Anthropologies and Psychologies in Inter/Action – Engaging Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Datum
11. Juni – 13. Juni 2025 

Call for for the 3rd ENPA Bien­ni­al Con­fer­ence, Mün­ster, Germany 

Call for sub­mis­sions for the 3rd ENPA Bien­ni­al Con­fer­ence, Anthro­polo­gies and Psy­cholo­gies in Inter/Action – Engag­ing Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Perspectives
11–13 June 2025
Schloss, Uni­ver­si­ty of Mün­ster, Germany
With a junior fac­ul­ty pre-con­fer­ence on 10 June 2025 

This year’s theme explores the emerg­ing inter­sec­tions of psy­cho­log­i­cal anthro­polo­gies and anthro­po­log­i­cal psy­cholo­gies, fos­ter­ing dia­logue on the poten­tial of inter­dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tion. We seek con­tri­bu­tions from anthro­pol­o­gists, psy­chol­o­gists, and schol­ars from relat­ed dis­ci­plines who wish to present their research, share reflec­tions, and imag­ine future col­lab­o­ra­tions at the cross­roads of these fields. 

Con­fer­ence Focus:

We aim to cat­alyze inno­va­tions in inter­dis­ci­pli­nary engage­ments, par­tic­u­lar­ly regard­ing: Method­olog­i­cal, the­o­ret­i­cal, and con­cep­tu­al reflec­tions / Chal­lenges to uni­ver­sal­iz­ing the­o­ries and inter­ven­tions in the face of pow­er asym­me­tries and crit­i­cal epis­te­molo­gies / Decol­o­niz­ing and diver­si­fy­ing research meth­ods, infra­struc­tures, and cur­ric­u­la / Ret­ro­spec­tive, cur­rent, and for­ward-look­ing per­spec­tives on inter­dis­ci­pli­nary work in aca­d­e­m­ic and non-aca­d­e­m­ic contexts. 

Through this con­fer­ence, we seek to cre­ate con­struc­tive dia­logues that pro­pose new frame­works for research, prac­tice, and appli­ca­tion in areas such as pol­i­cy-mak­ing, ther­a­py, heal­ing, edu­ca­tion, care, and resistance. 

Call for Contributions: 

We warm­ly wel­come sub­mis­sions for pan­els, papers, round­ta­bles, and labs that engage with these themes. We are par­tic­u­lar­ly inter­est­ed in inter­dis­ci­pli­nary and exper­i­men­tal for­mats, includ­ing cross-media, film-based research, and pub­lic-fac­ing projects. For­mats can be either ful­ly online or ful­ly in-house but can­not com­bine both with­in the same session. 

Sub­mis­sion Dead­line: 31 Jan­u­ary 2025. 

Please send your sub­mis­sions to: submissions@enpanthro.net

For detailed guide­lines and updates, please see our detailed Call for Papers below (since the mail­ing list does not allow attach­ments). You will also find the call for papers on ENPA’s web­site soon: https://enpanthro.net/

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Con­fer­ence Theme

This con­fer­ence takes the recent emer­gence of psy­cho­log­i­cal anthro­polo­gies (and also anthro­po­log­i­cal psy­cholo­gies) as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reflect on the poten­tial of inter­dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tion. It invites anthro­pol­o­gists, psy­chol­o­gists, and schol­ars from relat­ed dis­ci­plines who are inter­est­ed or engaged in join­ing forces across dis­ci­plines to present their research and reflect on their schol­ar­ship, inter­ven­tions, and aca­d­e­m­ic land­scapes. It is the main aim of the con­fer­ence to cat­alyze or set forth ideas and imag­i­na­tions for future inter/actions between psy­cholo­gies and anthropologies.

The con­fer­ence invites research papers and con­tri­bu­tions on method­olog­i­cal, the­o­ret­i­cal, and con­cep­tu­al inno­va­tions and reflec­tions on the poten­tial of anthro­polo­gies and psy­cholo­gies that are increas­ing­ly con­cerned with pow­er asym­me­tries, crit­i­cal epis­te­molo­gies, and the effects of uni­ver­sal­iz­ing the­o­ries and inter­ven­tions. In the face of grow­ing human and non-human inter­con­nect­ed­ness, psy­cho­log­i­cal anthro­pol­o­gy fos­ters insights into new forms of inequal­i­ty, vio­lence, and human sub­jec­tiv­i­ty. The assump­tion that psy­cho­log­i­cal and bio-psy­chi­atric insights are to be imposed on human expe­ri­ence and behav­ior is itself open to ques­tion, cre­at­ing ten­sions between uni­ver­sal­iz­ing and rel­a­tiviz­ing under­stand­ings of the human con­di­tion that col­lab­o­ra­tions between anthro­pol­o­gy and psy­chol­o­gy are unique­ly posi­tioned to address. 

In addi­tion to explor­ing cur­rent inter­dis­ci­pli­nary engage­ments, the con­fer­ence high­lights per­spec­tives on diver­si­fy­ing and decol­o­niz­ing research meth­ods, infra­struc­tures, and cur­ric­u­la. Such self-reflex­ive and col­lab­o­ra­tive lens­es seem para­mount as they chal­lenge hege­mon­ic key assump­tions on feel­ing, think­ing, inter­act­ing, or learning. 

The con­fer­ence encour­ages par­tic­i­pants to think of their con­tri­bu­tions not just, or even pri­mar­i­ly, as cri­tiques but rather as con­struc­tive attempts to define and pro­pose future trans- and inter­dis­ci­pli­nary engage­ments at the inter­sec­tions of psy­chol­o­gy and anthro­pol­o­gy and relat­ed dis­ci­plines. This con­fer­ence is inter­est­ed in ret­ro­spec­tives, cur­rent ini­tia­tives, and pro­pos­als for ways to do inter­dis­ci­pli­nary research, ana­lyze results, the­o­rize, and apply them in aca­d­e­m­ic and non-aca­d­e­m­ic settings. 

Through a fruit­ful dia­logue with­in and between dis­ci­plines, the 3rd ENPA 2025 Bien­ni­al aims to fos­ter new insights in research con­texts, pol­i­cy­mak­ing, ther­a­py, heal­ing, car­ing, resist­ing, or learn­ing, to men­tion but a few ini­tia­tives. It explic­it­ly invites inter­dis­ci­pli­nary dia­logues and collaborations.

Call for Pan­els, Papers, Round­ta­bles, and Labs

We warm­ly invite pan­el and paper sub­mis­sions across the field of schol­ars work­ing at the inter­sec­tions of anthro­pol­o­gy, psy­chol­o­gy, and relat­ed dis­ci­plines. Aside from research papers, we explic­it­ly encour­age con­tri­bu­tions that work with mixed, cross/media, or film as research meth­ods or ways that com­mu­ni­cate research in aca­d­e­m­ic and non-aca­d­e­m­ic publics. We also encour­age round­ta­bles on con­tro­ver­sial ques­tions and debates, and we invite cre­ative labs that can be con­duct­ed both inside the venue and in the sur­round­ing envi­ron­ments of the Schloss (includ­ing the Botan­i­cal Gar­den, Schloss Park, or the city).

Pan­el and paper sub­mis­sions: We emphat­i­cal­ly encour­age pan­el sub­mis­sions but will also accept a lim­it­ed num­ber of indi­vid­ual papers, which will be arranged into cohe­sive pan­els by the ENPA con­fer­ence team. Each pan­el ses­sion includes 5 x 20-minute pre­sen­ta­tion slots and 20 min­utes for open dis­cus­sion. Pos­si­ble for­mats are: 5 papers + 20 min dis­cus­sion OR 4 papers, dis­cus­sant + 20 min discussion. 

Round­ta­bles: We invite round­ta­bles on con­tro­ver­sial ques­tions and debates com­pris­ing a max­i­mum of 7 (inter­na­tion­al) guest speak­ers and 3 moderators.

Labs: We encour­age labs in which exper­i­men­tal dis­cus­sion for­mats are to be test­ed. This includes walk-alongs, walkie-talkies, emplaced learn­ing, or artis­tic meth­ods, to men­tion but a few exam­ples, as well as projects that break new ground method­olog­i­cal­ly and ped­a­gog­i­cal­ly. A max­i­mum of 4 orga­niz­ers are encour­aged to engage in cre­ative for­mats and orga­nize the num­ber of par­tic­i­pants, aims, and modalities.

All pre­sen­ta­tion types (i.e., pan­els, papers, round­ta­bles, and labs can be orga­nized as either exclu­sive online for­mats, or as exclu­sive in-house for­mats, but for­mats can­not be merged (i.e. it is not pos­si­ble to have a mix of online and in-house pre­sen­ta­tions in one pan­el, round­table, lab).

Please sub­mit your pan­els, papers, round­ta­bles, or labs by 31 Jan­u­ary 2025 via email at submissions@enpanthro.net

Pan­el sub­mis­sions should include:

· gen­er­al abstract, max 250 words, please indi­cate if online or in-house
· abstract for each of the 4–5 papers, max 250 words each
· name, insti­tu­tion­al affil­i­a­tion, and email of all par­tic­i­pants (chair/s, pre­sen­ters, discussants)

Indi­vid­ual paper sub­mis­sions should include:

· abstract, max 250 words, please indi­cate if online or in-house
· name, affil­i­a­tion, and email

Round­table sub­mis­sions should include:

· gen­er­al abstract, max 250 words, please indi­cate if online or in-house
· name, insti­tu­tion­al affil­i­a­tion, and email of all par­tic­i­pants (mod­er­a­tors, guest speakers)

Lab sub­mis­sions should include: 

· gen­er­al abstract in the theme, max 250 words, please indi­cate if online or in-house
· a note on aims, modal­i­ties, media, ped­a­gogy, space, and for­mat, max 250 words
· name, insti­tu­tion­al affil­i­a­tion, and email of all organizers

To ensure robust atten­dance across work­shops, labs, and round­ta­bles, the con­fer­ence orga­niz­ers may lim­it the total num­ber of ses­sions avail­able in these for­mats. Addi­tion­al­ly, the ‘two-role rule’ applies to roles involv­ing work­shops, labs, round­table orga­ni­za­tion, and posi­tions as pan­elists or speak­ers: each par­tic­i­pant may engage in no more than two dis­tinct roles across these cat­e­gories (e.g., workshop/lab/roundtable orga­ni­za­tion, speak­er, mod­er­a­tor, or dis­cus­sant). Dual roles with­in the same cat­e­go­ry are not per­mit­ted. Please note that when par­tic­i­pat­ing in a lab, the ‘two-role rule’ does not apply.

Reg­is­tra­tion will open in Feb­ru­ary 2025, and – as in pre­vi­ous years – we aim to keep fees as low as pos­si­ble to ensure a diverse and acces­si­ble conference.

Fur­ther infor­ma­tion on ENPA and the 3rd ENPA 2025 Bien­ni­al Con­fer­ence can be found on our web­site: https://enpanthro.net. If you have any fur­ther ques­tions regard­ing the con­fer­ence, please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us at conference@enpanthro.net