CALL FOR PAPERS
13th Annual Mini-Conference on Critical Geography
Department of Geography
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio, USA
October 13-15, 2006
Scope of the Conference
This conference aims to provide a venue for broad discussion and
debate in critical geography. The conference welcomes practitioners
and theorists of critical geography, on other words, those committed
to understanding and changing exploitative economic, political,
cultural, and social spaces and processes. This goal suggests some
current themes of critical geography, although the conference is
meant to be catholic in its definition of "critical": imperialism,
war, neoliberalism, racism, colonialism and postcoloniality, sexism
and misogyny, poverty, segregation, health and disease, political
movements, indigeneity, global environmental degradation and
politics, social nature, geopolitics, disenfranchisement, queer,
feminist and radical politics.
We hope that presentations will reflect the great variety of
approaches to doing and disseminating critical geographies. We
encourage participants to explore any range of interests, and to use
the mini-conference as an opportunity to expand their current
research agenda, explore new theoretical landscapes, meet other
critical geographers, experiment with research dissemination, and
receive friendly feedback on works in progress.
Organization
This year's conference will begin late on Friday afternoon (Oct. 13,
2006) with a keynote address by John Paul Jones, III (University of
Arizona) and an opening reception. We plan to have sessions all day
on Saturday and a closing panel (participants TBA) discussion on
Saturday evening. If there is great interest in the conference,
sessions will conclude Sunday morning. Sunday morning may also serve
as additional discussion time for all participants interested in
exploring future critical geographies.
Because we wish to provide a forum for discussion of themes in
critical geography (and the nature of what constitutes critical
geography as well), interested participants should feel free to
suggest ways of presenting their research, ideas, and art beyond
formal paper sessions. We are open to formats such as round tables,
panels and other discussion forums. If you are unsure about a
particular format, please contact us.
Deadline for Submission of Abstracts: The target deadline for
proposing a panel, roundtable, or submitting a paper to the mini-
conference is July 15, 2006. Submit abstracts of 200 words or less,
or proposals for panels, roundtables, or performances (including
title of the paper/session and contact information including email
address), to one of the following organizers:
Mathew Coleman (coleman.373@osu.edu)
Mary Thomas (thomas.1672@osu.edu)
Joel Wainwright (wainwright.11@osu.edu)
Format
Panels and Roundtable Discussions
If you wish to organize a panel or roundtable (or an entirely
different format), please provide a panel title and the contact
information for all panelists/participants. Titles for individual
contributions (if relevant) should also be provided. Panel
organizers are responsible for the specific allocation of time and
structure of the panel session. Please note that we reserve the
right to add a panelist to previously organized panels if the topics
fit.
Paper Presentations
Paper presenters should submit a paper title, abstract of 200 words
or less, and contact information by the submission deadline. Paper
sessions will include 3 papers and a discussant (or 4 papers
depending on the number of participants). This is not a juried
conference.
By the end of August 2006, a webpage will be available (linked from
the OSU Department of Geography?s main page:
http://www.geography.ohio-state.edu/), and we will send the direct
link to participants by email to aid your travel planning.
Discussants will be identified when the conference schedule is
posted by mid September. Paper presenters should please forward
their paper to their discussant via e-mail by October 1.
Accommodation
Detailed information on accommodation forthcoming.
A block of rooms will be reserved at a local hotel, but hotel rooms
are also widely available around the campus area. Visitor parking
passes are $3.00 per day at OSU?s surface lots, and the campus is
easily available by bus from downtown Columbus. We will provide
links and information about parking, local buses, and other
transportation needs on the conference website.
Accommodation for Students
Some Ohio State University graduate students may be willing to host
graduate students in their homes. If you would like to stay with an
OSU graduate student, please contact the conference organizers.
In solidarity, the conference organizers are: Mathew Coleman, Becky
Mansfield, Mary Thomas, Joel Wainwright.
Brief History of the Conference
The Mini-Conference on Critical Human Geography began as an
opportunity for faculty and students to informally exchange ideas
and share their research in a collaborative learning environment. In
1994, Byron Miller (Calgary, formerly University of Cincinnati),
Kevin Cox (Ohio State), and J.P. Jones (Arizona, formerly of
University of Kentucky) held the first conference in the moot court
chambers of the University of Cincinnati Law School. Since 2001, the
conference has migrated from campus to campus. Today, the conference
boasts participants from a variety of programs throughout the United
States and Canada.
(Although they are not organizing this conference, see the
International Critical Geography Group?s webpage for more
information about critical geographies and upcoming events:
http://econgeog.misc.hit-u.ac.jp/icgg/index.html-ssi.)
[sursa: euproject]
