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Session Title: Geographies of conflict, contestation, and coalescence Organizers: Sarah Heck, PhD student, Department of Geography and Urban Studies, Temple University Peter Wood, PhD candidate, Department of Geography, Florida State University Sponsoring specialty groups: Political Geography, Latin America, Development Geographies, Geographic Perspectives on Women Description: This session aims to draw attention to the geographic circumstances under which conflict and cooperation occur at various scales. The reasons for conflict, both contemporarily and historically, can vary greatly. With this session we aim to bring together a diverse collection of scholarship analyzing contexts in which social conflict shapes and is shaped by geographic factors. We are interested in work that examines spatial dimensions of conflict, contestation, and coalescence, including the roles of place, space, (im)mobility, networks, scale, borders, and territory as well as the roles of social categories such as race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and religion. The proposed session intends to address the roles of both state actors and grassroots mobilizations in the genesis and continuity of regimes of conflict. We are also interested in how unexpected coalitions and forms of cooperation happen in the context of conflict and contestation along lines of difference. Within geography the topics of conflict and cooperation take many forms and are inspired by many theoretical backgrounds. Past examples have focused on socioeconomic equality–within a territory (Merrifield and Swyngedouw 1997) or between countries/regions (Landes 1998)–war (Flint 2005), social movements (Bosco 2004), and other related topics. A goal of this session is to bring together a multitude of perspectives in order to explore the many ways in which conflict arises, is sustained, is contested, or is resolved. Examples appropriate for submission include, but are not limited to: Geographies of difference Geographies of displacement Gentrification The production of space and the right to the city Feminist approaches to understanding violence and conflict Immigration policy and practice Geographies of microaggressions Dispossession of living and working spaces Unlikely geopolitical partnerships Histories of ethnoreligious turmoil Urban grassroots mobilizations and protest spaces Urban versus rural labor economies Street gang rivalries and alliances Perceptions and misperceptions of regional identity Both empirical and theoretical contributions are welcome. If you have any questions or concerns regarding a paper idea, please feel free to contact the session organizers. Instructions for submissions: Interested participants should send a 250 word abstract and conference PIN to Sarah Heck (sarah.heck@temple.edu) and Peter Wood (pwood@fsu.edu) by October 16th, 2015. |
