Call for Proposals

*PLEASE NOTE: This call for proposals closed July 18, 2013. It is included here as a description of the workshop.*

We invite activists, advocates, writers, researchers, journalists, artists, and organizers to offer workshop presentations – notes, observations, histories, research findings, arguments, questions, essays, articles – about the contemporary urban processes that shape Winnipeg, from an anti-colonial and anti-neoliberal perspective.

WHY?

Winnipeg is home to a long history of struggles over urban space. These struggles often seem to have two dimensions: on the one hand, low-income communities fight against the effects of an unjust political-economic system, and on the other hand Indigenous peoples continue to struggle against settler colonialism. How are these struggles connected?

Poor people in Winnipeg have struggled against a shifting social and economic agenda that has in recent years been labeled “neoliberalism”. This has included fights against: the privatization of public services, the redistribution of wealth upward through tax breaks and land grants for businesses and developers, and expanded punishment and policing of the poor; as well as fights for improved access to affordable housing, public services, and good jobs. At the same time, Indigenous-led efforts to resist racism, and secure the stability and self-determination of their communities and nations within the city have grown steadily.

What is sometimes lacking in the midst of these struggles is reflection about how they connect to each other: how neoliberalism and settler-colonialism intersect, overlap, and work together to make Winnipeg what it is, and how a politics of alliance between anti-neoliberal and anti-colonial movements in Winnipeg and beyond might be nurtured.

We believe that a thoughtful, grounded analysis of these forces is essential to shaping a more just future. We also believe that anti-colonial and anti-neoliberal theory grounded in the experiences of resistance to these dual processes in Winnipeg can make an important contribution to collective understandings of these processes at a national, continental, and global scale.

WHAT?

To this end, this workshop is intended to bring together like-minded people who have spent time researching, thinking about, or working in the midst of opposition to neoliberalism and/or settler colonialism to share their ideas in a forum where we hope to:

-make connections between each other’s work and ideas
-ask questions about each other’s work and make constructive suggestions
-strategize about how our ideas can be communicated to a broader public
-develop ideas for future research

Each participant will make a 5-15 minute presentation at the workshop. The format and schedule of the workshop will be determined based on how many submissions are received. It may take the form of people presenting in circles focused on specific topics, or it may involve one big circle of presentations.

While our focus is on different forms of research, this is not a strictly “academic” event – people who do their intellectual work outside universities are welcome and encouraged to participate. We believe that analysis can and must be done outside the university.

Possible presentation topics could include (but are not limited to):

– Idle No More

– Occupy/decolonize

– Apology, truth and reconciliation

– Gender and sexual violence

– Labor

– Housing

– Policing

– Gentrification

– Prison expansion

– Criminalization

– Education

– Community control

– Non-profit industrial complex

– Everyday politics of resistance and survival

– Arts, the “creative class”, and the city

One response to “Call for Proposals

  1. I would love to be included in future events. I am sorry I missed this one. If I can sneak out of class, I will pop by.
    Miigwetch,
    Raven Migizi Hart
    Female Representative
    University of Winnipeg Aboriginal Student Council

Leave a Reply to Raven Hart Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *