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With apologies for cross-posting... Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Conference 2016 30 August – 2 September, London Second Call for Papers State, territory, urbanism: Exploring the nexus between government and infrastructure Convenors: Mark Usher, University of Manchester ([log in to unmask]) Rhys Jones, Aberystwyth University ([log in to unmask]) Ingrid Medby, University of Durham ([log in to unmask]) This session will consider how research on the techno-political nexus between sovereignty and the ‘stuff’ of public services, namely large technological systems, infrastructural capacity and logistical centres, can provide original insights into traditional issues of statehood, nation-building, governance and socio-economic restructuring. The logistical matrix and everyday infrastructural workings of the state have become a ‘matter of concern’ (Barry 2013) not only for civil engineers but increasingly for scholars in the humanities and social sciences (Mukerji 2009; Guldi 2012; Jones and Merriman 2012; Joyce 2013; Harvey and Knox 2015; Swyngedouw 2015). Here, what Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari called ‘collective equipment’- canals, roads, railways, dams, utilities and telecommunications systems inter alia – have been conceptualised as a networked technological medium through which administrative control over territory and population has been consolidated, organised and urbanised (McFarlane and Rutherford 2008; Bennett and Joyce 2010). This session invites submissions that further our understanding of the nexus between infrastructure, territory and the state through empirical and theoretical analysis. In particular, how are nation-states assembled and endowed with ontological solidity as technological networks emerge, consolidate and integrate (Mitchell 2002), and indeed, what happens to our understanding and experience of government when these systems fragment and disperse? Can we think of infrastructure as a strategic medium between cities and the nation-state? How can a topological and ‘volumetric’ (Elden 2013) understanding of infrastructural space advance existing theories of the state? Potential themes could include, but are not limited to, the following: * State formation, nation-building and techno-nationalism * Restructuring, austerity and state dismantling * Territorialisation, assemblages and worlding * Urbanism, municipal governance and new state spaces * Material politics of infrastructure and engineering * Governmentality and material geographies of governance * Failing states and infrastructural incapacity * Techno-politics of logistics, circulation and mobilities * Political subjectivity, biopolitics and cyborg citizens * Socio-spatial theory, interdisciplinarity and the post-structural state Please send abstracts (250 words max) to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> by Friday 12th February, with your name and affiliation included. Participants will have 20 minutes to present, leaving 5 minutes for questions. ________________________________ Dr Mark Usher Geography Department School of Environment, Education and Development University of Manchester SEED Profile<http://www.seed.manchester.ac.uk/our-people/academic-staff/profile/?ea=mark.usher&pg=1> / Academia.edu<https://manchester.academia.edu/MarkUsher> ************************************************************* * Anthropology-Matters Mailing List * http://www.anthropologymatters.com * * A postgraduate project comprising online journal, * * online discussions, teaching and research resources * * and international contacts directory. * * To join this list or to look at the archived previous * * messages visit: * * http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML * * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all * * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: * * [log in to unmask] * * * * Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new * * CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com * * an international directory of anthropology researchers * * To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and * * go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page. * * ***************************************************************