Seeing Like and Beyond James C. Scott (1936-2024)

In July 2024, we learned of the passing of American anthropologist and political scientist James C. Scott, whose work has come to be regarded as a classic in the social sciences. This international conference invites a critical re-examination of the theoretical contributions of James C. Scott’s work, from his early fieldwork in Southeast Asia in 1968 to his final posthumous book, In Praise of Floods, published in 2025.

Scott’s work stands out both for the breadth of his empirical contribution and for the richness and heuristic power of his conceptual input. It has helped to renew perspectives on enduring questions in the social sciences and anarchist domains—such as the nature of the State, the definition of the political, and forms of domination and resistance to authority.
Read as much in anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy, and even archaeology, James Scott has been a source of inspiration for each of these disciplines, while also drawing critical debate. He thus embodies a “crossroads author” whose work enables genuine interdisciplinary dialogue. His ideas have also resonated beyond the academic sphere, particularly among activist communities organized around the critique of the state.

This conference aims to revisit Scott’s legacy by confronting his concepts with empirical fieldwork, a methodological stance he himself encouraged. It seeks to evaluate the analytical potential of engaging dialogue with his work and to reconsider the scope and applicability of his theoretical tools. In order to avoid engaging in commemorative or hagiographic homage, the event will adopt a resolutely critical stance, in tune with the epistemological approaches of anarchism that Scott helped to develop. Indeed, some of his works have sparked controversies which would be interesting to trace and, above all, to debate.

We encourage contributions from all fields within the humanities and social sciences. Papers may examine the contributions and limitations of Scott’s work, test Scottian’s analytical frameworks within new empirical contexts, or focus on controversies raised by the reception of his work, discussing the appropriations and interpretations––sometimes to loose––of some of his concepts and notions.

Submission Guidelines

Paper proposals must:

• Specify the thematic area of the call to which they belong,
• The academic discipline they belong to,
• Include five keywords,
• Contain a title and a bibliography,
• Be anonymized,
• Not exceed 300 words for the abstract, including a presentation of the materials, methodology, positioning within the existing literature, research question, and main lines of analysis.
• Proposals should be sent in .doc or .docx format to the following address: beyondscott proton me