Considering classic cases of modern time such as that of post office infrastructure and railways, Jon May and Nigel Thrift (2001) problematise its homogeneity by contrasting sheer seconds in which a telegram goes out flashing across the wires round the world with hours of walking or riding to the post office or railway station from the outlying villages of England in 1860s. They argue that coexisting speeds of movement reveal qualitatively different temporalities and relationships. What makes this difference palpable in the synchrony of these different forms of movement that are expressed in linear chronological time that contains both seconds and hours. In this panel, we propose to explore global capitalism that have generated time which once was conceptualised as ‘homogeneous and empty’ (Benedict Anderson) but which, as much of contemporary anthropology have demonstrated, integrates, reworks and sustains diverse and divergent temporalities. We invite paper proposals that address this temporal multiplicity from the point of view of how this multiplicity is organised and what are the relationships between different temporalities. We are particularly interested in the question if such relations are hierarchical and constitute temporal inequalities. What exactly is temporal inequality? How does it work within and between temporal regimes and coordinates? Is this inequality contested? Can we speak of temporal hegemonies? We call for ethnographic contributions that conceptualise cases of contradiction, tension and conflict between human and non-human temporalities as well as between the cultural logic of daily rhythms and meanings of work, local, indigenous, religious, and other temporalities, and global modalities of capitalism that coordinate time in different parts of the world through different technologies (including digital) and practices of banking, production and consumption.

31 March 2019: the deadline for paper proposals for panels.

To submit a paper proposal, provide the following information: name, affiliation, contact information, title of paper, abstract (max. 250 words), and the name of the panel in which you wish to participate. This information should be sent to both the panel organizers and the conference organizers at [email protected]