A-Infos (en) 1st International Conference of Anarchist Geographies and Geographers (ICAGG) - Geography, social change and anti-authoritarian practices

Reggio Emilia (Italy) - Centro Studi Cucine del Popolo, via Beethoven 78/e, 21-23 
September 2017 - http://www.cucine.arealibertaria.org/ ---- In the last years, an 
outstanding international and multilingual rediscovery of anarchist geographers has 
occurred at the level both of academics and of grassroots movements, drawing at the same 
time on a renewed interest for historical figures like Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921) and 
Elisée Reclus (1830-1905), and on the contributions of anarchist and antiauthoritarian 
ideas and practices to present-day struggles for social liberation worldwide. Special 
issues on anarchism and geography have been published by outstanding international 
journals, such as Antipode and ACME, leading to a flourishing of recent papers and books 
on these topics, including the organisation of successful sessions on anarchist 
geographies at the most widely attended geographic international conferences, such as the 
RGS-IBG, the AAG and the IGU, and for the international conferences of the Anarchist 
Studies Network. An international mailing list of anarchist geographies has also been 
inaugurated.

In the French-speaking circuits, a flourishing of grassroots initiatives and scholarly 
research has likewise taken place, leading to the foundation of a network of anarchist 
geographers (Réseau de géographes libertaires), which organises a number of periodic 
conferences and workshops in France and Switzerland, and contributes to two important 
annual festivals targeting the communication between scholars and wider publics in France. 
The first, Les Reclusiennes, takes place in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, the town of origin of 
Elisée Reclus, and the second, the Festival International de la Géographie in 
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, includes an anarchist-driven Forum of Critical Geographies. In South 
America, conferences and public courses on anarchist geographies are periodically 
organised, mainly in Brazil, by the networks of Rekro/Território Autônomo and the 
Anarchist Library Terra Livre, in collaboration with universities like UFRJ and USP. This 
list could continue, but it is just a sample of the rich and cosmopolite field in which 
the present-day debates in anarchist geographies are developing.

In light of the flourishing of anarchist geographies, we propose to organize an 
independent international conference, to be repeated in different countries every 2 or 3 
years, to create a space for scholars and militants interested in these topics to enjoy a 
deep and fruitful exchange, and present an opportunity for those interested in anarchist 
geographies and rooted in broader social movements internationally to exchange ideas and 
make meaningful connections'. The choice of doing the first conference in an Italian small 
town like Reggio Emilia, where an established local anarchist movement already promoted 
events and publications on anarchist geographers is instrumental to the capital tasks of 
continuing a discussion among scholars and militants from different linguistic and 
cultural areas, and ensuring discussions involve grassroots movements and militant 
situations outside the academy.

This conference is not only for "card-carrying" anarchists. We welcome contributions 
dealing critically with anarchist geographies, histories, concepts, and interventions from 
grassroots movements, militants, and academics.

We invite especially, but not exclusively, critical anarchic geographical contributions on:

What are anarchist geographies and what are their tasks?
Which relations between anarchism and the most current critical/theoretical approaches 
used in geographical scholarship, i.e. postmodernism and post-structuralism, critical 
modernities, post-colonialism, more-than-human geographies, actor-network theory, 
non-representational theories, feminism, gender and queer theories, Marxism, critical race 
theory, intersectionality, qualitative and quantitative methods etc.
Problematizing the relations between anarchism, rationalism, Enlightenment and modernity,
Anarchist geographies and counter-cartography. Maps and spaces of liberation.
Anarchist geographies and Indigenous movements.
Anarchism and the environment: mesology, natural philosophies and the idea of progress.
Anarchist geographies in practice: experiences from grassroots movements, local and 
international struggles, histories and geographies of resistance.
Anti-statist, post-statist and not statist geographies: anarchism and the idea of territory.
Anarchism, federalism and the concept of geographical scale: cities, regions and the global.
Anti-racist, anti-colonial and internationalist geographies.
Anarchist geographies, cosmopolitanism and multilingualism: which challenges to 
nationalist and parochial academies?
Anarchism and geographies of war and peace.
Anarchism and geographies of violence and non-violence.
Anarchist geographies of education and de-schooling.
Geographies of secularisation and free-thinking.
Anarchist geopolitics.
Historical geographies of anarchism.
Anarchist geographies and geographers in the history and philosophy of geography.
Historical figures of anarchist geographers and their interdisciplinary connections: 
histories of transnational anarchism, anarchist anthropologies, political theory and 
political philosophy.
To attend the conference, please send an abstract of maximum 250 words at the 
addressscientific_committee@icagg.org by February 1st 2017. The preferred conference's 
language is English: if you feel especially uncomfortable with presenting in this 
language, please write to the organisers in order to arrange some specific solution. 
Further information will be provided by e-mail and through the site www.icagg.org

Practical information: For information on travel, accommodation and any other practical 
query (need for childcare, dietary requirements etc.), please write to icagg2017@icagg.org

Scientific and Promoting Committee:


Lorenzo Coniglione; Adriano Skoda; Amir ElHakim de Paula; Anthony Ince; Béatrice 
Collignon; Fabrizio Eva; Federico Ferretti; Francisco Toro; Gerónimo Barrera; Gian Maria 
Valent; Joanne Norcup; Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg; Marcelo Lopes de Souza; Patricia 
Wood; Patrick Minder; Philippe Pelletier; Richard White; Simon Springer; Vanessa Sloan Morgan

Local Organization Committee:

Andrea Ferrari; Arturo Bertoldi; Eliana Bartoli; Fabio Dolci; Gian Maria Valent
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