Difference between revisions of "History of the Project"

Jump to navigation Jump to search

History of the Project (view source)

Revision as of 12:27, 11 May 2018

8,344 bytes added ,  12:27, 11 May 2018
no edit summary
Line 55: Line 55:
Professor of Politics and Society,
Professor of Politics and Society,
University College London
University College London
</div>
</div>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Newsletter No 4 - 7 August 2016'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Dear Authors,
I am writing with an update on the progress of the Global Informality project.
'''Number of entries:''' Under the leadership of Sheelagh Barron, who took over from Anna Bailey in June, the
editorial team has made terrific progress and we are happy to report 163 completed and fully edited
entries. We expect to be able to reach 200 entries in 2017.
'''Online version:''' Since June 2016, the development of the online version has been undertaken by UCL
Digital Humanities interns Yang Liu and Adriana Bastarrachea Santez, to whom we are most grateful for
updating and upgrading the database, and making it searchable. They have run into a number of technical
difficulties with the sheer volume of tagging required for the entries. Yet we are still firmly on course to
launch the online version of the Encyclopaedia in 2017, simultaneously with the publication of the print
version, in order to maximise impact. The website will organize entries alphabetically and have an option
for authors to add keywords.
'''Publication:''' In compliance with the UCL University Press contract, we will be submitting the first volume of
our Encyclopaedia on the 1st of October. Once submitted, it will be sent to reviewers. Subject to positive
reviews, the publication will take place in 2017. We aim to assemble 60 colourful images for the print
volume and are grateful to our Web Wizard Anastasia Shekshnya, who has taken the lead on assembling
the images in a variety of formats for both the print version and the website.
Anastasia has also managed to secure copyright permission to use an image by Pavel Filonov for the cover
of the book.
The complexity of this picture, The Formula of Spring, from the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, hints at
the number of challenges for the volume:
'''Visualising Invisibility'''
We thank all authors who have taken care (and time) to find images in order to visualise the invisibility of
informality. See some further discussion on invisibility at http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/2015/12/
'''Dealing with complexity'''
You will appreciate that we have undertaken a bottom-up approach to collecting research findings related
to informality. The call for submissions was open and all entries will be included in the online version of the
Encyclopaedia. To select material for the print version in a meaningful way has been perhaps the most
challenging task. We will of course take into consideration suggestions from anonymous reviewers and the
Press.
For now, we have been working in stages. We clustered similar patterns together, asking ourselves ‘what is
this practice the case of?’ and then tried to organize entries according to the differences within the cluster.
The outcome of such bottom-up structuring has been shaping up slowly (the work continues), but I am
happy to report that the structure of the first print volume has emerged and we now have clusters of
entries that we offer for conceptual and comparative analysis (according to the reviewers’
recommendations I shared with you In Newsletter 3).
The list of conceptual pieces (some of them already commissioned) will include:
'''The FRINGE Series: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COMPLEXITY'''
'''THE GLOBAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF INFORMALITY: TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COMPLEXITY.'''
'''PART I REDISTRIBUTION: relationship vs use of relationship'''<br>
'''Substantive ambivalence (gift vs commodity)'''<br>
''Chapter 1'' '''Neither Gift Nor Commodity: The Instrumentality of Sociability''' ''Introduction: Economies of
Favours by'' '''Nicolette Makovicky and David Henig'''<br>
''Conclusion: Managing favours in the global economy???''<br>
''Chapter 2'' '''Neither Gift Nor Payment: The Sociability of Instrumentality''' ''Introduction: Interpretations of gift and reciprocity by '''Florence Weber'''<br>
''Conclusion: Languages of informality by '''Nicolette Makovicky and David Henig'''''
'''PART II MARKET: need vs greed'''<br>
'''Functional ambivalence (supportive vs subversive)'''<br>
''Chapter 3'' '''The System Made Me Do It: Strategies of Survival'''<br>
''Introduction: Conclusion:''<br>
''Chapter 4'' '''Gaming the System: Strategies of Camouflage'''<br>
''Introduction: Gaming the system by '''Phil Hanson''' Conclusion on the Enabling Power of Constraints''
'''PART III SOLIDARITY: us vs them'''<br>
'''Normative ambivalence (double standards)'''<br>
''Chapter 5'' '''Conformity: The Weakness of Strong Ties'''<br>
''Introduction: '''Eric Gordy''' on the transformation of solidarity, identity politics and traps of belonging''<br>
''Conclusion: Approached Christian Giordano???''<br>
''Chapter 6'' '''Self-Expression: The Innovative Power of Non-Conformity'''<br>
''Introduction on resistance capacity by '''Jan Kubik'''''<br>
''Conclusion: On Us and Them by '''Zygmunt Bauman'''''
'''PART IV DOMINATION: carrots vs sticks'''<br>
'''Motivational ambivalence (public vs private)'''<br>
''Chapter 7'' '''Cooptation: Recruiting Patrons and Clients'''<br>
''Introduction: Carrots vs. sticks in patron-client relationships by '''Paul Heywood'''''<br>
''Conclusion: Informal Governance and Hidden Constitutions by '''Scott Newman'''''<br>
''Chapter 8'' '''Control: Informal Governance'''<br>
''Introduction: Politics of Fear by '''Vladimir Gelman'''''<br>
''Conclusion: '''Klaus Segbers''' Freie Universitat Berlinen''
This structure allows us to make the print version (also going into the open access online from the date of
publication) distinct from the website.
'''Handling Ambivalence'''<br>
A feature that has come up as the most striking in our collection is the fact that each entry can be related
to almost any structural part, and be characterised by all four types of ambivalence. Looking at our entries
from the comparative perspective has allowed us to identify four types of ambivalence and the role they
play in the blurring of boundaries and grey areas: double think, double deed, double standards and double
purpose are all essential for the workings of informality.
'''Defining Informality'''<br>
Given the cross-discipline and cross-area nature of this project, it will probably be impossible to agree on a
definition of informality agreeable to all. Please let me know if you have good definitions or great texts on
the definition of informality. In the Encyclopaedia, we should probably acknowledge that we are using the
word as an umbrella term for a variety of social and cultural phenomena that are too complex to be
grasped in a single definition. However, to introduce the '''in-formality.com''' website I have come up with the
following paragraph:<br>
We invite you on a voyage of discovery of the world’s open secrets, unwritten rules and hidden practices.
Broadly defined as ‘ways of getting things done,’ these invisible, yet powerful informal practices tend to
escape articulation in official discourse. We have identified unique research on such practices across
disciplines and across areas and created the first Global Map of Informality. The database is searchable by
region, keyword or type of practice. Do explore what works: how, where and why.<br>
Do send me your thoughts and suggestions on the notion, definition, history, or theory of informality. If
you have a favourite citation, author, typology, please do let me know.
'''World Map of Informality:''' The map continues to develop with the increasing number of entries submitted
to the project. Do spread the word – we do need more!<br>
The Informal Practices MA course is likely to further contribute to the map.
'''The FRINGE connection'''
In association with the FRINGE Centre, UCL Press is launching a new series of collective volumes, of which
the Encyclopaedia is likely to be the first. To become a member of FRINGE to receive the Centre’s
newsletter, sign up at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/fringe-centre.
More on the UCL Press FRINGE series: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/series
We look forward to receiving the remaining entries promised for our 1st September deadline.
Thank you for all you help in this tough period before the submission.
Alena
'''Alena Ledeneva'''<br>
Professor of Politics and Society <br>University College London
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Retrieved from "https://www.in-formality.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:MobileDiff/1956"

Navigation menu