CFP | Confronting Crisis: Left Praxis in the Face of Austerity, War and Revolution

Historical Materialism Conference

York Uni­ver­sity, Toronto, Canada; May 8-11th, 2014, Dead­line Janu­ary 10, 2014.

Con­fron­ted with a glo­bal con­text of aus­te­rity, exploi­ta­tion, impe­ria­list aggres­sion, ongo­ing colo­nia­lism, and eco­lo­gi­cal cri­ses, the world has been wit­ness to gro­wing social and poli­ti­cal strugg­les over the past decade. A wide range of rural– and urban-based labour and social move­ments have fought back against the cur­rent ‘Age of Aus­te­rity,’ while new modes and geo­gra­phies of resis­tance against dis­pos­ses­sion and tyranny con­ti­nue to inspire social change in the Glo­bal South. Against this back­drop, the 2014 His­to­ri­cal Mate­ria­lism con­fe­rence at Toronto’s York Uni­ver­sity invi­tes pro­po­sals for papers, panels, and other kinds of con­fe­rence par­ti­ci­pa­tion that can con­tri­bute to a collec­tive dis­cus­sion on how to extend and revi­ta­lize Left cri­ti­que and pra­xis in the cur­rent conjuncture.

We par­ti­cu­larly encou­rage sub­mis­si­ons that address the chal­len­ges and con­tra­dic­tions fac­ing glo­bal anti-capitalist theory and action in the pre­sent. Some of the ques­ti­ons the con­fe­rence stri­ves to address include:

(Theme 1) What are the ideo­lo­gi­cal blind spots of Left thought and prac­tice, and how might they be redressed?

(Theme 2) How does the pre­sent his­to­ri­cal moment chal­lenge our under­stan­ding of the making of the modern glo­bal working class?

(Theme 3) How can Mar­xist theory be trans­for­med to inte­grate an under­stan­ding of cor­po­rea­lity, iden­tity and sub­jec­tivity in its ana­ly­sis of capi­ta­lism and class politics?

(Theme 4) How might his­to­ri­cal mate­ria­list theory account for the co-constitutive rela­ti­onship bet­ween race, class, gen­der and sexua­lity, and what are the imp­li­ca­ti­ons of such ana­ly­sis for Left praxis?

(Theme 5) What are the con­tri­bu­ti­ons of anti-colonial strugg­les for inter­na­tio­na­list Left poli­tics and pra­xis today?

(Theme 6) What con­tri­bu­ti­ons and chal­len­ges do strugg­les for indi­ge­nous self-determination make to Mar­xist thought and vice versa?

(Theme 7) How can we read Mar­xist texts poli­ti­cally in the cur­rent conjuncture?

(Theme 8) What is the role of space, land, and urba­niza­tion in the deve­lop­ment and cri­sis of impe­ria­list, neo-colonial capitalism?

(Theme 9) What is the role of dif­fe­rent modes of orga­niza­tion (e.g. par­ties, uni­ons, stu­dent and social move­ments), and what chal­len­ges do they face in the fight against austerity?

(Theme 10) How might we con­cep­tua­lize new modes of resis­tance, inclu­ding the recent upsurge of revo­lu­tio­nary and counter-revolutionary cur­rents, in the Glo­bal South?

(Theme 11) What is the spe­ci­fic role of spa­tial orga­niza­tion in the insti­tu­tion, repro­duc­tion and trans­for­ma­tion of forms of impe­ria­list, neo-colonial domi­na­tion and rela­ti­ons of war?

(Theme 12) What are the con­tri­bu­ti­ons and chal­len­ges of anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist poli­tics to exis­ting eco­lo­gi­cal crises?

(Theme 13) How can his­to­ri­cal mate­ria­lism assist us in under­stan­ding the dyna­mics of agra­rian change under con­tem­porary capi­ta­lism, par­ti­cu­larly the glo­bal food crisis?

(Theme 14) How might his­to­ri­cal mate­ria­list theory account for the dialec­tics of the rural and urban geo­gra­phies of accu­mu­la­tion, domi­na­tion, and resistance?

(Theme 15) What roles might cul­ture, art and aes­the­tics play in con­fron­ting the cri­sis of capi­ta­lism and buil­ding Left movements?

The orga­ni­zing com­mit­tee spe­ci­fi­cally wel­co­mes panel pro­po­sals that directly address the above ques­ti­ons. To make a sub­mis­sion for a panel, please include a working title and an abstract of no more than 300 words for the panel, along with the indi­vi­dual paper tit­les and abstracts of no more than 300 words. Please make sure to also include the names, email addres­ses and aca­de­mic affi­lia­ti­ons of all panelists.

For indi­vi­dual sub­mis­si­ons, please include a working title, an abstract of no more than 300 words, as well as your name, email address and aca­de­mic affiliation.

We stron­gly encou­rage all sub­mis­si­ons to iden­tify 1–2 the­mes from the above list that best describe the paper/panel topic.

The dead­line for all sub­mis­si­ons is Janu­ary 10, 2014.

For indi­vi­dual papers, please sub­mit here.

For panel pro­po­sals, please sub­mit here.

Please be advi­sed that we can­not accom­mo­date requests to pre­sent on a spe­ci­fic date or time slot and expect par­ti­ci­pants to be avail­able for the full three days of the con­fe­rence. The orga­ni­zing com­mit­tee also reser­ves the right to re-arrange panel pro­po­sals, if necessary. For more infor­ma­tion please con­tact his­to­ri­cal­ma­te­ria­lismtoronto@gmail.com.

Quelle & mehr

 

 

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