Crisis and Social Change: Towards Alternative Horizons. Postgraduate Conference.
Call for Papers. Deadline Monday July 21st.
Organized by the Department of Sociology, Cambridge University
Date: Sep 26-27, 2014
Venue: Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Sciences, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RQ
This conference moves beyond crisis as a category of diagnosis and critique to explore alternative horizons, raising fundamental questions about the nature and extent of ruptures and continuity in the contemporary social world.
We are motivated by the generational need to draw upon the legacies of critique, while shifting toward the production of alternative futures.
From diagnosis to treatment. From deconstruction to reconstruction. From negation to vision. From crisis to progress. Such is the responsibility of our Age, from which positive social change might rise.
We welcome contributions from researchers, activists, artists, and professionals from across the world on the following topics, though this list is by no means exhaustive, and we are keen to receive contributions on other topics aligned with the conference theme:
•CRITICAL AND EMPANCIPATORY THOUGHT AND ACTION •SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AND CITIES •ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC PRACTICES •WORK AND LIFE •MEDIA •EDUCATION •REVOLUTIONS AND SOCIAL PROTEST
•(POST) DEMOCRACY
•ENVIRONMENT
We have also introduced a soapbox session within the Conference programme and encourage speakers to participate. For the natural orators out there, the soapbox session provides you with the opportunity to stand up for 2 minutes and air your fiery, risky, extravagant and controversial views on the following question: WHAT IS RADICALISM?
The conference is organized by PhD students from the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge. To give attendees time to explore the city’s history and socialise, the conference will be held over two days.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
We are pleased to announce our three distinguished keynote speakers
– Professor Greg Philo (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow),
– Professor Emeritus Goran Therborn (Faculty of Human, Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge)
– Professor Ted Benton (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Essex)
PLENARY PANELS:
The conference will also host two plenary panels on the following
themes:
Plenary panel 1: The Great Recession and Varieties of Social and Political Responses
Chair: Professor Andrew Gamble
Dr. Rowan Williams (tbc)(Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge), Professor Larry King (Dept. of Sociology, Cambridge), Professor John Kelly (Dept. of Management, Birkbeck), and Dr. Jeff Miley (Dept. of Sociology, Cambridge)
Plenary panel 2: Mobilisation, Social Change and Revolution
Chair: Barrister Dexter Dias QC
Professor P.G Klandermans (Dept. of Applied Psychology, University of Amsterdam), Emeritus Reader in Sociology Dr. David Lane (Dept. of Sociology, Cambridge), Professor Jane Wills (Dept. of Geography, Queen Mary University of London) and Dr. Manali Desai (Dept. of Sociology,
Cambridge)
HOW TO SUBMIT:
Paper presentation: abstract (300 word max.) and biography (100 word max.)
Poster presentation: abstract (300 word max.) and biography (100 word max.)
Soap box presentation: abstract (100 word max.) and biography (100 word max.)
SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is Monday, July 21st 2014.
There is no registration fee.
All abstracts must be submitted by visiting the Ex Ordo abstract submission system (you will be required to setup an account first):
Successful applicants will be informed by July 31st, 2014.
The selected applicants are expected to submit an outline of their presentation (or the power point slides) by September 1st, 2014
PUBLICATION AND AWARDS:
Awards will be given for Best Paper, Best Poster and Best Soap Box Presentations at the end of the Conference in recognition of originality and excellence. The Organising Committee also plans to publish selected papers of the highest quality in a special issue of a UK journal or as an edited volume.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
For further details on our distinguished keynote speakers and plenary panelists please visit www.towardsalternativehorizons.wordpress.com,
email the organising committee at towardsalternativehorizons@gmail.com
or visit our Facebook page www.facebook.com/events/850509748311055