The Cities & Nationalism Symposium 2.0 – Comparing Conflicts Across Geopolitical Faultlines provides a platform to bring together researchers working at the forefront of urban studies, urban and political geography, architecture and planning to allow for a continued comparative exploration across regional contexts.
Call for papers
Having as a starting point the complexity of factors that continue shaping geopolitical faultline cities in Ukraine, we seek to understand the impact of nationalism, populism, supra- and sub-national (regional, local) identities, and the respective challenges these pose on cities globally.
The symposium will address the rising tension between urban and national logics of space, that is between ‘thinking space like a city’ and ‘thinking space like a nation’. Given the recent global resurgence of ethnic and territorial nationalism – in the case of Ukraine, geopoliticised separatism – we are inviting papers which explore the tensions between national and urban regimes, with particular reference to the plight of minorities and rising frictions between multiple and often contrasting, or contradictory, identity narratives and the formation of municipal foreign policies.
The proposed overarching topic aims to map and understand uncertainties and instabilities which shape contemporary urban conflicts more widely, through a wide range of conceptual lenses initiated at the Cities against Nationalism? Symposium held at the University of Kent, June 2019.
We invite papers that discuss and address (although are not limited to) any of the above topics.
Prospective participants should contact Dr Jonathan Rock Rokem by 20th February 2020 to indicate their interest in taking part in the conference. Please include your affiliation, a proposed title and a 250-300 word abstract.
Successful applicants will be expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs alongside a subsidised conference registration fee of 50€: the fee includes a fieldtrip, tentatively to Mariupol (the political instability in Mariupol may require last-minute changes). In addition, there are also a limited amount of student bursaries to cover conference registration fees available.
Plenary and parallel sessions plus keynote talks will take place 1 – 2 July 2020: the fieldtrip is scheduled 3 – 4 July.
Confirmed keynote speakers
- Professor Jennifer Robinson, University College London
- Professor Dr Christian Schmid, ETH Zürich
- Professor James D. Sidaway, National University of Singapore
- Professor Dr Tatiana Zhurzhenko, University of Vienna
- Professor Camillo Boano, University College London
- Dr Sara Fregonese, University of Birmingham
- Dr Vlad Mykhnenko, University of Oxford
The event is hosted by the Chair of Sociology at the V.I. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine, in collaboration with the University of Oslo and the Kent Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies (KISS). Funding is provided by the Norwegian Research Council NORRUSS programme entitled Ukrainian Geopolitical Fault-line Cities: Urban identity, geopolitics and urban policy and KISS.
For any further questions please contact:
- Dr Jonathan Rock Rokem, University of Kent
- Professor Michael Gentile, University of Oslo
