We wlcome abstracts for consideration in the following session-
CFP Conflicting and competing rights: Encountering social tensions in the public sphere
Session organisers: Lucy Jackson, Kasia Narkowicz and Gill Valentine (University of Sheffield)
Since the 1960s, the emergence of the civil rights movements in North America and parallel struggles in European countries, have led to the gradual (albeit uneven) development of equality legislation in most western societies on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. However, there is an implicit assumption underlying such legislation that these equality strands share common agendas and that their interests coincide because of their common experiences of exclusion and discrimination. Yet such identifications give rise to competing claims and tensions around right to belong in public space (Valentine and Waite 2010) and it is these tensions between groups which we wish to explore further. Alongside these processes, academics in recent years have begun to focus on geographies of encounter, exploring the significance of everyday banal contact as a product of shared space in mediating difference). However, most of this research has focused on individuals, with less attention being paid to group encounters. In this session we invite papers that focus on the potential and existing tensions between the values, interests, and rights of equality groups in public space(s). We therefore invite abstracts of no more than 250 words on the following themes:-
• Tensions around different equality strands including but not limited to race, ethnicity, (dis)ability, sexuality, gender, class and religion/belief
• Tensions around moral and ethical issues
• The performative dimension of how such tensions play out
• Further reflection on the geographies of encounter between groups in tension/ groups with competing rights
• The importance and role of historical context in how specific tensions occur
• Deconstructing the ‘where’ of particular tensions as a site, sphere or scale (location of conflict)
• Theoretical considerations/ interventions with the notion of tension and encounter
• Methodological insights into undertaking research with groups in tension
• Thoughts on encountering/ encounters with tension in a positive dimensions- i.e conflict management or negotiation
• Discussions of tension negotiation, i.e tensions which may not be resolved but that may change values, attitudes or opinions of another group
Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words to Lucy Jackson ([log in to unmask]) by no later than the 21st October (for early bird registration on the 23rd October).
Reference:
o Valentine, G and Waite, L (2010). Negotiating difference through everyday encounters: The case of sexual orientation and religion and belief. Antipode 44 (2) 474-492.
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