FYI - Note 4/23 deadline for paper proposals. "Socio-spatial forms of segregation and/or stigmatization and the kinds of mechanisms that enable their existence or help perpetuate them" are basic causal mechanisms linking where people live (as outlined in "Neighborhoods & ) and health inequities. But the concepts of socially defined "space", of inclusion and exclusion, borders and boundaries, extend beyond physical geographies into social environments, and even into global geopolitical processes which have massive and long lasting consequences for human population health.
  -- Alice Furumoto-Dawson, PhD/MPH


Call for Paper Proposals
Spaces of Exception:
Social Marginality, Racialized Inequalities and Invisibility in the 21st Century
May 28, 2010


The University of Chicago’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture invites paper proposals for a day long conference to be held on the campus on May 28, 2010.  This conference on “Spaces of Exception: Social Marginality, Racialized Inequalities and Invisibility in the 21st Century,” seeks to explore the physical, social and ideological processes that go into creating spaces of exception, that is spaces that are characterized by the suspension of laws, norms and rights understood to apply to all.  This conference is interested in socio-spatial forms of segregation and/or stigmatization and the kinds of mechanisms that enable their existence or help perpetuate them. While the notion of “the exception” appears in the work of Giorgio Agamben (1998) in relation to the space of the camp (such as the concentration camp or refugee camp), this conference is interested in “spaces of exception” broadly speaking, and welcomes papers that explore, in one way or another, processes of spatialization that depend on ideologies of difference, exclusivity or extra-legality.

Paper proposals should not be more that two single-spaced pages and must be accompanied by a short two-page résumé. A copy of these materials should be sent electronically by April 23, 2010 to each of the following: Ramón A. Gutiérrez ([log in to unmask]) and Nell Gabiam ([log in to unmask]).

For additional information about the conference, please contact Prof. Ramón A. Gutiérrez, Director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, University of Chicago at 773-702-8063 or [log in to unmask].

Download this call for paper proposals at http://csrpc.uchicago.edu
Conference paper proposals are welcome on the following themes:  

Urban marginality: What are the mechanisms of segregation, racial and ethnic stigmatization and social inequality that shape the landscape of the city in the current globalized world?  How do various understandings of “the city” reinforce or dismantle the aforementioned barriers?   

Spaces of containment: What are the mechanisms that go into justifying spaces of containment? What is the relationship between notions of “security,” “sovereignty” and “protection” and spaces of containment such as the refugee camp, the prison, the army camp/base, or the gated community?

Spaces of invisibility: Through what mechanisms do certain people, groups become invisible? For example, how do notions of sovereignty, rights, legality/extra legality/illegality, determine who is recognizable as a social and political actor and who is not?

Professor Veena Das of Johns Hopkins University and Professor Teresa Caldeira of the University of California, Berkeley will serve as the conference keynote speakers.  Papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication as a special issue of an academic journal. All expenses – transport, housing, meals – will be provided for persons chosen to present.

To leave, manage or join list: https://listserv.yorku.ca/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=sdoh&A=1