2nd-6th September 2014, Leipzig
Bridging movements and research for the great transformation.
The International Degrowth Conference has reached its fourth venue: since Paris 2008 the debate on how to turn away from a growth-oriented economy towards a more sustainable society has drawn world-wide attention. The fourth international conference will take place in a country that is considered as the European engine of economic growth. Different traditions of growth critique, such as the concept of a post-growth society stemming from the German-speaking community and the French and Southern European degrowth debate, are invited to a fruitful dialogue. The conference seeks to bring practitioners, activists and scientists together and encompasses various formats for presentations, interaction, workshops, and exchange. This Call for Papers refers to the scientific track only, which aims at reflecting, substantiating, and developing further the scholarly work on degrowth.
More info about the conference: http://leipzig.degrowth.org/en/
Call for papers (for scientists): http://leipzig.degrowth.org/en/call-for-papers/
Call for participation (for activists): http://leipzig.degrowth.org/en/call-for-participation/
Deadlines
Proposals for special sessions have to be submitted until December 31st 2013, papers and abstracts until January 31st 2014. The review process will be concluded by the end of May.
Thematic threads and topics
Thematic threads
The conference addresses three main thematic threads. For the scientific track, contributions covering the following topics are invited:
+ Organizing society
Emancipatory politics, participation, institutions
- > Multiple crises
- > Capitalism and economic growth
- > Societal organization and coordination beyond growth
- > Conditions for degrowth
- > Democracy beyond growth
- > Communal and regional organization
- > Infrastructure and public services
- > Transforming education
- > Public debt and taxation
- > Distribution and basic income
- > (Re)distribution, fairness and inclusion
- > Social movements, self-organized projects, new wave of protest
- > ?
+ Building a social and ecological economy
(Re-)productivity, commons, society-nature relations
- > (Eco)feminism and degrowth
- > Productivity and (re)productivity beyond growth
- > Planetary boundaries and environmental justice
- > Global South, BRIC and degrowth
- > Social metabolism and material flows
- > International trade and capital flows
- > Monetary and financial systems
- > Energy, housing and mobility
- > Scenarios and models of a post-growth economy
- > Agriculture and rural-urban relations
- > (De)commodification of nature
- > Work, labour, and socially meaningful activities beyond growth
- > Commons, solidarity, and gift economy
- > Forms and organization of businesses
- > ?
+ Living conviviality
Buen vivir, creative commons, knowledge & technology
- > Buen vivir and post-development
- > Cultural drivers of growth
- > (De)urbanization and (de)alienation
- > Convivial and experimental learning
- > Creative commons and open source
- > Spirituality, reconnection and relationality
- > Knowledge generation, research & development, technology
- > Convivial technologies
- > Alternative welfare models: happiness, needs, and the good life
- > Cultural, anthropological, and ethical perspectives on degrowth
- > ?
Narrative Steps
The conference unfolds along three narrative steps, which offer a common perspective and a general framework respectively to each full day:
> Wednesday: Facing the current crisis: critique & resistance.
> Thursday: Building alliances.
> Friday: Visions and strategies for transformation.
Scientific papers and discussions are required to build on the state of affair and to develop further the current research on degrowth, post-growth and sustainability by addressing open challenges, implementing new research agendas and interlinking diversified approaches in a promising way.
Conference structure
The scientific track will comprise the following formats:
> Semi-plenaries with eminent speakers and a scientific perspective on degrowth & post-growth
> Core and short paper sessions with the presentation of individual contributions
> Core sessions featuring longer presentations and a prepared comment
> Poster presentations in the central hall of the conference venue
> Special sessions featuring presentations with a specific thematic focus or comprising further activities such as discussion workshops, reading sessions or the planning of a research network; prepared and submitted by an external session organizer
Submission procedure
Proposals for the presentation of individual papers and posters as well as for the organisation of special sessions are welcome. Proposals should address one (or more) of the conference topics under the lens of one (or more) narrative steps.
> Core sessions require the submission of a full paper (approx. 3000-8000 words) and a short abstract (max. 150 words)
> Short paper and poster sessions require the submission of a long abstract (max. 1200 words) and a short one (max. 150 words).
> Special sessions with paper presentations can be proposed by submitting an abstract (max. 800 words) with the topic of the session and a list of speakers and presentation titles. Upon acceptance of the session speakers on the speaker list will be required to submit long and short abstracts to undergo the review process.
> Special sessions comprising other formats require an abstract (max. 800 words) with information on structure, topic and objective of the session.
Scientists, practitioners, artists and activists are also invited to submit a short and generally comprehensible stirring paper. Your stirring paper, if accepted, will serve as an introductory paper for expert working groups of a so-called Group Assembly Process. If you want to participate in this process, please submit a stirring paper of 1000 to 1500 words by January 31, 2014.
Deadlines
Proposals for special sessions have to be submitted until December 31st 2013, papers and abstracts until January 31st 2014. The review process will be concluded by the end of May.
More info about the conference: http://leipzig.degrowth.org/en/
