Greetings all,
Noel Castree asked me to post this on the list.
Best wishes
Moya
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ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN 
GEOGRAPHERS, NYC 2001            
 CALL FOR PAPERS

Paper session on the theme of  'Scales of in/justice: power, 
hegemony and resistance' the 97th Annual Meeting of the Association 
of American Geographers, New York City, 27 February - 3 March 2001

Organisers: Noel Castree (University of Manchester) and Andy Herod 
(University of Georgia)

At a time when 90% of the world's population commands less then 20% 
of global wealth, when the creative destruction of nature proceeds 
apace and when local solidities melt in the face of global 
fluidities, the geography of in/justice matters more than ever. 
More specifically, as the fate of specific individuals, communities 
and ecologies becomes increasingly dependent on far-flung events and 
processes, geographical scale takes centre-stage in the perpetuation 
of injustice and in struggles for alternatives to existing 
socio-environmental orders.  This session is devoted to sharpening 
theoretical, normative and empirical understandings of the 
relationship between geographical scale, on the one side, and 
struggles against/for social and environmental in/justice on the 
other. For scale is a double-edged sword whose production and 
contestation poses opportunities and problems for 
the powerful - be they global corporations or national governments - 
and those struggling against them - be they the Zapatistas or the 
Liverpool dock workers. 

Over the last five years in particular, our theoretical, empirical 
and normative understanding of geographical scale has increased 
enormously (thanks to the efforts of Neil Brenner, Erik Swyngedouw, 
Neil Smith, David Harvey, Mark Goodwin, Bob Jessop and others). 
Likewise, geographers such as David M Smith, Brendan Gleeson and Nick 
Low have enriched understandings of the spatialities of justice. 
However, all too often questions of justice are left implicit in 
debates on geographical scale, while debates on geographical justice 
rarely draw explicitly on the rich insights coming from analysts of 
scale.

If, as David Harvey avers, "The establishment of conditions at one 
scale ... is ... a necessary (though not sufficient) condition to 
create ... alternatives at another" (Harvey, 2000: 84), then it is 
essential that the problematics of scale and justice be brought 
together more directly and vigorously than heretofore. The organisers 
are therefore looking for papers - conceptual or empirical, 
explanatory or normative - which explicitly link questions of 
geographical scale with questions of power and resistance viz. 
in/justice. Topically, the papers can be on pretty much anything - 
production, consumption, debt, environment, law, property etc etc.

In particular, we would like to encourage papers which explore the 
following issues:

- how is scale used to perpetuate unjust social, economic and 
environmental situations?
- what are some of the geographical  dilemmas and contradictions that 
attach to struggles for justice?
- how can concepts of scale and justice enrich one another as part of 
a broader Left geographical critique of the contemporary world?
- how can local understandings of justice be reconciled with 
trans-local struggles for alternative socio-natural orders? 
- how do individual considerations about justice relate to a more 
collective conception of justice i.e. how, if at all, can principles 
of and struggles for justice  be 'glocal' without becoming 
incoherent?

At this stage we're looking for expressions of interest, a notional 
title and a few sentences summarising what you might talk about. Even 
if you have only a hazy idea of what you'd like the talk about at 
this stage don't let this stop you getting back in touch with one of 
us. We hope to put together a great session with a wide range of 
both speakers and topics.  
 
Replies by late June please.

Noel Castree ([log in to unmask])   Andy Herod 
([log in to unmask])
Dr. Noel Castree
School of Geography
Mansfield Cooper Bldg
Manchester University
Manchester M13 9PL
ph. 0161 275 3627
fax. 0161 275 7878








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