Call for participation: British Council-Newton Fund workshop in Mexico City
Producing and contesting urban marginality: Speculation, public space
and social movements in the neoliberal city
Universidad La Salle, Mexico City
From Tuesday 12 to Friday 15 July 2016 (inclusive)
The workshop is coordinated by Julie Cupples (University of Edinburgh)
and Mario López González Garza (Universidad La Salle) with contributions
from mentors Tom Slater (University of Edinburgh) and Antonio Gallardo
(Universidad La Salle)
We are now inviting Early Career Researchers from the UK and Mexico to
apply to attend this workshop. Travel (up to a maximum of £1000 for
UK-based and £150 for Mexican-based researchers) and accommodation
expenses (up to a maximum of £320) will be covered by the Newton
Researcher Links programme. The application form, available here, must
be submitted to [log in to unmask] before the deadline of 11 April
2016.
Workshop details
In Mexico City, as in many other large cities worldwide, contemporary
modes of urban governance have overwhelmingly benefited affluent
populations and widened social inequalities. Disinvestment from social
housing and rent-seeking developments by real estate companies and land
speculators have resulted in the displacement of low-income populations
to the urban periphery. Public social spaces have been eliminated to
make way for luxury apartments and business interests. Low-income
neighbourhoods are often stigmatized by dominant social forces to
justify their demolition. The urban poor have however negotiated and
resisted these developments in a range of ways. Our workshop seeks to
explore these urban dynamics in Mexico City and beyond, looking at the
material and symbolic mechanisms through which urban marginality is
produced and contested. It seeks to understand how things might be
otherwise, how the city might be geared towards more inclusive forms of
belonging and citizenship.
We seek to chart the ways in which processes of urban transformation are
enacted both materially and symbolically and the impacts these processes
have on the urban poor. We will also explore the urban struggles that
result from these impacts. We are
especially interested in discussions that are focused on linking the
macrodeterminants of urban political economy to the life options and
strategies of the poor at ground level. This would provide propitious
terrain for reformulating from 'below', in empirical terms, the labels,
discourses and categories imposed from 'above' that
have been shown in scholarship to have corrosive consequences. Drawing
on these insights, we hope to produce a series of recommendations for
stakeholders with a view to producing a more inclusive city where the
social, economic and cultural needs of marginalised people become a
central principle according to which the restructuring of urban space
occurs.
The workshops will provide a unique opportunity for sharing research
expertise and networking. During the workshops early career researchers
will have the opportunity to present their research in the form of a
short oral presentation and discuss this with established researchers
from the UK and Mexico. The workshop will also include a field trip to
a number of marginal and irregular settlements in Mexico City to
interact with artists and community leaders. There will be a focus on
building up links for future collaborations and participants selected on
the basis of their research potential and ability to build longer term
links. We will for example partner UK and Mexican researchers to
co-author a book chapter for a published anthology after the workshop is
completed.
We are seeking researchers who are working on questions of urban
marginality in cities in Mexico or elsewhere in the world. We are
particularly interested in scholars who have built close relationships
with urban social movements or with communities in irregular settlements
or those facing eviction of displacement.
Eligibility Criteria:
Researchers must be conducting research on urban marginality in Mexico
or other cities in the world and are interested in sharing insights from
diverse geographical locations.
Applications must be submitted using the Researcher Links application
form, available here
Application must be submitted before the above deadline.
Participants must be early career researchers: Early Career Researchers
are defined as holding a PhD (or having equivalent research experience)
and having up to 10 years post-PhD (or equivalent) research experience.
Participants must have a research or academic position (either a
permanent post, research contract, or teaching/research fellowship etc)
at a recognised research institution either in the UK or in Mexico.
Applicants must be willing to contribute a co-authored book chapter to
the anthology that will result from the workshop. Support will be
provided by the workshop coordinators and mentors. The language of the
workshop will be in English, so all participants must be able to work in
English, but allowances will be made for non-native English speakers. UK
participants with some Spanish fluency will be particularly welcome.
Quality Assessment
Experience and relevance of the applicant’s research area to the workshop
Motivation and contribution to the aims of the workshop
Description of the long term impact expected through the participation
in the workshop
Ability to disseminate workshop’s outcomes
Notification of results:
Applicants will be notified by email no more than two months prior to
the workshop and hopefully no later than 25 April.
More details and access to the application form can be found at:
https://juliecupples.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/producing-and-contesting-urban-marginality-speculation-public-space-and-social-movements-in-the-neoliberal-city/
--
Julie Cupples
Reader in Human Geography
Co-director, Global Development Academy
Institute of Geography
School of Geosciences
University of Edinburgh
Drummond Street
Edinburgh EH8 9XP
Phone: +44 (0) 131 651 4315
FAX: +44 (0) 131 650 2524
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://juliecupples.wordpress.com/
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/global-development
@juliecupples79
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
|