Dear All,
Apologies for crossposting
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Call for Papers; 7th EARACAG
7th East Asian Regional Conference in Alternative Geography (EARCAG)
1st Version 22, March 2014
Conference: Osaka, Japan, 23-25 July 2014
Retreat: Tohoku Area, 26-28 July 2014
see also:
http://econgeog.misc.hit-u.ac.jp/earcag/index.html (7th meeting)
http://www.lit.osaka-cu.ac.jp/geo/CFP_7EARCAG.htm
Introduction
The aim of EARCAG is to provide a forum for critical geographers and
social scientists to discuss and debate urban and spatial issues in
East Asia. The main theme of this conference is "The Right to Inhabit:
the Asian Challenges".
In East Asia, politics and economics are entering another stage of
difficulty, unevenness and conflict. While countries that have
switched to capitalism with stronger state intervention and
large-scale production are enjoying considerable growth in the ever
globalizing economy, those countries that have progress into a
neo-liberal framework with concomitant financialization have been
suffering from lower growth rates and resulting economical turmoil.
Amidst such disparity, several countries are now looking into more
nationalist politics, causing aggravating international rivalries in
East and South China Seas as well as in the Sea of Japan/East Sea.
Turning our eyes to lower spatial scales, the uneven urbanization
processes and patterns witnessed over East Asia are increasingly
becoming socially and ecologically alarming. State-led authoritarian
urban governance has been producing large-scale urban encroachments
into newly targeted rural regions, and aggressive redevelopment
strategies are restructuring existing cities. Consequently, land
dispossession and the displacement of farmers have forced laborers to
migrate to the cities to sell their labor power. It has been difficult
for them to live in the city, as their rights to the city have not
been well recognized and registered. Similarly, redevelopment
processes within the city continue to force disadvantaged residents to
leave their homes, resulting in homelessness for some.
In countries that have adopted a more neo-liberalist trajectory,
authorities are also exerting policies to deprive people of their
rights to inhabit, but in different, more subtle ways. Based on the
assumption of neo-classical economics that human nature is inherently
evil, governments have been experimenting with new means of
surveillance, control and oppression over human space. Video cameras
at every street corner, the IC transport cards used to keep track of
people’s daily spatial paths, the enactment of various functional
security legislatures in the guise of welfare etc. immediately jump to
mind.
Furthermore, the rampant drive for capital accumulation and
irresponsible governance of state power has produced many
environmental disasters. Large amounts of land, sea and air have been
contaminated with industrial and nuclear wastes. Our food, water, air
and living environment have been seriously engendered, and our right
to inhabit is thus being threatened in other, serious ways.
As such, the struggles against this multi-faceted elements of East
Asian capitalism has come to be all the more difficult; but hope
should not be abandoned. Numerous people suffering from negligence and
abuse inflicted by governmental institutions are rising their voices,
not only local but also on regional and global scales. In the cities,
we continue witness various attempts to mitigate these social issues
and other concerns, including new participatory community projects and
alternative grassroot regeneration efforts to revitalize disinvested
neighborhoods and attract new economic resources. In northeastern
Japan, people still suffering from the aftermath of the
earthquake/tsunami, as well as the nuclear disaster, keep struggling
to get hold of the right to inhabit their respective localities.
These socio-ecological issues invite multi-scalar understandings, not
to be restricted to the urban and local levels, but to be extended to
across East Asia and even the global. The complex, socio-ecological
forms of urban and spatial transformations and struggles must be
understood and seriously debated. To contribute, we focus on the
concept of "the right of inhabit", to imagine alternative ideas and
suggest new configurations of space and social praxes to counteract
both state capitalism and neo-liberalism. We therefore put forth the
following themes:
Themes
/Struggles for the right to inhabit and social justice
/Claims to inhabit and alternative urban governance
/Urban and spatial discourses and power relations
/Redevelopment and gentrification
/Bottom-up revitalization projects
/Local and national welfare: initiatives and hidden power
/Spatial restructuring under neo-liberalism
/Nature and environment in capital accumulation
/Governance in disaster management
/Resettlement policies and housing studies
/Political economies of development under state capitalism
/Alternative urban economies
/Critical geopolitics in Asia
...
Date
Conference (Osaka): 23 -25 July 2014; Osaka International House
http://www.ih-osaka.or.jp/english/
Retreat (Fieldtrip) in Sendai, Ishinomaki and Fukushima: 26-28 July 2014.
Venues
The conference is hosted by the Osaka City University, Urban Research
Plaza and will be held in Osaka International House.
http://www.ih-osaka.or.jp/english/. During the field trip, 2 sessions
will be organized on-site (TBA).
Keynote Speakers
To be announced later.
Abstracts
Those wishing to present a paper are invited to submit by e-mail
([log in to unmask]) the TITLE and ABSTRACT (ca. 300 words) by 31
May 2014.
Organized Sessions
Those planning to organize a session or sessions must contact Prof.
Toshio MIZUUCHI ([log in to unmask]) by 30 April, 2014, with title
and description of the session(s) and names of prospective presenters.
Registration
Those wishing to attend the conference must register by 15 May 2014
(to [log in to unmask]). The registration form can be downloaded
from http://econgeog.misc.hit-u.ac.jp/earcag/index.html or directly
access to http://www.lit.osaka-cu.ac.jp/geo/Registration_form.docx
Registration Fee
1) Participants from the OECD member countries, Taiwan, Singapore and HKSAR
US$120 (faculty) US$60 (student)
2) Participants from rest of the world
US$60 (faculty) US$30 (student)
Accommodation
Conference: Hotel reservations can be made at "Hotel Chuo Oasis" (40
single rooms available at the cost of JPY 3,100)
Retreat: Hotel ... (Sendai, booking +- JPY 5,000, TBA)
Field Trip
In light of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami and the resulting nuclear disaster
in Fukushima, a field trip will be organized to visit the
disaster-affected sites. Accommodation will be provided on-site. The
schedule is as follows:
(26th) Visit to Sendai. From 3:00pm onward, Mr. Sugano will walk us
around the areas where his NGO is providing rehabilitation assistance.
Afterwards, we will visit temporary housing areas and employment
assistance centers by chartered bus.
(27th) Excursion in Ishinomaki, where the whole town has been wiped
out by the tsunami. A local NGO will provide explanation on the
current state of affairs.
(28th) Visit to Fukushima by bus. Details will be provided later.
After the visit, the bus will take us to Tokyo, where those who travel
from Narita or Haneda International Airport can continue their way. A
night bus will take those who travel from Kansai International Airport
to Osaka (scheduled arrival: 29th, 8:00am).
Transport:
1) By Night Bus: Leave Fri 25: 9.pm, arrive in hotel @Sendai, Sat. 26:
9 am. (price: free)
2) By Shinkansen: Leave at latest by Sat.:.9 am, arrive in Sendai
Station by Sat.:2.pm, go by taxi to hotel (price 20,000 - 22,000 yen)
3) By Airplane: 70 minutes Flight, nineteen flights per day, (price
10,000 – 30,000 yen) "
Important Deadlines
Organizing session: 30 April, 2014
Registration: 15 May, 2014
Submission abstract: 31 May, 2014
Organization Committee (Steering Committee of EARCAG)
Byung-Doo Choi (Deagu University, South Korea)
Chu-joe Hsia (National Taiwan University, Taiwan/Nanjing University, China)
Jim Glassman (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Fujio Mizuoka (Hitotshbashi University, Japan)
Jinn-yuh Hsu (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)
Toshio Mizuuchi (Osaka City University, Japan)
Wing-Shing Tang (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong)
Bae-Gyoon Park (Seoul National University, South Korea)
Amriah Buang (National University of Malaysia, Malaysia)
Programme Committee
Wing-Shing Tang
Fujio Mizuoka
Geerhardt Kornatowski
Johannes Kiener
Mikyoung Son
Hong-Gyu Jeon
Koji Nakashima
Akio Onjo
Kenji Tsutsumi
Taku Sugano
Masato Mori
Shinya Kitagawa
Tamami Fukuda
Yoko Yoshida
Tatsuya Shirahase
Toshio Mizuuchi
--
Dr. des. Christina West M.A./LaG
Chair of Economic Geography
School of Law and Economics
University of Mannheim
68131 Mannheim
Germany
Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsgeographie (Abt. VWL)
L7, 3-4 (Raum P01)
Fakultät für Rechtswissenschaft und Volkswirtschaftslehre
Universität Mannheim
68131 Mannheim
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