Im/mobilities as products and generators of conflict
Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology (PACSA) invites papers for its 5th Bi-annual meeting, “Im/mobilities: Products and generators of conflict,” 2-4 September 2015, Frankfurt. Deadline for abstracts: 15 April.
The conference is organised in collaboration with the Peace Research Institute of Frankfurt and Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Goethe-University Frankfurt.
Im/mobility is one of the key concepts in contemporary anthropological theorizing. We are interested in exploring phenomena of im/mobility within the context of peace, violence and conflict.
Ethnographic research is particularly prone to further insight into the intricacies of im/mobility dynamics. The world is increasingly defined by, and realized in, the movement and circulation of people, goods and ideas across and within different spatial scales.
However, the same processes that promote movement and mobility also produce the contrary, namely, immobility, exclusion and disconnection. As changes in access to mobility dramatically affect multiple aspects of life, looking at im/mobility is a promising point of departure to the study of social change.
Im/mobilities can be products and generators of conflicts but they can also be forces in peace advocacy and the facilitation of cross-border interventions. Both can result in gains and losses of power, identity and other sorts of capital. For this upcoming PACSA meeting we encourage reflections on the various types of im/mobility and how they are related to conflict and peace.
Im/mobility in our understanding not only implies movement across space or time, but also social mobility.