CFP: Global Cultures of Contestation

Submitted by Lauren Mathews on Tue, 04/21/2015 - 11:05

There is a call for paper for the Global Cultures of Contestation Conference that will be held by the Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies. The Conference will be held October 15th-16th at the University of Amsterdam. The main point of the conference is to examine this global wave of protest, characterised by the occupation of squares, streets and buildings—a diversity of tactics prominently involving online communication and emerging new political imaginaries. They are interested in papers that cover the following research topics:

-Reflecting on questions of mobility: how the protests challenge and transform cultural boundaries, as well as established understandings of security, belonging and home? And what form of mobility is implied in the global spread of these protests?

-How are issues of sustainability addressed? In what ways are the precarity of labor, ecological degradation and the preservation of objects of cultural and historical value put on the agenda? And to what extent are the protests themselves sustainable as effective forms of contestation?

-What are the aesthetics of contemporary protest movements? In this context, we welcome explorations of the global circulation and proliferation of new imaginaries (including their linguistic, visual and acoustic manifestations), as well as of how these new imaginaries challenge and/or reproduce dominant cultural regimes.

-What are the connective platforms that facilitate and structure today’s protest communication and mobilisation? How do these platforms not only enable contestation, but also shape its focus and dynamics?

Submissions are due by June 1st to (acgs-fgw@uva.nl). You must submit 200-300 words with a short bio (max 100 words). In your abstract, indicate for which of the four streams—mobility, sustainability, aesthetics or connectivity—you would like to be considered. Notice of acceptance will be given by 1 July 2015.

For more information, please refer to: http://acgs.uva.nl/news-and-events/news/item/call-for-papers-global-cult...