International Conference – January 2019, 14 & 15
« Dealing with » Poverty. Towards International Convergences in Social Sciences and Policies ?
Egypt-France
Voir le compte-rendu scientifique du colloque
Registration is required, space is limited: dealingwithpoverty2019@gmail.com
Venue : IFAO, Cairo, 37 El-Shaikh Ali Youssef (off Qasr al Ayni street)
Organisation : Marie Vannetzel (CURAPP/CEDEJ) et Marine Poirier (CEDEJ)
Partners :
CEDEJ (Centre d’études et de documentation économiques, juridiques et sociales)
CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique)
CURAPP (Centre universitaire de recherches sur l’action publique et le politique)
IFAO (Institut français d’archéologie orientale)
AUF (Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, Direction régionale Moyen-Orient)
IFE (Institut français d’Egypte)
Objectives of the Conference
Comparing Egypt and France, this conference questions the convergences and divergences in the concepts and survey methods used to study poverty and social policies in both the South and the North. What are the difficulties faced in moving these concepts and tools in either direction between these contexts?
Similar public policy mechanisms are implemented in both societies: poverty targeting, conditionality and nudges, financial inclusion, etc. These convergences in social policies are produced by the circulation of mechanisms through international organisations, as well as by the recent merger of the global agendas for development and sustainable development (ODD Agenda 2030). To what extent and in which ways do these convergences guide academic research on these objects? How does the convergence of social and political treatments of poverty lead to changes in its scientific treatments?
Despite the action of a few “brokers” (especially in economics), social science literature on poverty and social policies often remains compartmentalized between “North” and “South” contexts. This is the effect of the disjunction between analytical traditions (often framed in terms of “underdevelopment” in the South, and “exclusion/precariousness” in the North). This relative dissociation in scientific approaches to poverty raises even more questions since there are, at the same time, powerful convergence dynamics in social policies dealing with poverty.
Building on a cross-fertilization of views on Egyptian and French fieldworks, the objective of the various panels is to develop a reflection on the assumptions underlying the choices made by researchers, all specialists in poverty but enrolled in various disciplines of social sciences (sociology, anthropology, economics, history, political science). As researchers, how do we formulate our questions and build our objects? What categories of analysis do we mobilize and what survey methods do we use? What motivates us to do so and what are the implications of these choices? What does this reveal about the scope and limits of policy convergences, and their impact on analytical convergences ?
This reflection will be carried out during five thematic panels. The first panel concerns the recurrent question of the definition and measurement of poverty, and aims to provide a comparative and reflexive assessment of the state of debates in Egypt and France. The second panel questions what the idea of poverty induces in analytical representations of social space, alternately thought in terms of margins, strata or social classes. The third panel discusses a discursive category frequently associated with the “problem” of poverty, namely the idea of a social contract in crisis. The fourth panel brings together researchers addressing poverty through micro-level studies, focusing on the daily practices of actors coping with the lack of resources. Finally, the fifth panel compares how the links between poverty and citizenship are studied and the capacities of popular groups to act
Programme
January 14
9 am Welcome coffee
9.30 am Introduction / Marie Vannetzel (Political scientist, CURAPP/CEDEJ)
10 – 12.30 am Panel 1 – Measures of Poverty : an endless debate ?
Chair : Omneia Helmy (Economist, FEPS, Cairo University)
Heba al-Laithy (Economist, FEPS, Cairo University)
Blandine Destremau (Sociologist/Economist, CNRS, IRIS)
Karima Korayem (Economist, al-Azhar University)
Malak Labib (Historian, EUME/Freie Universitat)
12.30 – 2 pm Lunch at IFAO
2 – 4.30 pm Panel 2 – At the Bottom of the Scale ? Poverty, margins, stratas and social classes
Chair : Marine Poirier (Political scientist, CEDEJ)
Khalid Abu-Ismail (Economist, independent)
Dina Makram-Ebeid (Anthropologist, AUC)
Saker El Nour (Sociologist, Paris 1 Sorbonne)
Cédric Hugrée (Sociologist, CNRS, CRESPPA)
January 15
9 – 11 am Panel 3 – The Poor, the Crisis and the Social contract : Concepts or Deceits ?
Chair : Marie Vannetzel (Political scientist, CNRS, CURAPP/CEDEJ)
Sarah Sabry (Development studies scholar, independent)
Mohamed Gad (Economist, independent)
Salma Hussein (Sociologist/Economist, independent)
Dina Armanious (Economist, FEPS, Cairo University)
11 – 11.15 am Coffee break
11.15 am – 1.15 pm Panel 4 – How do the poor make ends meet ? Social (in)security in daily life
Chair: Chahir Zaki (Economist, FEPS, Cairo University)
Ana Perrin-Heredia (Sociologist, CNRS, CURAPP)
Racha Ramadan (Economist, FEPS, Cairo University)
Hania Sholkamy (Anthropologist, AUC)
1.15 – 2.30 pm Lunch at IFAO
2.30 –4.30 pm Panel 5 – Poor Citizens ! Rights, protests, encroachments
Chair : Karine Bennafla (Geographer, CEDEJ)
Clara Deville (Sociologist, CURAPP)
Malak Rouchdy (Sociologist, AUC)
Pierre-Yves Baudot (Political scientist, IRISSO)
Yasmine Moataz (Anthropologist, AUC)
4.30 – 5 pm Conclusions
