Call for papers : Conference on The Right to Water,Maxwell School of Public Policy and Citizenship Syracuse University, NY

Call for Papers Conference on "The Right to Water" Maxwell School of Public Policy and Citizenship Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA March 29-30, 2010

In recent years, struggles over the right to water have emerged as a focal point for political mobilization in a range of locations around the world. Although formalized in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment No. 15 of 2002, political actions have now focused on realizing this possibility in specific contexts.

Celebrated by some as a powerful force for ensuring fair access to basic resources, others have questioned the means, direction and emancipatory potentials of such struggles. While struggles for the right to water can articulate with specific historical geographies, they simultaneously connect with broader global concerns and universal rights discourses.

Nonetheless, as some have pointed out, such struggles can obfuscate as much as they clarify and can even further the very agendas some activists seek to counter. This conference takes these debates as its starting point. Above all, it seeks to question the immanent potentials in local, national and global struggles for the right to water, thereby enhancing our understanding and insights on the ways global discourses on the right to water intersect with local political economic and cultural dynamics.

In exploring such questions, the conference will bring together academics, policy-makers and activists. Following keynote lectures on the theme on Monday March 29, a series of paper sessions will form the basis for a deeper dialogue on the issues involved on Tuesday March 30.

A post-conference publication, in the form of an edited book, will seek to frame the key contributions and take these forward as a critical resource for future research and action.

Conference details:

The conference will take place on March 29 and 30, 2010 at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA. Details of the conference may be found at the conference website:
Queries regarding the conference may be sent to waterconference@syr.edu<mailto:waterconference@syr.edu>

Abstract submission:

If you are interested in presenting a paper, please submit an abstract under 250 words, containing a title and your affiliation details, by December 30, 2009, via the conference website
Graduate students are encouraged to submit posters, and should note this in their submission.

Costs:

There are no registration fees to attend the conference. If requested, accommodation will be provided for those presenting a paper, on the nights of March 29 and 30.  Meals will be provided during the conference proceedings. Please note that we cannot cover any travel costs or other costs. You will have to make your own travel arrangements.

Deadlines:

Abstract submission - December 30, 2009
Notification of acceptance - January 15, 2010
Conference registration - February 15, 2010
Conference - March 29-30, 2010
Chapter submission - Summer 2010 (date TBA)

Conference Organizers:

Dr. Alex Loftus
Department of Geography
Royal Holloway, University of London
alex.loftus@rhul.ac.uk<mailto:alex.loftus@rhul.ac.uk>

Farhana Sultana, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Geography
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
Email: sultanaf@syr.edu<mailto:sultanaf@syr.edu>
Website: https://www1.maxwell.syr.edu/faculty/sultana.aspx