We still have spots available in this session.
2nd Call for Papers:
Session Title: Patrolling the Contours of Urban Security: An
Examination of security and insecurity in cities.
Organizers: David Roberts & Jason Burke, University of Toronto
Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (Seattle,
Washington)
April 12-16, 2011
Throughout history, issues of security have helped to define what it
means to be urban. While they have often acted as sites of safety
and protection, they have also served as arenas for conflict, civil
strife, protest, and revolution. From fortifications to advanced
technologies of surveillance, mechanisms of security and control
continue to evolve and transform the way cities are planned, managed,
and experienced. While increased forms of visible and non-visible
forms of security are having an impact on many people?s daily lives,
security measures are often deployed and legitimized without any
public input. It is not uncommon for these new 'security' regimes to
target the poor and other marginalized populations. From these
security developments, we are witnessing the increasing
criminalization of dissent and the further proliferation of private
security forces. This session seeks to interrogate the securitization
of cities from a variety of perspectives and from a diverse array of
cities.
Some of the topics may include but are not limited to, mega-events,
everyday life, airports, infrastructure, logistics, architecture and
urban form, immigration, and poverty. Within these broad topics,
people could address some of the following themes: perceptions of
security, impacts of security on particular groups, mechanisms of
social control, attacks on civil liberties, and threats of terrorism.
Some questions guiding this paper session include:
How are security developments impacting fundamental aspects of
urbanity such as freedom, democracy, civil liberties, mobility,
diversity, and anonymity?
How do security professionals and others who are working to secure
cities, perceive the spaces of the city?
What is viewed as vulnerable and safe?
What gives some space priority over others in terms of their enhanced
securitization?
In what ways are cities securitized as a whole rather than just
certain spaces of the city?
What methods are being used to enhance security practice and what
effect is this having on social reproduction and social relations?
How does security maintain the status quo?
Who is impacted the most from increased security?
What legitimizes the increase of security?
Is it possible to find a balance between security and freedom or is it
always a trade-off? Or is framing the security/freedom debate in terms
of balance faulty to begin with?
We invite papers between 15-20 minutes that explore these issues.
Please submit abstracts (250 words or less) to David Roberts
([log in to unmask]) and Jason Burke ([log in to unmask])
by October 12, 2010.
David Roberts
PhD Candidate
Department of Geography
University of Toronto
Affiliated Research Associate
Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Joćo Havelange Scholar
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