June 22-24, 2018 | Champaign, Illinois at the I-Hotel
Organized by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Conference Co-Chairs
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Ronika Chakrabarti
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Paul Ingenbleek
Wageningen University
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Srinivas Venugopal
University of Vermont
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Conference Director
Madhu Viswanathan
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Subsistence marketplaces consist of consumer and entrepreneur communities living at a range of low income levels, and are concentrated in developing countries and regions such as Brazil, India, China, Vietnam, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally,
many individuals in developed countries also live in subsistence. For more than a decade, the Subsistence Marketplaces Conference has been a leading forum for evolving and sharing research and fostering best practices for improving quality of life in these
communities. The subsistence marketplaces approach is unique in examining the intersection of poverty and marketplaces with a bottom-up approach that begins with micro-level understanding of life circumstances of consumers, entrepreneurs, and communities.
This stream has been reflected in six biennial conferences and almost 60 refereed articles in related special journal issues (https://business.illinois.edu/subsistence/conferences/),
as well as in dedicated session tracks at other conferences and refereed articles in a variety of journals.
Our biennial conferences are not only interdisciplinary but also inter-sector, drawing from researchers and practitioners from business, social, and governmental sectors (https://business.illinois.edu/subsistence/conferences/).
The 7th Subsistence Marketplaces Conference is intended for a wide audience that spans research or practical interest in subsistence marketplaces, with diverse disciplinary backgrounds such as in business (e.g., marketing, management, entrepreneurship,
strategy), development, policy, and related social sciences as well as technical areas.
The six conferences we have organized cover themes from consumption and entrepreneurship beyond literacy and resource barriers to consumption and commerce for a better world, impactful research to sustainable innovation,
micro-level insights to macro-level impact, spanning geographies and substantive domains, and developing pathways at the intersection of research and practice. We debuted what we hope is a parallel series of immersion conferences unique to our bottom-up approach
within the next year, which is built around field interactions starting out in South and North India and moving to other countries. Accompanying each conference have been special issues or sections, to encourage research with this bottom-up approach. The research
featured at our conferences and published in special issues/sections cover a wide range of poverty contexts from isolated tribal communities to refugee settlements, to rural and urban settings around the world. Moreover, this fundamental understanding has
been used to derive implications for a variety of sectors of society.
In its seventh iteration, the 2018 conference is titled to highlight the intersection of subsistence marketplaces with environmental sustainability as well as social and economic sustainability. The intersection of
poverty and the environment presents enormous challenges in the coming decades. It is imperative that we understand the challenges faced by individuals, households, and communities in contexts of high uncertainty that subsistence marketplaces represent, overlaid
with uncertainties posed by environmental changes. For example, climate change and ecological deterioration affect food production in different parts of the world, but in particular, where technological innovations are hindered by infrastructural, social,
and economic barriers. This is particularly problematic at a time in which many of the smallholder farmers should switch from producing food for their own families to market-based production that supplies the rapidly growing urban areas. What are the nature
and implications of environmental challenges for subsistence marketplaces? How does the functioning of subsistence marketplaces affect the (sustainable) use of natural resources? How can poverty alleviation occur without placing extra burdens on the natural
environment? How can modern technologies and condensed change help to create sustainable lifestyles when consumption patterns start to increase? In turn, what are the technological innovations from the top-down that can be brought to bear to address the challenges
uncovered through bottom-up insights? How can our understanding of climate change and other environmental factors be used to design solutions that address well-being and sustainability from the bottom-up?
A key emphasis now is to look back to the previous six conferences as well as the forthcoming first immersion conference and the resultant research, education, and practice; as well as to look forward toward new pathways
for current and emerging scholars. In doing so, the conference will highlight boundary-spanning research and practice and work that moves from research to practice and back again. Thus, we aim to highlight the importance of rigorous and relevant research and
how such research is informed by, and can further inform, meaningful and engaged practice.
The conference begins with an evening reception Friday, June 22 and sessions through Saturday and midafternoon Sunday, June 24. The conference purposefully includes a blend of plenary sessions, participatory workshops,
special topical sessions, and presentations of papers submitted in response to this call. The emphasis is on sharing nascent ideas and knowledge (or new and provocative questions) among researchers, practitioners, and students.
Friday afternoon is dedicated to a pre-conference workshop designed specifically for doctoral students and junior researchers.
A poverty simulation exercise will take place during the conference.
