Apologies for cross-posting
CONTEMPORARY BIOPOLITICAL SECURITY - An ESRC Seminar Series -
Co-sponsored by the Biopolitics of Security Network and the Biopolitics
of Security Research Unit @ Keele
Research Institute for Law, Politics, and Justice, Keele University
November 2008-2010
Second workshop: ‘The Biopolitics of Resilience’
University of Keele, 18-19 June 2009
-Call for papers-
Keynote speaker: Professor Pat O’Malley, University of Sydney
Resilience is becoming a security policy buzzword in areas as diverse as
environmental, terrorist, and economic risks. Bird flu, chemical,
biological, and nuclear attacks, flooding and natural disasters, all
loom over systems of production, exchange and the continuation of
liberal life. Cities, in particular, have been positioned as most
vulnerable to these threats and critical infrastructure protection has
been elevated to higher levels of priority.
But how do governments, cities, societies, and economies withstand and
bounce-back from such disastrous ‘events’? How is life expected not only
to endure but also to return to normal, either preserved or re-cast? How
is life expected to ‘reset’ itself, snapping back into orderly patterns
and routines? How are governments, agencies, organisations, and subjects
to adapt and transform when disturbances unfold? This poses a challenge
for contemporary liberal security policymaking.
However, there is no single language of resilience as evident in
simultaneous resilience discourses, from US Homeland Security, to the
European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection, and to the UK
Civil Contingencies Secretariat. Emergency preparedness has meant
preparing-for the possible outcomes of all-hazards catastrophe, but
there is no single understanding or logic of preparedness and
catastrophe. In an act of ‘letting go’ (Foucault), different modes of
resilience may assume that the event is inevitable, with the response up
for grabs.
This workshop, the second of the Biopolitics of Security ESRC seminar
series, seeks to examine the conception, en-action and experience of
resilience as a practice of liberal security. It seeks to pose questions
to historical and contemporary resilience strategies ranging from the
genealogy of the concept to their conditions of possibility and
operability, to their differentiation with other forms of security. In
particular, but not exclusively, the following questions will be pursued:
• Is resilience a defining feature of liberalism? Are other forms of
resilience present in its different stages?
• What is particularly different about resilience discourses in relation
to other practices of liberal security?
• What are the different rationalities and practices required for an
idea of resilience to operate?
• What do analyses of resilience discourses and practices have to offer
to the ways in which we understand contemporary liberal governance?
• Is resilience an exclusive feature of liberal forms of life?
We welcome papers that could address topics such as:
• Genealogies of resilience
• Civil contingencies and emergency planning
• The temporality of resilience – pasts and futures
• Resilience industries
• Critical infrastructure protection
• Resilience and the environment
• Imaginations of resilience
• All- or Multi-hazards and differential modes of response
• The subjects of resilience
• Logics of resilience
• Histories of resilience
• Urban and rural resilience
• The psychological and affective dimensions of resilience
• Pre-emption and preparedness
• Resilience and militarism
Organisers:
Dr Luis Lobo-Guerrero (International Relations, Keele University)
Dr Peter Adey, (Geography, Keele University)
Deadline for abstracts: Monday 16 February 2009
Confirmation of acceptance of abstracts: Monday 23 February 2009
Submission of papers: Monday 8 June 2009
Funding: Paper-givers will be funded by the seminar series. Some funds
have been reserved to facilitate the attendance of research students.
Please register your interest with Luis Lobo-Guerrero as soon as
possible ([log in to unmask])
A selection of papers will be considered for publication as part of an
edited volume for the seminar series
More information:
http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/lpj/bos/Seminar%20series/content.htm
--
Dr Peter Adey
Lecturer in Cultural Geography
Earth Sciences and Geography,
Keele University,
Staffordshire,
ST5 5BG
UK
[log in to unmask]
--
Dr Luis Lobo-Guerrero
Lecturer in International Relations
School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy
Chancellor's Building
Keele University
Keele, ST5 5BG
United Kingdom
Deputy-Postgraduate Research Director
Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice
Claus Moser Building
Keele University
BPS-RU@ Keele Biopolitics of Security Research Unit @ Keele
http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/lpj/research/BiopoliticsResearchUnit/index.ht
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