévalo, University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University msa@utexas.edu ms34@princeton.edu This panel explores the role of ethnographic inquiry in understanding contemporary policing across international contexts, focusing on how policing structures power and social inequality (Martin, 2018; Ray et al., 2024). The session will address key methodological, ethical, and reflexive challenges encountered by ethnographers…

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  • ConvenorsDavide Sparti, University of Sienadavide.sparti@unisi.it  Clelia Viecelli, University of Sienaclelia.viecelli@unisi.it Natural wines and artisanal agri-food products are ideal ethnographic objects of study since they allow social researchers to cover and explore each step of their creation due to the small-scale size of their sites of production, as opposed to large-scale operations where some areas of…

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  • ConvenorsLuca Sterchele, University of Turinluca.sterchele@unito.it luca.sterchele@unipd.it  Fabio Bertoni, University of Lisboafabio.bertoni@ics.ulisboa.pt Nowadays, there has been a «discursive expolosion» surrounding  mental health, disability, and neurodivergence resulting in a wide array of heterogeneous narratives and representations in public and academic debates. Particularly on digital platforms, we witness a rise in content focused on «positivity» and the reversal…

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