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<p>Liebe Fem-Geos,<br>
<br>
mit dem üblichen *sorry for cross-posting* hier ein CfP von Frank
Müller und mir zur diesjährigen RGS-IBG in London. Über Beiträge
aus dieser Runde freuen wir uns sehr! Deadline 12.02.2024, bei
Fragen meldet Euch gerne.<br>
<br>
Beste Grüße,<br>
Anke</p>
<p><br>
---<br>
<b>Future techniques, protagonists and spaces: A critical
reflection on geographical speculation</b><br>
<br>
RGS-IBG 2024, London<br>
Session organisers: Frank Müller (independent researcher) and Anke
Schwarz (Heidelberg University)<br>
<br>
Drawing inspiration from feminist geographical thought and its
commitment to envisioning an alternative future (MacLeavy et al.
2021: 1573), this session delves into speculative geographies and
geographical speculation. This creative exercise allows us to
anchor abstract concepts of “the future” in diverse experiences
and emotional connections to the potential transformations of the
(life)worlds we inhabit. Speculation involves navigating the risks
and aspirations associated with future developments, employing
diverse methodologies to make well-informed conjectures about what
could (and should) unfold. We aim to explore speculation both as a
“mode of attention” and a “practice of worlding” (Haraway 2016:
230). While speculation has garnered attention across various
disciplines, influencing realities in economics, physics (Stengers
2005), and philosophy (Jameson 2007, Savransky et al. 2018), it is
also inherently geographical. This is because it demands
thoughtful consideration of the connections between “thinking and
the earthly” (Williams and Keating 2022: 13) when envisioning
tangible utopias capable of sustaining a livable life for all.
This imperative prompts us to investigate the boundaries and
intersections of seemingly distinct approaches to future spaces,
encompassing both declaredly improbable and fictive scenarios, as
well as more probable, probabilistic, and factual ones. This quest
for radical otherness is already embedded in queer worldings
(Muñoz 2019) and challenging the conventional boundaries of
geography as a discipline (Kinkaid 2023).<br>
<br>
How are futures made present through speculative techniques?
Speculative techniques combine fictional, performative, and
positivistic utterances that co-produce concrete abstractions of
possible and (un)desirable futures. This session focuses on the
techniques of extrapolation, narration, and performance, exploring
their overlapping relevance for social and political geographies.<br>
<br>
Who are the protagonists involved in imagining, performing, and
narrating futures? Who has the right to shape collective futures,
and who does not, is excluded from doing so? We are interested in
individual biographies and collective genealogies of actors
becoming involved in speculation – SF authors, planners, Think
Tanks, governmental agencies, and councils, etc.<br>
<br>
Lastly, we are interested in mapping the study objects and spaces
of speculative techniques: In what kinds of environments,
technologies, things, and territories do protagonists of
speculation ground their practice?<br>
<br>
We welcome short papers and creative interventions on topics
including, but not limited to:</p>
<p>- Different truth claims and stances towards “realisms”:
forecasting, imagining, modelling and the hierarchies between
different speculative techniques;<br>
- Critical perspectives on modelling, scenario planning, and
other techniques of future-thinking<br>
- Various study objects: technologies, arts, models,
landscapes, cityspaces<br>
- (Future) geographies of difference: Feminist and queer
futurities and worldings, territorial subjectivities and subject
formation in processes of geographical future-making<br>
- Futures’ political colour and the extent to that
future-thinking is an emancipatory, progressive, leftist project;
alt-right future thinking, its protagonists, spaces, and
strategies to contest it;<br>
- Geographies of futures through the lens of
science/speculative fiction and other narrative techniques<br>
- Emotional and affective geographies of speculation<br>
<br>
We are planning a hybrid session with 12-15 minutes for each
presentation plus a discussion with an invited guest (tba).
Please send a title, 200-word abstract and your contact details to
both <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:anke.schwarz@uni-heidelberg.de">anke.schwarz@uni-heidelberg.de</a> and <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:frank.mueller@fu-berlin.de">frank.mueller@fu-berlin.de</a>
by<b> February 12, 2024.</b><br>
<br>
Looking forward to your contributions! If you have any questions,
get in touch.<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
Frank and Anke<br>
<br>
<b>References</b><br>
Haraway, D (2016) Staying with the trouble. Making kin in the
Chtulucene. Durham: Duke University Press.<br>
Jameson, F (2007) Archeologies of the future. The desire called
utopia and other science fictions. London: Verso.<br>
Kinkaid, E (2023): Whose geography, whose future? Queering
geography’s disciplinary reproduction. Dialogues in Human
Geography, online first,
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206221144839">https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206221144839</a>.<br>
MacLeavy J, Fannin M and Larner W (2021) Feminism and futurity:
geographies of resistance, resilience and reworking. Progress in
Human Geography 45(6): 1558–1579.<br>
Muñoz, JE (2019) Cruising utopia. The then and there of queer
futurity. New York: New York University Press.<br>
Savransky, M, Wilkie, A, and Rosengarten, M (2017). The lure of
possible futures: On speculative research. In A. Wilkie, M.
Savransky, and M. Rosengarten (eds.) Speculative research: The
lure of possible futures. London: Routledge, 1-18.<br>
Williams, N, and Keating, T (2022). From abstract thinking to
thinking abstractions: Introducing Speculative Geographies. In:
Williams, N., Keating, T. (eds.) Speculative Geographies. Palgrave
Macmillan: Singapore. Stengers, I. (2005). Introductory notes on
an ecology of practices. Cultural Studies Review, 11(1), 183–196.<br>
Suvin D (1979 [2016]) Metamorphoses of Science Fiction. Oxford et
al.: Peter Lang.<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr. Anke Schwarz (she/her)
Vertretungsprofessur für Humangeographie
Universität Heidelberg
Geographisches Institut
Berliner Str. 48
69120 Heidelberg
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:anke.schwarz@uni-heidelberg.de">anke.schwarz@uni-heidelberg.de</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.geog.uni-heidelberg.de/human/">https://www.geog.uni-heidelberg.de/human/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ankeschwarz.net/">https://ankeschwarz.net/</a>
Latest publication:
Schwarz A and Streule M (2024): Territorial subjectivities. The missing link between political subjectivity and territorialization. Progress in Human Geography, online first, <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325241228600">https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325241228600</a></pre>
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