Service – Duty – Care

Service – Duty – Care:
Theorizing Civic Engagement from Asia to Europe and beyond

Research on civic engagement – from humanitarianism to charity – points to the complex interplay of sentiments, emotions and convictions that motivate people to act. These range from ethics rooted in religious frameworks, to commitment to kin and surrounding social networks, to NGO-driven humanitarian discourse, to moments of national awakening, as powerfully illustrated by the example of volunteering in the war in Ukraine. In this regard, the concept of care has been extensively discussed in diverse bodies of literature across the humanities and social sciences. Meanwhile, the concepts of service and duty have received little attention, despite the prominent role that they play in articulating different forms of “doing good.” In this workshop, participants will collaboratively theorize service and duty in relation to care. They will thereby investigate how a focus on service and duty might illuminate new aspects of care and how the rich literature on care can help to theorize service and duty from anthropological and historical perspectives.

The workshop is conceived as a collaboration between the Geneva Graduate Institute (Department of Anthropology and Sociology and the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy) and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Department of Asian and North African Studies and the Marco Polo Centre for Global Europe-Asia Connections). It will thereby link two cities with prominent histories of civic engagement: Venice with its longstanding confraternities and circulations of wealth, and Geneva as a global centre for international organizations and NGOs. To this end, the workshop seeks to harness relevant expertise prevalent in Venice and Geneva whilst also providing the participating scholars with an environment conducive to collaborative work.

Convenors

Till Mostowlansky (research professor in anthropology and sociology, Geneva Graduate Institute), Giuseppe Bolotta (assistant professor, Southeast Asian studies, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

Download the program here 

*The workshop is financed through the Swiss National Science Foundation funded Eccellenza project “Quiet Aid: Service and Salvation in the Balkans-to-Bengal-Complex” (grant number PCEFP1_203319), based at the Geneva Graduate Institute.