Rethinking Marxism:
A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society, is pleased to announce
its 7th international conference, to be held at the University of Massachusetts
in Amherst on 5-8 November 2009. RETHINKING MARXISM's six previous international
conferences have each attracted more than 1000 students, scholars, and
activists. They have included keynote addresses and plenary sessions,
formal papers, roundtables, workshops, art exhibitions, video presentations,
activist discussions, and cultural performances. Similar events are planned
for the next international conference, RM09: New Marxian Times.
Overview
THEME: RM09:
New Marxian Times is dedicated to exploring the possibilities and challenges
of Marxism for understanding and engaging with the contemporary world.
Neoliberal capitalism, long criticized by Marxists and others on the Left,
is now going through its own long-term economic and social crises. What
new possibilities do these crises create for Marxist and other progressive
ideas and visions? How does Marxism, and left-wing thought more generally,
need to be rethought to respond to these challenges? Decades of declining
real wages with rising levels of exploitation and economic inequality,
increasingly unaffordable energy costs, and a loss of the illusion of
middle-class status characterize large parts of the world, in the North
as well as the South. Declining state support for social welfare programs,
privatization and deregulation, record levels of migration of people,
growing urban slums, and increasingly authoritarian state interventions
in the lives of ordinary citizens have become the norm in the past two
decades. Concurrently, multiple environmental crises (from climate change
and global warming to increasing food insecurity, water shortages and
health challenges) have been receiving increased attention. From the anti-elite
sentiments expressed in response to the bailout of the financial industries
to emerging anti-immigrant and nationalist efforts and ethnic and religious-based
movements, average people are feeling both angrier and more insecure in
response to current conditions. And the elites have few if any answers
to the economic and social crises that beset the existing national and
international orders. Perhaps coalescing in the financial crisis acknowledged
in the autumn of 2008, these dynamics represent both a significant crisis
for currently constituted capitalism and modes of governance as well as
a set of challenges and possibilities for all of us concerned with working
towards a non-exploitative and more equitable world. In that light, we
are seeking intellectual, political, and cultural works that address the
possible contributions that Marxist ideas and forms of analysis can make
in responding to the challenges of these new times. Human rights, democracy,
environmental concerns, new organizing movements in South America and
elsewhere throughout the globe, the growth of social activisms represented
as anarchist, anti-imperialist, or in response to globalization, workers
subjectivities and movements, contradictions within emerging and transitional
economies, emergent nationalisms, and debt and the credit crises all represent
possible areas for contributions to new thinking about the role of Marxist
theories, cultures, and politics in today’s world. We strongly encourage
papers that address these topics in relation to the global south. Of course,
we also understand the vital importance of analyzing history in order
to help us to understand and respond to contemporary conditions. To understand
the new, we must reflect upon and learn from the old. In that light, we
are also interested in panels and papers that emphasize historical analysis
such as the history of Marxism(s), labor history, historical analysis
of academia, histories of social movements and political practices, the
historical development of Marxist/Socialist feminism, imperialisms, and
the historical relationships between class and race- based movements.
Call for Papers
RM09:
New Marxian Times will be held over four days, beginning on Thursday
evening, 5 November 2009 and ending on Sunday afternoon, 8 November 2009.
In addition to two plenary sessions and an art exhibition, there will
be concurrent panels, workshops, and art/cultural events. We invite the
submission of organized sessions that follow traditional or non-traditional
formats (such as workshops, roundtables, and dialogue among and between
presenters and audience) as well as individual presentations. Since Marxism
covers a wide variety of fields, from literature to public health and
forms of political practice, from environmental organizing to opposing
global inequality and envisioning new economic and social practice, anyone
engaging with Marxism in any discipline or form of activism is encouraged
to submit paper and panel proposals. We encourage those working in areas
that intersect with Marxism, such as critical race theory, feminism, political
economy, anarchist studies, cultural and literary studies, queer theory,
working-class and labor studies, postcolonial studies, geography and urban
studies, psychoanalysis, social and natural sciences, philosophy, and
around issues of class, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality,
and disability, to submit proposals. We also welcome video, poetry, performance,
and all other modes of presentation and cultural expression.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Proposals for papers, films, or other formats
should include:
- Paper title
- Presenter's name and contact information (mail, email, phone, affiliations)
- Brief abstract (no more than 200 words)
- Technology needs for presentation
Proposals for panels should include:
- Panel title
- Name, contact information, and paper title for each presenter
- Brief abstract (no more than 200 words) explaining the panel's focus
- Brief abstract for each paper (no more than 200 words)
- Names and contact information for any discussant(s) or respondent(s)
- Technology needs of presenters
- Title, contact, and address for any sponsoring organization or journal
The appropriate pre-registration fee must accompany all proposal submissions.
Unfortunately, any proposal not accompanied by the appropriate pre-registration
fee cannot be considered. Proposals that are not accepted will have their
pre-registration fees returned in full. If you are submitting a proposal
for an entire panel, please make sure you include the pre-registration
fee for all members of the panel.
The deadline for proposal submission is 1 August
2009.
For more details please visit: http://www.rethinkingmarxism.org