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AAG 2006 CALL FOR PAPERS CFP: Geographies of Labour/Cultures of Labour Chicago, 7th-11th March 2006 http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/Chicago2006/call_4_papers.cfm Organisers: Sally Weller, School of Anthropology Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Melbourne Andy Storey, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London Neo-liberalism assumes the sale of labour in the capitalist market is unproblematic, and operates in manner similar to other commodities. It assumes that workers have similar and motivations regardless of location and culture. But political economists view labour as the ''most fundamental and most problematic of all economic categories" (Block 1990:75), and conceive of the labour market as a complex socio-spatial phenomena structured by power relations and institutional forces. Geographical analyses of neo-liberal policies at the work-welfare and work- life interface have explored the uneven impacts of neo-liberal workfare policies, the resistances of communities, unions and other collectivities, and the social inequalities that are the inevitable outcomes. Such interventions have come increasingly to recognize the centrality of culture in the extension of, and resistance to, the unevenly developed landscapes of neo-liberalism. In this session we explore and theorise how the impacts of different cultures of work and forms of collective action create resistances that recast spatial outcomes and labour market trajectories in different places and among different groups of workers. In short, we are looking for new avenues of resistance to neo-liberal hegemony. Possible papers might be informed by, but are not restricted to: • Theories of work, the labour process, and their intersections with space, culture and politics; • Explorations of how culture, age and gender differences shape employment, work attitudes and employment outcomes; • Exploration of the spatial and social implications of new work forms - contractors, volunteers, consultants; • Local resistance to work-fare policies, especially those that embody critical interpretations of the commodification of labour; • Critiques and/or reformulations of human capital theory; • Ethnographic research in workplace contexts. See the AAG website <http://www.aag.org> provides more information. Accepted papers will need to be registered online (paper title and short abstract of no more than 250 words and with 3 keywords). If interested in participating, please send abstracts (of not more than 250 words) for possible inclusion in this session to Sally Weller [log in to unmask] or Andy Storey [log in to unmask] Please forward to those you who may be interested in participating. Abstract instructions: http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/Chicago2006/abstract.cfm