First Marxist Geography Workshop, 11-12 October 2024, The People’s Forum, Manhattan, New York, USA
The Institute of Human Geography (IHG) are soliciting applications to participate in the first Marxist Geography Workshop, to be held at The People’s Forum in Manhattan, New York (US), 11-12 October. IHG is extremely grateful the journal Capitalism Nature Socialism for sharing the financial/material burden of organizing this Workshop. The objective of the workshop is to facilitate the process of developing Marxist Geography, but all Marxists (or those aspiring to become Marxists), in any field of knowledge, are welcome. A corollary main aim is to help interested people become mutually acquainted and finding ways to help each other in activities like teaching, research, and direct political action. The workshop is to further mutual education and not for critical appraisals of participants’ work.
More ambitiously, the workshop would lead to the formation of a collaborative group dedicated to building institutional capacities alternative to the academic mainstream, establish networks useful towards sharing resources to build for the long term and helping each other find permanent or secure posts, and run future workshops in such a way as to help prepare the next generation of especially (but not only) Marxist geographers gather, share ideas in mutually nurturing ways, and educate each other.
Several reasons animate the organization of this workshop. In North American Geography, interest in Marxism grew by the late 1960s and eventually became influential enough even to land, though not always explicitly, in introductory textbooks. This was thanks to much effort external to and within academic institutions, as well as major publications that shaped the intellect of many geographers. Continuing efforts and the acclaim gained by a few Marxist geographers, has enabled Marxism to persist, even if often just conceptually, within academic Geography. Progressive marginalization and much distortion since especially the 1990s, however, have stunted the development of Marxist Geography and its potentials for wider social relevance. The absence of academic Geography institutions dedicated to the study of Marxism has also impeded systematic training in even the most elementary aspects of Marxism. The workshop is an attempt to contribute to reversing the trend and to build institutional capacity (informal and formal). This is not only to further Marxist Geography, but to help in the development of the theoretical tools to meet the challenges of steadily worsening working conditions, including within universities, and to prepare more geographers in teaching Marxism, especially given a recently rising interest in socialism. Though principally concerned with Marxist Geography in North America, participants are welcome from other regions of the world as well.
There are no set themes to the workshop. Instead, participants are to bring and present summaries and thoughts about:
The theoretical work of Marx or Engels or a Marxist thinker, especially one who was or is involved in party work; this can be a specific book, article, pamphlet, etc.
How that Marxist thinker helps develop Marxist Geography (in terms of specific theories, methodology, paradigmatic or theoretical development, etc.); this could be about commodification processes in relation to basic needs (housing, food, healthcare, etc.), dialectical and historical materialism, imperialism, decolonization struggle, political economy of resource extraction, multiple-scale processes behind soil degradation, etc.
How Marxist Geography that can be developed out of that theoretical framework helps with a specific form of social struggle (relevant to, e.g., activism, social movements, etc.) or with the development of a party’s political platform or policy (please limit to one concrete, detailed example).
As time is never enough, these must brief overviews, presented within not more than 15 minutes. This is also to allow for discussion for the purpose of clarification, further description of concepts/theories and their applications, and other matters pertaining to further exploration and learning, rather than critique. Please prepare such overviews in ways that presume no prior knowledge. What is presented at the workshop will be considered for publication in the journal Human Geography, in the Reviews section.
It is highly recommended that prior to the workshop each participant will have read (or re-read), at a minimum, Capital Volume 1 and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. This is helpful in having a grounding on Marxist method and a shared background among all participants.
The structure of the workshop is to have two concomitant discussion groups (with facilitators) sharing ideas and then reporting the results of the discussion to all in a sharing session.
REGISTRATION FEE: USD 20-100 (sliding scale) for those who can avail themselves of reimbursement from their institution or want to contribute more. No one who is accepted to the workshop will be turned away for lack of funds to pay for the registration fee. Once accepted, information will be provided about how to make the payment.
An official invitation letter can be made available, and it can include a description of a presentation, if such is necessary.
Deadline for the application: 31 August 2024
To apply, please email the following to ihumangeography@gmail.com:
A letter describing who you are, why you wish to participate, a description of your background in Marxism (if any), what you would like to get out of the workshop, how you will further the aims of the workshop after its conclusion
An abstract of no more than 300 words delineating the ideas to be shared at the workshop (see above); if possible, submit a manuscript for the same of no more than 5000 words for the body of the text
Current CV or similar, highlighting any activities most pertinent to Marxist Geography