About
This is an informal description of the thinking behind the second subsistence marketplaces bottom-up immersion conference. We invite you to read and consider participating in this
unique, one-of-a-kind forum.
Conference Description
The stream of subsistence marketplaces has pioneered a unique, bottom-up approach to research, education, and practice at the intersection of poverty and marketplaces. Building
on seven biennial conferences and one immersion conference in the last 12 years and accompanying publications, we now announce the second immersion conference on subsistence marketplaces. True to the bottom-up approach that characterizes the subsistence marketplaces
stream, this new series of conferences is envisioned to take place in different continents over time, thus providing an opportunity for researchers, educators, practitioners, and students to engage directly with urban and rural subsistence marketplaces, through
conversations and observations.
Our second immersion conference will be held in Arusha, Tanzania, with field visits in rural, semi-urban and urban settings, such as to tribal communities, as well as social enterprises. This is enabled by the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative, University of Illinois, the Marketplace Literacy Project, USA, and OIKOS, East Africa, who have worked together for more than five years with tribal communities in the Arusha region.
How to Apply
First, complete a simple form that asks the following:
· An overview
of your interests (research, education, social enterprise, business, government, other) as they relate to subsistence marketplaces.
· An outline of
how your topic enhances understanding of and well-being in subsistence marketplaces.
· A description
of how/why immersive experiences will help you develop deeper insights into your topic of interest.
· Your prior experiences
in subsistence marketplaces (if any). Note that prior experience in this area is NOT a requirement. In fact, we want to encourage those without prior experience to participate.
In addition to indicating your intention to participate which can be done right away, we will need you to complete a separate registration form to process your payment for the
conference that will be open soon. Both forms can be found on the conference website.
Background Information
For more than a decade, the Subsistence Marketplaces Conference Series has been a leading biennial forum for evolving and sharing research, education, and fostering best practices
for social and commercial enterprises in subsistence marketplace communities.
Scholars and practitioners around the world have participated in these forums through conferences, publications, and educational initiatives, beginning with the first Subsistence
Marketplaces Conference in 2006. Research by this community has appeared in a variety of outlets, sustained through a series of special issues/sections in academic journals (with more than 50 articles in conference-related special publications and many more
in other outlets).
Since its origin, subsistence marketplace research has accumulated a substantial body of knowledge paralleling other approaches to poverty, such as the capabilities approach and
base-of-the-pyramid research, providing unique and complementary insights.
The term “subsistence marketplaces” was deliberately coined to reflect the need to study these marketplaces across resource and literacy barriers in their own right, beyond being
new markets for companies. Business and exchange happens in many different ways across the world. Such exchanges are worthy of study from the inside out as well as the outside in. The term “marketplaces” denotes this focus and emphasizes the need to understand
preexisting marketplaces before designing or presuming solutions.
More information on the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative can be found at https://www.business.illinois.edu/subsistence/.
(217) 333-4550 | [log in to unmask]
Ronika Chakrabarti, Lancaster University
Ramadhani Kupaza, Marketplace Literacy Project and OIKOS, East Africa
Francesca Lucchi, OIKO East Africa
Aravinda Garimella, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Sandra Loeb, Kings College
Felix, Nandonde, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
Jacob Park, Green Mountain College
Steven Rayburn – Texas State University
Entrepreneurship – John Clarke, Tulane University, and Srinivas Venugopal, University of Vermont
Social Innovation – Valeri Werpetiniski, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign