[URBANTH-L] CFP: Contesting Territories and Flows: New Geographies of Social Movements

Angela Jancius acjancius at ysu.edu
Sat Sep 17 20:34:39 EDT 2005


CALL FOR PAPERS:

CONTESTING TERRITORIES AND FLOWS: NEW GEOGRAPHIES OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Session Proposed for the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual
Meeting, March 7-11, Chicago, Illinois

* Julie-Anne Boudreau, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique,
Montreal, Canada (julie-anne.boudreau at ucs-inrs.ca)
* Walter Nicholls, Queen Mary University of London, UK (wnicholl at csulb.edu)
* Justin Beaumont, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
(j.r.beaumont at rug.nl)

This session assesses how contemporary movements develop strategies to
respond to territorial pressures while constructing and utilizing relational
networks with extensive geographical reach. Globalization and state
restructuring have forced movements to develop new geopolitical strategies
to achieve their goals. On the one hand, increasingly complex and fluid
political institutional contexts (multi-level governance arrangements,
shifting scales of statehood, new state spaces etc.) compel movements to
develop geographically complex relational alliances which allow them to
press claims in powerful decision-making bodies. On the other, as movements
stretch and recombine across space, they are also obliged to contend with
persisting territorial pressures. Territory remains an important aspect of
movements in terms of providing a common frame of identity for participants,
developing strong trusting relations between movement leaders, and
harnessing thick networks which facilitate the mobilization of high grade
resources between movement actors. Animating the theoretical discussion,
several scholars observe the confrontation between processes of state (re-)
scaled territorialization (Brenner, Jessop, etc.) as well as the emergence
of new relational topologies between actors (Amin, Massey, etc.). Eschewing
a simple binary opposition, we recognize the variety of organizational forms
between the extremes of pure territoriality and flow. Our session seeks
innovative theoretical enquiries and empirical analyses to understand how
movements deal with these dual geographical pressures in diverse political
and institutional contexts.

We invite theoretically-informed papers that address specific case studies
or comparative studies on the following questions:

* What specific ways have movements sought to balance new geographically
extensive relations and continuing territorial concerns?
* What are the specific functions of territories for geographically
extensive movements?
* How do movements take space into consideration in their strategic
decision-making?
* Comparisons of spatial strategies and practices across movements, various
mobilizing issues, and/ or changes in time.

Please express your interest in participating along with an outline of the
paper you have in mind at the first opportunity. Final abstracts (250 words
max.) and your PINs should be sent to the three session organizers by 30
September 2005. You should consult the AAG website (www.aag.org) for online
registration and abstract submission instructions.

Julie-Anne Boudreau
Walter Nicholls
Justin Beaumont
September 2005




--------
Justin Beaumont
Urban and Regional Studies Institute (URSI)
Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen
P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen
THE NETHERLANDS
Direct: 00 31 (0)50 363 6910
Secr: -3895/ -3896/ -3897, Fax: -3901
Email: j.r.beaumont at rug.nl
Web: www.rug.nl/frw/


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