Nice one!!!
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Owen
Sent: 08 December 2017 16:36
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CFP RGS-IBG 2018: Uncomfortable Geographies
Call for papers: RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Cardiff University, 28–31 August 2018
Uncomfortable Geographies
Session convenors: Jen Owen ([log in to unmask]), Amy Walker ([log in to unmask]) and Dr Anthony Ince ([log in to unmask]), Cardiff University
Are you sitting (un)comfortably? Then we will begin…
Geographers have in recent years taken a growing interest in the affects, sensations and emotions that shape and structure everyday life. Within this there has been a modest and growing interest in the notion of ‘comfort’ as one of these atmospheres. Studies engaging with comfort range from materialities (Price et al. 2018 forthcoming), public spaces (Boyer 2012), mobilities (Bissell 2008) and hospitality (Craggs 2015). However, in Cruel Optimism, Berlant (2011) reminds us that those things that make us feel comforted can have a darker side: aspirations to the ‘good life’ and middle-class dreams of suburban comfort consistently fail. We therefore view comfort and our desire for it in a tense relationship with its antitheses: discomfort and the uncomfortable.
To be uncomfortable is to feel discomfort, unease or awkwardness, or fear of the unknown. This session wishes to explore what pushes us outside of our comfort zone. We invite empirical and theoretical engagements with the liminality of the uncomfortable, be it of physical or emotional pain, social awkwardness, uncomfortable truths, or taboo subjects.
Hinton (2010) notes that comfort can be understood as an aspiration and/or achievement; thus, it is not surprising how the coupled notion of discomfort (e.g. that of poverty) has been linked to personal ‘failings’ in the discourses of neoliberal austerity. Nevertheless, the uncomfortable may also have generative or productive effects, and may be a potential driver of social change or ‘progress’, such as geopolitical negotiation, political struggle, and living in diverse communities.
We encourage contributions that grapple with personal reflections beyond discussion of just ‘another emotion’ (Pile 2010). A deep engagement with dissonance, contradictions and the ambiguous might provide a starting point to go beyond a superficial acknowledgment of uncomfortable geographies. Topics could include but are not limited to:
• Identity - being (un)comfortable in own skin
• Being comfortably off – downplaying success/ wealth
• Taboo – acknowledging the forbidden
• Tragedy – dealing with distressing events
• Violence – combating hostility
• Political correctness – confronting discrimination
• Morals/ values – re-evaluating sinful behaviour
• Ethics – engaging participants with discomfort
Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to Jen Owen ([log in to unmask]) by 31st January 2018. These should include a title, author affiliation and email address.
|