[AISWorld] Second Subsistence Marketplaces Bottom-Up Immersion Conference

[Aravinda Garimella]

*Second **Subsistence** Marketplaces Bottom-Up Immersion Conference*



May 24-27 (or 28), 2019

Mount Meru Hotel

Arusha, Tanzania

https://business.illinois.edu/subsistence/second-immersion-conference-2019/



*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.



*Why is this conference unique?*


This is a bottom-up immersion conference. What this means is that we
emphasize field interactions. If we are truly bottom-up in the subsistence
marketplaces stream, then our forums should push further and be spent in
the field as well, gaining bottom-up insights.





*What will happen at the conference?*

We will spend much of the day in the field, then return to the city of
Arusha to reflect and regroup for the next day. We remain fluid in allowing
ideas from the participants and insights from the field to emerge and guide
the process. Our process is bottom-up in this aspect as well, but guided by
much experience, which will provide appropriate top-down structure.





*What else can we do?*

Enjoy safaris, shopping, and local cuisines. Visit cultural sites. Extend
your trip or arrive early. Visit Serengati, Ngorogoro Crater, Lake Manyara,
Tarangire or Arusha National Parks.  Hike Mount Kilimanjaro.





*Who makes this happen?*

A symbiotic relationship between the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative at
the University of Illinois, and the Marketplace Literacy Project (MLP),
partnering with OIKOS East Africa. Together, our marketplace literacy
program has reached thousands of Masai women in the Arusha region of
Tanzania. This is a unique model of symbiotic academic-social enterprise
and these entities are deeply embedded in communities, which will enable
field interactions for conference participants.





*What is the process building up to the conference?*

Track chairs will be responsible for leading small groups of 4-8 people to
the field with a trained translator. *Please email us if you are interested
in being a track chair. *We envision rural and urban Arusha region as the
venues for observations and interviews, with a period in the Spring when we
align groups and encourage interactions based on interests and preferences.
We aim for fluidity during the conference, for people to move between
groups. We plan to seek initial preferences from each group as to what they
want to see and with whom they want to interact – the latter ranging from
individuals to households, communities, leaders/experts, and enterprises.





*What this conference is NOT*

This conference is not a forum for conducting research, which, of course,
requires a variety of procedures and formalities. Therefore, the focus
instead is on field interactions, which are intended to stimulate
discussion but do not constitute the basis for any formal research.



*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
<https://business.illinois.edu/subsistence/second-immersion-conference-2019/>
.



*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/.



FOR MORE INFORMATION

https://business.illinois.edu/subsistence/second-immersion-conference-2019/



CONFERENCE DIRECTOR

Madhu Viswanathan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

(217) 333-4550 | *mviswana at illinois.edu* <mviswana at illinois.edu>



CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS


Ronika Chakrabarti, Lancaster University

Ronald Duncan, Marketplace Literacy Project & Subsistence Marketplaces
Initiative, Illinois

Ramadhani Kupaza, Marketplace Literacy Project and OIKOS, East Africa
Francesca Lucchi, OIKO East Africa


CONFERENCE  track CHAIRS to date


*Education and Access* - 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






Regards,

Aravinda Garimella

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Gies College of Business

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Office: Wohlers 415

Email: aravinda at illinois.edu