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Call for Papers – A Suburban Revolution?

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Published February 23, 2013

by iris_author

CALL FOR PAPERS

Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21st Century

A SUBURBAN REVOLUTION?

An international conference on bringing the fringe to the centre of global urban research and practice

The City Institute at York University (CITY)

York University | Keele Campus | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

September 26-28, 2013

We invite abstract submissions for panels and papers by scholars and urban practitioners for a major international, interdisciplinary conference on Global Suburbanisms. The conference marks the midterm of the Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21st Century sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). While the conference is themed according to work done by our 50 researchers to date, we explicitly encourage submissions by researchers and practitioners not linked to the MCRI. This event will be presented in collaboration with the Canadian Urban Institute and sponsored by SSHRC and York University.

Global Suburbanisms

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities. While the impact and meaning of this fact is up for debate, it is clear that it has shifted the discussion from development as a rural to urban imperative to urbanization as a multi-faceted process, which includes all manner of contradictory aspects: continued domestic and international migration from the land to urban settlements, growth and shrinkage, urban metabolic shifts, infrastructure investments, labour markets, spectacular urbanism, social revolutions, changes in gender roles, creative cities and so forth. (Sub)Urbanization marks the moment of our shared experience as planetary citizens.

A Suburban Revolution

While often referred to as an ‘urban revolution,’ most urban growth worldwide in the 21st century takes the form of peripheral or suburban development. Much of what counts as “urbanization” today is generalized suburbanization. Despite widespread normative preferences in planning and city building for a dense and centralized urban form, suburbanization remains the dominant mode in which cities are built. Whether by choice or by force, builders, residents and workers, rich and poor, construct, live and work in urban peripheries around the world. The universality of the suburban experience and the boundless divergence in its real processes and outcomes are on the agenda of urban scholars and activists today.

THEME AREAS

The conference will be structured in four interlocking theme areas and we seek submission of panel and paper proposals in all four areas. Panels will typically have four papers and a discussant. Several panels will be running simultaneously in the following theme areas:
A.        Understanding suburbanization: an exploration of the ways of knowing the suburbs, suburbanization and suburbanism; methodology; tools; naming; benchmarking; mapping; comparativity, etc. Track chair: Markus Moos, University of Waterloo
B.        Governance: the way states, capital and private households build and maintain suburbanization as a process; suburbs as places and suburbanisms as ways of life; planning and urban policy. Track chair: Pierre Hamel, Université de Montreal
C.        Land: the development and redevelopment of suburban land; densities; core-periphery; formal and informal land markets; polynuclearity; growth machines; shrinkage, etc.Track chair: Richard Harris, McMaster University
D.        Infrastructure: the ways in which hard and soft infrastructures enable the building of suburban landscapes; splintering; mobility; flows and places, etc. Track chair: Pierre Filion, University of Waterloo

DETAILS

Requirements:

1) Author or panel organizer name(s), and contact information

2) Title of paper or panel

3) 250-word abstract (Word doc. format)

Important Dates:

Submission deadline: March 31, 2013

Notification to authors: May 1, 2013

Presentation Dates: Sept. 26-28, 2013

Location: York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Please send proposals to the email address suburban@yorku.ca

The organizers will update information on the conference (registration, fees, accommodation, travel and format etc.) at our website www.yorku.ca/suburbs when it becomes available.

The conference will also feature keynote presentations, media and art presentations, tours and public events.

Looking forward to seeing you in Toronto in September 2013.

Roger Keil for the organizing committee:

Lisa Drummond, York University
Pierre Filion, University of Waterloo
Pierre Hamel, Université de Montreal
Shubhra Gururani, York University
Richard Harris, McMaster University
Ute Lehrer, York University
Sara Macdonald, York University
Markus Moos, University of Waterloo
Douglas Young, York University

For more information, please contact suburban@yorku.ca

www.yorku.ca/suburbs

Posted in: Opportunities

My Village, My Lobster: Commercial diving & the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua

Published by

Published February 23, 2013

by iris_author

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Website for the film

An interview with the producer


_____________________________

CERLAC, Casa Canadiense, LACS and IDS present A documentary film screen and discussion
 
My Village, My Lobster
Commercial diving and the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua

With commentary by
Miguel Gonzalez, York University
Maria Wong, Casa Canadiense
 
February 28, 2013
2:30 – 4:30 pm
519 YRT (York Research Tower)
York University
 
Along Nicaragua’s Miskito Coast, commercial lobster diving is the largest industry, employing over 5,000 Nicaraguans, mostly indigenous Miskito Indians who have few educational opportunities and almost no alternative sources of employment.
 
Filmed over four years, the film connects the lives of individuals and communities involved in the complex and incredibly perilous lobster fishing industry. It’s the powerful and harrowing story of the indigenous divers who risk their lives for the most lucrative resource of Nicaragua’s Miskito coast, the Caribbean spiny lobster. 
 
This action-driven feature documentary is set against the backdrop of the visually stunning Caribbean in one of the most remote places in the Americas: La Mosquitia, the largest tract of rainforest north of the Amazon. Included is footage aboard a commercial lobster diving vessel and from the remote Miskito Keys – the fabled turtle hunting grounds of the Miskito Indians.
 
More info: cerlac@yorku.ca
http://www.yorku.ca/cerlac/events12-13.htm#lobster

 

 

Posted in: Events

Sustainable Technologies and Transdisciplinary Futures: From Collaborative Design to Digital Fabrication

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Published February 22, 2013

by iris_author

SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES AND TRANSDISCIPLINARY FUTURES:

FROM COLLABORATIVE DESIGN TO DIGITAL FABRICATION

STTF2013 Summer School * July 8-12 * ISCTE-IUL University Institute of Lisbon

[ sttf2013.iscte-iul.pt ] [ facebook.com/sttf2013 ] [ twitter.com/sttf2013 ]

STTF2013 invites you to apply for a one week intensive programme of social and technical methods, in a transdisciplinary environment that will engage participants in both conceptual and practical activities with all four pillars of sustainability as background.

STTF2013 is intended for Master and PhD students, researchers, and professionals from STS, Product and Service Design, Social Sciences and Humanities, Architecture and Engineering, Communication and Media, Environmental Studies, Economics and Management, Computer Sciences, and others.

Regardless of individual experience, everyone will have the opportunity to work in sociotechnical processes of design, construction and discussion of concrete objects, through Introductory Sessions, Masterclasses and Hands On Workshops.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

> Jerry Ravetz (University of Oxford, UK)

> Liz Sanders (MakeTools, US)

> Tomas Diez (FabLab Barcelona, ES)

> Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent (Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, FR)

> Alex Schaub (FabLab Amsterdam, NL)

IMPORTANT DATES

> Application Deadline – APRIL 1

> Notification of Selected Participants – APRIL 15

> Early Registration and Payment Deadline – MAY 1

> Late Registration and Payment Deadline – JUNE 1

FIND OUT MORE

> For more information on How To Apply, Fees, Programme, Speakers, or Venue, please visit our website sttf2013.iscte-iul.pt

> STTF2013 is a joint initiative of VitruviusFabLab-IUL (Digital Fabrication Laboratory) and CIES-IUL (Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology), research units of ISCTE-IUL (University Institute of Lisbon)

> For any additional inquiries, contact us at sttf2013@iscte.pt or call CIES-IUL Front Desk +351 210 464 018

Posted in: Opportunities

Human Habitats and Ideologies of Sustainability

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Published February 22, 2013

by iris_author

Human Habitats and Ideologies of Sustainability 
An Urban ASIA lecture on Kathmandu, Nepal 
Thursday, 28 February 2013 | Noon to 2pm | 626 York Research Tower   

With Anne Rademacher, New York University

When is housing an environmental problem? In this talk, I draw from long-term ethnographic engagement with the biophysical, cultural, and political dynamics of urban river degradation in Nepal’s capital city to describe the ways that conflicting concepts of urban ecology were used to categorize urban space as either “land” or “river.” As a consequence, thousands of informal settlements in the river’s riparian zone were either considered agents of degradation or icons of sustainability. When embedded in Nepal’s revolutionary political context, I further demonstrate the malleability of ecology in urban social life. I then turn briefly to more recent fieldwork among green design practitioners in Mumbai. Here, I consider how an emergent form of urban sustainability expertise, in this case environmental architecture, served as a critical arena within which ecologically appropriate housing was defined. In both cases, the social and political dynamics of sustainability in practice transform scientific concepts of ecosystem ecology into multiple and contested social practices of urban ecology.  

This Urban Asia Speaker Series event is organized by the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) and the City Institute at York University. This event is co-sponsored by the South Asian Studies Programme and the Department of Anthropology, York University  

ALL ARE WELCOME!

For more information: ycar@yorku.ca | www.yorku.ca/ycar/Events/urban_asia.html

 

yorkeventfebr

Posted in: Events

Call for Papers for our next Special Issue entitled: “Environmentally Induced Displacement.”

Published by

Published February 22, 2013

by iris_author

REFUGE vol. 29(2)

 Special Issue: Environmentally Induced Displacement

 Guest Editors:  Pablo S. Bose and Elizabeth Lunstrum

 

This special issue will explore the phenomenon of environmentally induced displacement (EID).  From climate change to extractive industries, from ‘natural’ disasters to increased urbanization, from conservation to mega-projects, landscapes and peoples’ place on them are being transformed at an unprecedented scale across the globe.  We suggest that these as well as many other processes provoke specific forms of environmentally induced displacement and forced migration, confronting communities with the loss of their land and other vital resources.  Many of the most affected groups are often vulnerable to begin with, lacking secure rights and access to resources and to formal recourse once these are jeopardized.  This special issue explores the phenomenon of EID through both conceptual as well as empirical work.  We invite submissions that address a range of questions such as: What constitutes environmental displacement?  What practices and discourses help to organize and rationalize these processes?  What are the demographic impacts of environmental displacement?  How have various local and international actors responded to environmentally induced displacement?  What are some of the definitional debates regarding ‘environmental refugees’ and their place within the international protection system?

 

Successful submissions may come from a wide range of conceptual backgrounds concerned with environmentally induced displacement. A variety of research interests will be explored with the objective of providing theoretical and practical insights on matters such as adaptation and internal coping strategies, livelihoods and sustainable development, prevention prospects, disaster risk management, regional concerns, cross-border legal implications, humanitarian responses, state action and inaction, and environmentally induced versus other forms of displacement (e.g. conflict, developmental, etc).

 

Contributions may be submitted either in English or French and will be published in the language of submission. They should generally not exceed 7500 words, or 30 double-spaced pages, and must be typed and submitted in electronic form. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review process by independent experts. Shorter papers, including commentaries and book reviews, are also welcome. REFUGE adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style for social science papers and to the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation for papers in the legal discipline (see style sheet for details). Papers must be prepared with full citation endnotes rather than with a bibliography. Papers should include an abstract of approximately 100-150 words, highlighting the central arguments and/or findings of the paper. Papers should also include 1-2 sentences indicating institutional affiliation. Comme indiqué ci-dessus, nous publions également des articles en français. Le format doit être conforme aux normes exigées pour les articles rédigés en anglais.

 

Submission Deadline: February 28, 2013

 

For further information, please contact: the Editor of Refuge, c/o Centre for Refugee Studies, York Research Tower, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto (Ontario), Canada M3J 1P3
refuge@yorku.ca      http://www.yorku.ca/refuge

Posted in: Opportunities

The New Burma? Religion, Democracy and the Rohingya

Published by

Published February 21, 2013

by iris_author

yorkeventfebEVENT POSTPONED: TO BE RESCHEDULED LATER IN THE ACADEMIC TERM

The New Burma? Religion, Democracy and the Rohingya
Wednesday, 27 February 2013 | 4 to 6pm | 280A York Lanes| York University 

The world has watched for decades, hoping for political reform that would bring freedoms to Burma. While the past two years have brought remarkable political and cultural changes, the hope of freedoms quickly gave way to communal violence targeting Muslims and ethnic conflict. This panel will explore the changes and challenges facing the new Burma, focusing particularly on the plight of the Rohingya.

With:
Anwar S. Arkani (Founder and President, Rohingya Association of Canada)
Kabita Chakroborty (human rights activist and scholar, Children’s Studies programme, York University)
Antoine Nouvet (regional analyst, SecDev Foundation)

This event is a part of the Diversity, Rights and Religion series organized by the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR). 
For more information, visit: www.yorku.ca/ycar/Events/diversity_rights_religion.html or email ycar@yorku.ca

Posted in: Events

Online Registration Now Available for Encounters in Canada: Contrasting Indigenous and Immigrant Perspectives

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Published February 21, 2013

by iris_author

Encounters in Canada: Contrasting Indigenous and Immigrant Perspectives
 
Chestnut Conference Centre, Toronto, Canada
May 15–17, 2013

Registration is now available (click here)

 
We are delighted to announce the attendance of the Right Honourable Paul Martin as Special Keynote Speaker at the opening dinner on May 15, 2013!  He will be discussing his important work on the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative (MAEI).  More information is available here.
 
Other distinguished keynote speakers include 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Joseph Boyden, Chief Dean Jacobs of the Walpole Island First Nation, and Professor James Laxer, author of Tecumseh and Brock: The War of 1812.
 
We are also very fortunate to have outstanding plenary speakers and prominent participants joining us, including:
*Ms. Andrea Auger, Touchstones of Hope Coordinator, First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada, Ojibwe from Pays Plat First Nation
*The Honourable James Bartleman, former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario
*Professor Phil Bellfy, Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Indigenous Border Issues, Michigan State University, and Member of the White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa
*Dr. Carolyn Bennett, St. Paul’s Member of Parliament and Liberal Critic for Aboriginal Affairs & Northern Development
*Professor Colin Coates, Associate Professor of Canadian Studies and Director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York University
*Professor Ravi De Costa, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director, Environmental Studies, York University
*The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Senior Counsel at Torys
*Chief Brian LaForme, Chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation
*Mr. Justice Harry LaForme, Ontario Court of Appeal
*Mr. Justice Sidney Linden, Ontario Conflict of Interest Commissioner and Commissioner of the Ipperwash Inquiry
*Professor Deborah McGregor, Professor and Director of Aboriginal Studies, University of Toronto, Anishinabe from Whitefish River First Nation
*Professor Sarah Morales, Professor of Law, University of Ottawa
*Professor Pamela Palmater, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Governance and Professor of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University, Mi’kmaq from the Eel River Bar First Nation
*Professor Kent Roach, Professor of Law, University of Toronto, and Special Advisor for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
*Professor Peter Russell, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Toronto
*Dr. Marie Wilson, Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
*Ms. Jean Teillet, Partner at Pape Salter Teillet, Métis Nation
*Professor Graham White, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto
*and more to be announced.
 
Conference Summary
Indigenous peoples are the original caretakers of Canada, but their encounters with settlers have been marred by assimilation and territorial dispossession over hundreds of years.  The result has been significant alienation between Indigenous peoples and Canadian governments.  Conversely, immigrants to Canada, which for the purposes of this conference include early colonists, recent immigrants, refugees and displaced persons, have often viewed the country as a haven or land of opportunity.  However, many are sorely unaware of Indigenous history, rights and contributions to Canada’s development.  No people or community can speak for another; individual and group knowledge is intrinsic and internal.  However, in keeping with the ideal of “mutual sharing” emphasized in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, respect and trust can be fostered through shared difference.  While the specific experiences of Indigenous peoples, immigrant communities, refugees and Canadian-born citizens are very different on many levels, connections can be developed through dialogue and reciprocity.  Indigenous peoples as well as immigrant and refugee communities experience discrimination, racism, stigmatization and marginalization.  These encounters represent a wider systemic problem in Canadian political, legal, sociocultural and historical contexts.  Efforts to overcome exclusion can be built through increased awareness and knowledge-building, with support from allies.
 
This conference aims to fill this gap in knowledge and will bring together leaders from government and the judiciary, legal scholars, academics and practitioners to formulate practical solutions.  The primary objective is to build bridges – cultural, political, intellectual and social connections – between those who share the lands of what is now Canada.  The underlying rationale of the conference stems from the fact that Canada is now shared by Indigenous peoples, descendants of early settlers and more recent immigrant and refugee communities.  These communities encounter Canada in very different ways based on racial identity, ancestral heritage, cultural background, community belonging, language and spiritual practice.  Bridging the chasm that exists between Indigenous peoples and all newcomers, whether early or contemporary immigrants or refugees, is urgently needed in order to end discrimination and achieve equitable quality of life for all who live in this country.  To this end, the objective is to understand how Indigenous peoples and various immigrant groups experience their lives in Canada.  How are the challenges they face different?  Are there shared goals and experiences upon which to build future alliances to achieve improved quality of life in Canada?
 
Conference Program
The Conference Program is currently under development.  The Conference Organizing Committee would like to thank all those who submitted proposals for consideration.  As the program becomes finalized, details will be posted on the central conference website at http://crs.yorku.ca/encounters.  Website updates will be forthcoming on a regular basis.
 
Please direct any questions to the principal academic organizer of the conference, Professor Jennifer Dalton, atjedalton@yorku.ca.  The other members of the Conference Organizing Committee can also be reached as follows:  Professor David McNab (dtmcnab@yorku.ca), Professor James Simeon (jcsimeon@yorku.ca) and Professor H. Tom Wilson (htwilson@osgoode.yorku.ca).  Further information on the conference organizers is available here.
 
Social Media Links (under development):
*LinkedIn Conference Group: Encounters in Canada
*Twitter: @EncountersinCA
 
We are looking forward to welcoming you in May!

Posted in: Opportunities

Grad Research Seminar: Indigenous Women’s Resistance to Mining in Guatemala (FEB 27)

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Published February 21, 2013

by iris_author

yorkeventfeb

CERLAC Brown Bag Seminar Series for Grad Students
Wed. Feb. 27th Drop-in 12-2pm
8th Floor Lounge in Research Tower

Are you a graduate student doing research related to Latin America and/or the Caribbean? Are you interested in hearing about the different projects of York grad students? Would you like to get feedback from your colleagues in an informal setting? Want to meet other graduate students with similar interests?

We've lined up some great CERLAC Research Associates to present their work over the next few months. We're hoping to share thoughts and challenges of our research experiences. Come out and hear from your fellow students! We are also looking for more students to share their research questions and quandries as part of a brown bag lunch. E-mail sonjakm@yorku.ca if you are interested in presenting.

Our first seminar is on Feb 27 with Stacey Gomez who will discuss approaches to activist research and her work on Indigenous women's resistance to a mining project in Guatemala.

Everyone is welcome - Bring your lunch - Join us to hear about new research, share advice and socialize!

And save the date for our monthly brown bags! March 20th, April 10th, May 8th, and throughout the summer, dates TBD.

http://www.yorku.ca/cerlac/events12-13.htm#brownbag

Posted in: Events

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