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CFP: The politics of land: from Magna Carta to Occupy International Conference of Historical Geographers 2015, London, 5-10 July 2015 Convenors: Briony McDonagh (University of Hull) [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> and Carl Griffin (University of Sussex) [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> 'We: peaceful people, declare our intention to go and cultivate the disused land of this island; to build dwellings and live together in common' So begins the manifesto of the Diggers 2012, the founders of a 21st-century eco-camp in woodland overlooking the meadow in Runnymede (Surrey) where the Magna Carta was drawn up in 1215. Drawing explicitly on the politics and practices of early modern radicals – most obviously the Diggers movement of the English Civil War, which in turn drew on older histories of dispossession and resistance – the camp is envisioned by those living there as a radical community and a challenge to a ‘system in crisis’. Its existence can be understood not only as part of the wider Occupy movement but also as belonging to a deeper political project to reform capitalist property relations and more equitably distribute land. In short, interest in the politics of land has undergone a recent public and critical resurgence, both in the UK and internationally. Thus for example, the so-called Land Wars in India, Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil and Landless Peoples’ Movement in South Africa, and more recent – but historically connected – land encampments in the UK have been paralleled by a groundswell of work in geography, history and cognate disciplines attempting to understand the acts of dispossession undertaken by neoliberalism. Yet as the example of the Diggers 2012 and their 17th-century forebears makes clear, land agitation also has a long history, a history that should not be reduced to the classic story of the enclosure of the commons. These sessions will explore the history of land agitation in Britain and beyond, interrogating the connections between land, politics and protest in the 800 years between Magna Carta and Occupy. In doing so, we have three key objectives. Firstly, to examine popular and political engagements with the land, including ideas of property, ownership, radical agrarianism, land reform and alternative land-based communities. Secondly, to explore the range of protest practices by which opposition and resistance – for example, to enclosure – are enacted. And thirdly, to try to understand the ways in which past politics and protest have been mobilized to inform and motivate struggles over land and property (both in the past and the present). The convenors invite papers on these and related themes. While we take inspiration from English enclosure opposition of the 16th through to the mid 19th centuries – a foundational concern of historical geography and social history alike – contributors are limited in neither place nor period. We welcome reflections on the politics of land in any context from geographers, historians, anthropologists and critical legal scholars amongst others. Please send abstracts (of no more than 200 words) to both convenors by 1 September, along with details of any special audio-visual requirements or mobility requirements. Further details on the ICHG Conference are available at: http://www.ichg2015.org/ Details of conference fees are available at: http://www.ichg2015.org/registration/ ________________________________ Dr. Briony McDonagh Lecturer in Human Geography (Cultural and Historical) Department of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences University of Hull Hull, HU6 7RX 01482 466734 | [log in to unmask] | twitter.com/BrionyMcDonagh | hull.academia.edu/BrionyMcDonagh