Final Call for Papers: RGS-IBG conference Sept 2003
Geographies of Citizenship
Convenors: Luke Desforges, Rhys Jones and Mike Woods (University of Wales,
Aberystwyth)
Social and Cultural Research Group, Leisure and Tourism Research Group,
Political Geography Research Group
Contemporary citizenship is being refigured both politically and
academically. In a political sense, the scales and institutions of
citizenship appear to be in transition as new forms of global citizenship
are emerging, which deal with increasing mobility. At the local level
citizenship is contested and there are strong debates about the
contemporary relevance of citizenships associated with the nation-state.
In an academic sense, new concepts of citizenship emphasise a ‘thick’
account based in “the cultural work that stands behind the achievement of
a 'citizen identity'" (Szersynski and Toogood 2000). New arenas of
citizenship in spheres such as the transnational, the cultural and the non-
human are also opening up new ways of thinking about rights,
responsibilities, individuals and communities.
This session explores the socio-spatial processes which are productive of
contemporary citizenship. It deals with scales from the local to the
global, and from the individual to the institutional. It addresses the
varieties of citizenships as they expressed in new forms of belonging,
rights and responsibilities. It also address ways in which we can
conceptualise these new geographies of citizenship.
The session aims to address the following questions:
• What sort of media, social interactions and spaces are implicated
in the socio-cultural production and contestation of contemporary
citizenship?
• How is contemporary citizenship being reconfigured in a scalar
sense?
• How are the new scales, sites and institutions of contemporary
citizenship encouraging us to reconsider our conceptualisations of
citizenship?
Abstracts of 200 words can be sent to Luke Desforges by 9 March 2003.
Contact: [log in to unmask], tel 01970 622640, Institute of Geography and
Earth Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DB Wales.
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