There is another possiblility that I overlooked. Perhaps the proposal for a
"Joint Project for a Comparative Study of Begging in Europe: Partner search"
is an elaborate post-modernist parody: "looking for partners" being
contemporary middle-class jargon for begging. The parody seeks to draw the
parallel between "street-level economic activities" and the "elite-level
begging" that goes on in academia.
>>The Department of Applied Social Studies at the University of Luton
>>includes a small group of social policy specialists with interests in
>>issues of welfare and citizenship, social exclusion and informal and
>>street-level economic activities, both in the UK and in Eastern Europe.
>>Specifically, individual members of this group have recently undertaken
>>a pilot study of begging in England and Scotland, conducted research on
>>street homelessness in Russia, and organised a successful national
>>seminar on begging A book based on the contributions to this seminar is
>>due to be published in September [Dean, H. (ed.) Begging and
>>Street-level Economic Activity, The Policy Press].
regards,
Tom Walker
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/covenant.htm
