RM09: New Marxian Times

Call For Papers 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. 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 todayʼs 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.  STRUCTURE OF THE CONFERENCE 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 * Braiief 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 preregistration fee must accompany all proposal submissions.. Unfortunately, any proposal not accompanied by the appropriate preregistration fee cannot be considered. Proposals that are not accepted will have their preregistration fees returned in full. If you are submitting a proposal for an entire panel, please make sure the preregistration fee for all members of the panel is paid. The deadline for proposal submission is 1 August 2009. To submit a proposal and to pay the preregistration fee, follow the instructions on the conference website: http://rethinkingmarxism.org/conf REGISTRATION RATES ______Full Regular Rate $100 (at conference $115) ______Full Low-Income Rate $45 (at conference $55) ______Two-day Regular Rate $80 (at conference $95) ______Two-day Low-Income Rate $35 (at conference $45) ______One-day Regular Rate $60 (at conference $75) ______One-day Low-Income Rate $25 (at conference $35) LOGISTICS The conference will be held on the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Detailed information on lodging, travel directions, and childcare will be provided on the conference website. TECHNOLOGY Conference presentations will take place in the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  The majority of the rooms now have projectors available, but those wishing to project images or slides will need to provide their own laptop computers.  Please indicate on your registration form if you will need the use of a projector in order to facilitate the proper scheduling of rooms. PUBLICATIONS Selected papers, poems, art, and other forms of presentation from the conference may be published in RETHINKING MARXISM and/or in separate edited volumes of contributions. CONFERENCE WEBSITE All information pertaining to the conference, including paper and panel submission instructions, preregistration and on-site rates, lodging suggestions, travel directions, possible childcare arrangements, cultural events, the conference program, and much else will be posted on the conference website when details become available. The web address is: http://www.rethinkingmarxism.org/conf VENDORS AND ADVERTISEMENTS Literature tables and display areas are available to groups, vendors, and publishers at reasonable rates. Ad space in the conference program is also available at reasonable rates. All ads must be camera-ready. Inquiries concerning the conference can be addressed to: Vincent Lyon-Callo Department of Anthropology, Moore Hall Western Michigan University Kalamazoo MI 49008 Vincent.lyon-callo@wmich.edu Lisa Dettmer ,JD Women's Magazine KPFA Radio 1929 Martin Luther King Jr Way Berkeley, CA 94704 http://www.kpfa.org/womensmagazine 

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