TIRUCHY: IIM Tiruchy conducted the International Conference of Markets and Development, the 16th Biennial Conference of ISMD, the International Society of Markets and Development from 16 December to 18 December 2021.
The three-day virtual conference featured 6-panel discussions with 32 participants from around the globe engaging in discussions about multiple topics such as informal markets, marketization and hierarchies of knowledge.
The Conference featured delegate and panellists from Schulich School of Business, York University, Birmingham Business School, Royal Holloway University of London, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Loyola University Chicago, University of Glasgow, RMIT University-Australia, University of Helsinki, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore and many other prominent institutions.
The inaugural ceremony held on the 16th of December began with the lighting of the lamp by faculty members from IIM Trichy including Director Prof. Pawan Kumar Singh, Dean Administration, Prof. Godwin Tennyson, and the conference chairs, Prof. Apoorv Khare and Prof. Hari Sreekumar from the marketing area.
The keynote address of the conference was held the following day with the keynote speaker Prof. Fuat Firat. Calling the present time as "the era of normalization of the absurd", he remarked that what would have been yesterday's parody is today's normal.
He went on to speak about the erosion of democracy and the global domination of neoliberal ideologies where the economic interests of the powerful have supplanted the interests of democracy. Noting that democracy has been sold out to corporations in first-world countries, he argued that democracy was always a project in the process of completion but never completed.
He urged the audience to consider the current state of wealth inequality and pollution, its overarching effect on society, and what academics can do to subvert this crisis.
The closing ceremony held on 18th December commenced with Prof. Hari Sreekumar announcing the winner of the Best Paper Award for ICMD 2021 - Dr. Chloe Preece for her paper titled "Choose your Own Future - The Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Virtual Reality".