---------------------
Call for Papers:
LEFT
GEOGRAPHIES
Paper session sponsored by the Participatory
Geographies Working Group of the RGS-IBG
RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2006, Global social justice and environmental
sustainability, London, 30 August - 01 September
2006
Convenors:
Ugo
Rossi, University L'Orientale
of Naples, Italy, Email: [log in to unmask]
&
Justin
Beaumont,
A recent intervention by Ash
Amin and Nigel Thrift in Antipode has sparked a lively and still
developing discussion among geographers about the present and the future of the
Left in geographical research. Many authors have already responded or are in the
process of responding to their intervention in scholarly events and gatherings
or through journal articles. These responses discuss the ideas and the cultural
and political sensibilities that should characterise a Left approach to
geographical studies, or, to put it another way, a geographical approach to Left
thinking and practice. Little attention, however, has so far been paid to the
actual practices of contemporary Left geographers at the intersection of theory,
politics and concrete experiences.
Conference participants are
encouraged to submit papers that aim at theoretical enrichment and empirical
advance, while avoiding partisan political polemic, through paper presentations
and discussion in relation to one or more of the following sets of
questions:
1) Theory: Which
theories are relevant and appropriate for upholding a Left geography? And how
have these changed over time?
2) Positions:
How do Left geographers position themselves within the discipline as a field
of power? How has this positioning evolved and transformed over the last
decades?
3) Policy: How do
Left geographers position themselves in relation to and deal with policy
concerns in the context of wider issues policy and political relevance in their
work?
4) Public Geography:
Is there such a thing as public geography today, as there was once in the past?
What is the actual and possible role of geographers on the Left as public
intellectuals in contemporary societies?
5) Gauche Plurielle:
Can we speak of a singular geography of the Left or about many Left geographies?
What are the differences between radical and oppositional Left geographies, on
the one hand, and those more closely located on the mainstream political Left?
And what about the Left geographies of ethnic and cultural minorities and other
identity groups?
6) Left and Right:
What distinguishes a Left geography from a Right geography and does the binary
opposition still hold? Is Left Geography a synonym of Critical
Geography?
7) Substantive
Issues: To what extent Is Left Geography still motivated by a political
desire to reduce poverty, mitigate social, economic, political and environmental
injustices and aim for wider democratization? What other issues are
important?
Please express your interest in participating along with an outline of the paper you have in mind at the first opportunity. Final abstracts (250 words max.) should be sent by email to both session convenors by 24 January 2006.
Urban and Regional
Studies Institute (URSI)
Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of
Groningen
P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen
THE NETHERLANDS
Direct: 00 31
(0)50 363 6910
Secr: -3895/ -3896/ -3897, Fax: -3901
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.rug.nl/frw/index