[URBANTH-L]
Urban anthropology and involuntary resettlement at the SFAA meetings
Dolores Koenig
dkoenig at american.edu
Thu Oct 4 12:47:58 EDT 2007
Dear All:
I am interested in hearing from people who would look to participate in
a session on Urban Displacement and Resettlement proposed for the
meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology to be held in Memphis,
Tennessee on March 25-29 2008. The Program Chair, Satish Kedia, works in
the field of displacement and involuntary resettlement and has suggested
including a set of sessions about displacement and resettlement
research, of which this is one proposed session. (Session Abstract at
bottom of e-mail).
My view of this session is wide because it reflects my own view of
involuntary resettlement research, especially in urban situations. While
much contemporary involuntary resettlement research has focused on
publicly-funded projects in developing countries, I believe that
understandings of involuntary displacement, resettlement, and its
consequences would benefit from consideration of a much wider set of
circumstances, including private gentrification of a variety of types
and the integration (or non-integration) of refugees as well as classic
urban renewal initiatives. I think it is also important to look at
situations in both developed and developing countries, for their
similarities as well as their differences.
I also think urban displacement and resettlement needs much more
attention. Although many people now look at gentrification and there are
many classic studies of urban renewal, the issue has received much less
attention in recent years. In particular, policy guidelines in
international organizations have been biased toward dams and rural
resettlement, even though evidence suggests that at least as many, if
not more, people are forcibly displaced by various urban initiatives.
Therefore, I am trying to put together a session focusing on this issue
for the SfAA meetings. There is some urgency about this because the
deadline for submission of abstracts is October 15. Sorry to be so late
in getting started on this, but this effort for a structured set of
sessions was only recently put together - there may be a possibility to
submit a slightly late proposal, but please aim for October 15. The
abstract need be only 100 words, so this would seem to be feasible. For
more information about the meetings in general and how to submit a paper
proposal, please see: www.sfaa.net.
If you are interested, please send me a copy of your abstract to
dkoenig at american.edu before submitting it to sfaa. Please contact me if
you have further questions. I hope that you will consider participating
in this panel.
Dolores Koenig
Department of Anthropology
American University
The Challenges of Urban Resettlement
Urban displacement and resettlement are worldwide issues. The expanding
populations of developing country cities are often forced to move from
semi-legal neighborhoods; new patterns of growth and changing economies
displace many in developing country cities. This session will explore
the challenges faced by anthropologists who want to decrease the forced
displacement of urban residents and increase their chances for
rights-respecting resettlement when displacement occurs. These papers
address urban displacement in both developed and developing countries.
They look at how individuals and groups resist displacement and try to
improvement resettlement outcomes in a range of situations from
publicly-financed urban renewal projects to refugee resettlement to
privately- funded gentrification.
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