28-30 August
London
Choosing a comparative perspective and a focus on authoritarian states, this session brings together new research on the intersections between power, identity and urban space. The spatial turn in the humanities and social sciences has brought the ideas of Lefebvre, Harvey, and others to bear on questions of political change, state power, and social identity, resulting in greater attention to the production of state-controlled spaces. Worldwide, urban heritage is produced and designated as national heritage.
This panel shifts the focus to the urban level to scrutinise the relationship between the state and the urban locality, by asking the following questions: How do new state spaces shape and influence urban locales? How are projects of heritage demarcation, urban renewal and gentrification deployed politically by the state? How and to what extent do states use the urban as a means to legitimise their rule?
We are looking for submissions from a variety of theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary perspectives that address the formation of power and/or identity through the urban environment in non-democratic states. We are particularly interested in contributions which deal with specific urban sites or cities that were, or are being, transformed as a consequence of authoritarian state formation or politics. Cities in East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America receive special consideration. The focus on cities in authoritarian states allows us to draw attention to case studies which have thus far remained largely unmapped.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to Marijn Nieuwenhuis (m.nieuwenhuis@warwick.ac.uk or to Y.T.Sudermann@sms.ed.ac.uk) before Friday, February 1st if interested.
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