University of Southern Denmark, Odense organizes
Consumption Theory: Canon of Classics
Ph.D. Seminar
July 1st – July 5th 2023 (NEW DATES!)
The “Odense seminar” – officially entitled Consumption Theory: a Canon of Classics - will take place again in 2023. The seminar is part of the European Consumer Culture Theorizing doctoral seminar series, offered in collaboration with Middle Eastern Technical University and University of Lille.
Aim of the course: Consumption is taking center stage as a subject of study in multiple disciplines, including sociology and anthropology among others. Marketing and consumer research disciplines, along with economics, which had claimed consumption studies as their terrain, are both energized and challenged by this new interest in consumption. The purpose of this course is to critically investigate some of the key classics that constitute the foundation for many of the current perspectives in consumer research. Authors covered during the seminar include but is not restricted to Mikhail Bakhtin, Jean Baudrillard, Pierre Bourdieu, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, Marcel Mauss, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Marshall Sahlins, Edward Saïd and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The learning goals of the seminar are on the one hand to provide a basic academic education for doctoral candidates within some of the major founding texts behind the current work of consumer culture theorists. On the other hand, the goal is also to demonstrate the relevance of general and classical theory for the specific empirical projects and contexts of the doctoral students.
Therefore, the program includes three major types of tutoring: 1) lecturing from the faculty on the canon of classics, 2) dialogues where faculty and students elaborate on the relationship between the bodies of theory covered and specific applications in contemporary consumer research and 3) a set of faculty led group discussions of the students’ own projects. The seminar covers classical works and authors within a multitude of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, critical theory and philosophy.
Faculty: So far, confirmed invited faculty members for this seminar are Eric Arnould, Aalto University, Olga Kravets, University of London Royal Holloway and Craig Thompson, University of Wisconsin. Additionally, faculty will consist of Søren Askegaard, Domen Bajde, Julie Emontspool, Dannie Kjeldgaard, Dorthe Brogård Kristensen, Niklas Woermann and Ian Woodward, all from University of Southern Denmark – Odense. This faculty list may not be final.
Location and dates: The seminar will take place in the Odense, partially in the Danish Institute for Advanced Study Building, SDU Campus, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M and partially at the Convent of Noble Virgins, Albani Torv 6, DK-5000 Odense C. Students will be lodged in a downtown hotel within walking distance from the convent and with easy access to the light rail connection to SDU campus. The students are expected to arrive during the day or evening of Tuesday June 21st and leave Tuesday June 27th. For participants in the 2023 CCT Conference, we inform you that the train ride between Odense and Lund is around 3 hours. In other words, there is plenty of time to arrive in Lund for the opening of the conference.
Fee: The fee for participation is expected to be maximum 1000 Euro including accommodation and all meals. An online participation option will be available at a reduced rate.
Other course information: The seminar will be held in English and is 6 ECTS credits. A letter of application with a brief description (1-2 pages) of the student’s project should be sent to the seminar coordinator no later than February 15th 2023. Acceptance on the seminar will be sent out on March 1st 2023.
Seminar coordinator: Søren Askegaard, Professor of Consumer Culture, Department of Marketing & Management, University of Southern Denmark - Odense, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark. E-mail: aske@sam.sdu.dk. Tel: +45 65 50 32 55
Suggested general reading: Søren Askegaard & Benoît Heilbrunn, eds. (2018). Canonical Authors in Consumption Theory, London: Routledge.
Evaluation: To acquire the credits for the seminar, the student must deliver satisfactory presentations and participate actively and constructively in the seminar discussions as well as in the one-to-one sessions with faculty members. The group of faculty will convene at the end of the seminar to assess each of the students’ performance.