Call for Papers

Annual Meeting of the Royal Geography Society with the Institute for British Geographers
1^st – 4^th September 2015
Venue:  The University of Exeter

Convenors

Christopher Harker (Durham University) christopher.harker@durham.ac.uk
Samuel Kirwan (University of Bristol) samuel.kirwan@bristol.ac.uk

Co-sponsors: Economic Geography Research Group, Political Geography Research Group

Abstract

The changing composition and size of state and household debt burdens in the UK, and the different histories of high indebtedness in other countries and regions, has sparked growing interest in the ways in which debts compose space, time and experience, and in how, on a broader scale, the being-in-common of the anthropocene is, and has been, conditioned by indebtedness. However, we still know relatively little about geographies of debt and indebtedness, both in terms of how they shape specific performances of the everyday and the connections, differences and thus comparative possibilities between different national, regional and local milieu. We invite contributions that explore geographies of debt and indebtedness, whether through economic, political and/or socio-cultural registers. We are particularly interested in papers that:

• Investigate the different methods and strategies for creating and governing indebted subjects;
• Unpack how debts intersect and interact with other obligations and social relations (e.g. class, gender, ethnicity, age, dis/ability);
• Explore how debts transform attachments to objects and material cultures;
• Map the new cartographies of urban environments shaped by promises of easy credit;
• Examine the intersections of credit/debt relations with the movement and immobilities of different bodies, objects, categories and borders.

We are particularly keen for contributions focusing on non-UK contexts.

Format: Two 100-minute sessions

Each session: 4 x 20min presentation, plus 20min discussion

Please send abstract to both convenors by 10^th February 2015