CfP: Fourth International Conference Strikes and Social Conflicts: crises of capitalism, new and old forms of protest

 

The Fourth International Conference on Strikes and Social Conflicts will be held at the University of São Paulo in July 10-13, 2018. Its purpose is to discuss the proliferation of protests in contexts of capitalist crisis. In these contexts, the articulation between labor conflicts and other social conflicts becomes more evident; Ethnic, gender and generational issues become more complex and renew interest in collective mobilizations, carrying theoretical and analytical challenges to researchers.

The relationship between crisis and protest is not only established in the present but goes back to the past and points to the future. How do recurring crises of capitalism, which not only have an economic but also a political and ideological dimension, impact strikes and social conflicts? In what way do they affect capital-labor relations, urban and ruraldemands, gender, ethnic and national identities, strugglesaround sexual orientation, or environmental issues?

These and other issues can be discussed from different disciplinary areas and theoretical traditions, covering a diversity of movements, historical times and territories.

1. Working groups

I. Protests against the economic, political and ideological crisis

The relationship between protests and crises, past and present.The causes of the protests and their short- and long-term impacts in contexts of crisis. The main requests, the repertoires of collective action and the actors mobilized, on a local and a global scale. The popular resistances and the reactions of the right.The growth of conservative movements.

II. Urban social movements

The configuration of the city and the problems of urban life. Neighborhoodand  housing (homelessness, squatting) movements, for the improvement of public services, against the eviction of populations, against the genocide of populations. The role of youth in urban movements.

III. Peasant struggles and rural mobilizations

Analysis of social conflicts in the countryside. Disputes over land and access to natural resources (water, gas, minerals, seeds, plants) involving landless populations, rural workers, landowners. The struggles against the expropriation and control of the common goods by the market.The reactions of the agrarian bourgeoisie.

IV. Ethnic and national identities and social conflicts

How social conflicts shape and transform identities over time. Ethnic uprisings against colonialism and "criole" oppression, indigenous struggles for self-determination, for plurinational states and land demarcation, black movement struggles for the recognition of civil, political and social rights.

V. Migratory processes and social conflicts

The impact of migratory processes on the social structure.The emergence and transformation of conflicts.Analysis of the dynamics of socio-cultural integration, the construction of ghettos, xenophobia, racism, etc.

VI. Sexual orientation and gender identity movements

The emergence of feminist organizations and discourses, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movements, their debates and their relationship with other social movements.

VII. The emergence and transformation of protest in socialist states

The experience of protests in Eastern European countries, as well as in other socialist states.Their characteristics and particularities in seemingly "classless" societies.

VIII. Social movements and political change

The interaction between social movements and political transformations during periods of transition from dictatorship to democracy or in revolutionary processes.

IX. Environmental protests

The struggle for the preservation of the environment, its relation with economic policy, with cultural traditions and identities.

X.  Labor conflicts and trade unionism

Union conceptions and strategies, strikes and other forms of labor conflict, protests of precarious and disorganized workers, the role of women and youth in labor conflicts.

2. Rules for the submission of papers and important deadlines

There are two types of registration:

a. Individual communication

b. Round tables: collective registration of 3 or 4 communications

The deadline for submission of proposals is 30 November 2017. The proposal should be sent to: greveseconflitossociais@gmail.com, with the following information: personal data (name, surname, institutional affiliation, email) and an indication of the work group in which you want to enter your proposal (this also applies to the round tables). Eventually, the Organizing Committee may reshuffle the distribution of the proposal from one group to another.

The researcher interested in attending the conference should provide a summary of up to 4,000 characters. In the case of the registration of round tables, the organizer of the table should present a summary of all the communications (within the limit of 4,000 characters each), together with the data of their authors, in a single file. He or she should also include the title of the round table, as well as a description of its purposes (within 500 characters). Whether in individual or round-table inscriptions, we encourage proposals that combine theoretical and empirical perspectives, avoiding simple description of cases or abstraction.

The disclosure of accepted proposals will be communicated on January 20, 2018. The deadline for submitting the complete text of the communications expires on March 15, 2018.

The text of the communication, whether individually or as part of a round table, should contain between 24 and 40 thousand characters (including spaces and notes), making a maximum of ten pages, in times new roman 12, space 1.5, margins 2.5. The text of the work should clearly define the topic to be examined, the methodology used in the research, present its theses and arguments and explain the debate (theoretical, historiographical or political) in which the work is inserted. Unsent communications will not be included in the event’s schedule, will not be published in the annals and will not have the right to presentation or a certificate.

The act of submission of work in a work group or in a round table will imply the payment of a fee, which has the purposeof enabling the organization of the congress:

Important notices:

1) A researcher may submit up to two papers in the event and each of them may have a maximum of three co-authors.

2) The rates described above are charged for work, not for author / researcher. In case of co-authorship, the fee will be charged according to the condition of the researcher with the highest degree.

3) In the case of a round table, the fee will be charged according to the professional situation of the table coordinator.

4) The payment of the submission fee must be made through the Pay Pal.

5) Paper submissions must be done through the site.

3. Deadlines and registration fees

Participants with accepted papers and attenders who wish to receive certificates must, upon receipt of acceptance of their registration, complete payment for their participation in the conference.

The registration fees are individual, according to the values and deadlines below:

	Till March 30, 2018	Till June 30, 2018	At the event
	Brazilians	Foreigners	Brazilians	Foreigners	All
Professionals	200 reals	60 dollars	300 reals	90 dollars	500 reals
Post-graduation students	150 reals	45 dollars	200 reals	60 dollars	250 reals
Attendants	50 reals	15 dollars	75 reals	25 dollars	100 reals

 

 

4. Information about hosting and the location of the event

In due course, the organizing committee will release information to facilitate the trip to Brazil and stay in the city of São Paulo.

5. Scientific committee

Andréia Galvão (Department of Political Science, Unicamp)

Bryan Palmer, Trent University (Canada)

Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History (IISH, Amsterdam)

Nicolás Iñigo Carrera (University of Buenos Aires/PIMSA)

Paula Marcelino (Sociology Department, USP)

Paulo Terra (History Department, Federal Fluminense University)

Rana Behal (University of Delhi)

Raquel Varela (PPGH- Federal Fluminense University; IHC- Lisbon New University, IISH)