​Infra-Demos

= "an anthropology for the infrastructures of a post-capitalist future". [1]

URL = http://www.infrademos.net/

Description

"infra-demos is an anthropological project studying the crisis in the existing infrastructural models and the emergence of new participatory ones in Greece.

...

infra-demos: Socio-Technological Innovation, Infrastructural Participation and Democracy is an anthropological project that studies the relationships between infrastructures and innovative socio-technological forms of participation arising within the infrastructural gap (IG). infra-demos investigates the social dynamics and assesses the capacities – and theoretical potentials – of such activities towards building societal resilience and transformative policies. Focusing empirically on Greece, it aims to extend the theoretical findings beyond the case.

IG emerged in the West after the political, social, economic ruptures of the 2008 crisis and refers to the difficulty of the State and private sector to sustain infrastructural networks. In 2015, the Global Economic Forum and Financial Times raised warnings about IG within G20 countries. While IG has affected the totality of infrastructural development, the most apparent results are in soft infrastructures (public services and welfare), related to a crisis of social reproduction.

In Europe, infrastructures are the realm wherein the state and the market materialise the majority of the democratic social contract. Citizens therefore experience IG as a challenge of the entire political paradigm. Governments now promote notions of 'Participatory Society’ (NL) or 'Big Society' (UK) in response to this crisis. Yet, on a practical and theoretical level, infrastructures lie at the core of the debate.

Greece is at the centre of the current Euro-crisis, giving rise to novel and innovative forms of civil activity focused on IG. The application of self-management and peer-to-peer practices — inspired by the commons and economic solidarity — and by using digital and other technological innovations, allow new crisis-resilient socio-technological systems to emerge.

We seek to explain the relationship between IG and novel forms of civil participation. infra-demos will apply both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including digital and traditional ethnography, the compilation of datasets, and application-oriented participant research. The overarching aim is to provide empirical material for innovative policies and social action by theorising the redefinition of infrastructures, democracy and society within the ongoing shifts in Europe.

infra-demos is a 5 years project having begun in September 2017. It is funded through a VIDI Innovative Research Talent grant of the Dutch Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO) and it is hosted by the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Vrije University Amsterdam." (http://www.infrademos.net/about.html)