11th Essex Conference in Critical Political Theory

Guest speakers

Thomas Dumm
Amherst College

Davide Panagia
Trent University

Moya Lloyd Loughborough University

Call for papers

Guidelines for Paper Proposals

Registration
Booking Form

Programme

Abstracts

Accommodation

Getting to Colchester Campus
Transportation
Map
 

Colchester Campus
Access
Map
 

Rolling Deadline for Abstracts ends:
29th April 2011

General Information, contact
Amr Abdelrahman, Khairil Ahmad, and Graham Walker
e-mail: polcon@essex.ac.uk
Department of Government
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester, Essex
CO4 3SQ

Conference Fees:

Fees for Staff: £140
Fees for Early Career Researchers: £80

Call for Papers

GLOBAL CHALLENGES - NEW IMAGINARIES

IMAGE, VOICE, AND RADICAL DEMOCRACY

15th-17th June 2011 

   Few doubt, today, that we face a series of connected global challenges: the dangers of climate change and environmental degradation; a crisis of international finance and global capitalism; an ever-increasing logic of minoritization, which threatens to fragment communities and societies; greater social and economic inequalities, both nationally and globally; the intensification of various forms of religious belief, including fundamentalism, alongside a growing secularization of communities and societies; securitization of society, and a palpable disillusionment with politics and politicians. There is little doubt that those who wish to go beyond the contradictions and failures of our contemporary condition find it difficult to elaborate plausible interim visions that can point us away from the current malaise. This year’s theme connects these global challenges to the exploration and articulation new imaginaries for the future.

   ‘Global Challenges, New Imaginaries’ takes up the challenge of rethinking different aspects of global capitalism, religion, the place of minorities, and the environment, focusing on the alternative visions being proposed, the role of new media in these processes, and related themes. The conference also seeks to problematize and explore the role of theory in the academy and in relation to the pressing issues we confront. Our invited speakers shall deliver keynote addresses to the conference that will shape the discussions with their distinctive voices and perspectives. Each of the speakers will address one or more of the themes announced in the title.

   The 11th Essex Conference in Critical Political Theory  at the University of Essex provides a space to address and engage with these issues. The conference has achieved a renowned reputation for the quality of the papers presented and the large number of international participants. Previous guest speakers have included Stephen White, Romand Coles, Diana Coole, Bill Connolly, Michael Hardt, Wendy Brown, Judith Squires, Quentin Skinner, Joan Copjec, James Tully, Jane Bennett, Fred Dallmayr, Bonnie Honig, David Owen, David Campbell, Simon Critchley, Ernesto Laclau, and Chantal Mouffe, amongst others. This year the conference is hosted by the Centre for Theoretical Studies, the Department of Government at the University of Essex and IDAWorld.

   The conference provides an important opportunity to engage with the contemporary challenges and possibilities of social and political theory and to exchange views on ongoing research. We welcome proposals for papers as well as for panels from all scholars, including postdoctoral researchers, and early career scholars from a wide variety of backgrounds in the field of social and political theory. But as is customary with the Essex conference, the themes are in part shaped by the thought and writings of our invited guests, and this year is no exception.

Broad Themes Include

* Imagination in Politics

* Global Political Imaginaries

* Transitional Justice

* Rethinking Community and Citizenship

* Identity, Security and New Technologies

* Critical Political Economy

* Discourse & the New Media

* Ecology and Capitalism

* Politics and Technology

* Latin American Politics

* Universalism and Particularism

* Democracy and Representation

* Capitalism, Multiculturalism, Globalization

* Identity Politics and Mobilization

* Subjectivity and Psychoanalysis

* Religion, Faith and Pluralism

* Discourse and Affect

* Fundamentalisms

* New Ecologies

* Philosophies of Nature

* Discourse, Governance & Public Policy

* Culture and Political Economy

* The Politics of Space, Time and Territoriality

* Reworking Identity/Difference