Mapping Dangerous Spaces – Call for papers

SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS: Mapping Dangerous Spaces

A one day interdisciplinary symposium for postgraduates and early career researchers to be held at the British Library Conference Centre on 1 June 2009.

The School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent and The British Library invite postgraduates and early career researchers to present their work and generate new debate about ‘dangerous’ spaces and the way in which crime and danger are mapped.

We would like to offer researchers the opportunity to challenge collectively orthodox understandings about the mapping of ‘danger’ and to draw together interdisciplinary work about how changing perceptions of danger are represented and imagined.

The day will take place at The British Library and will include an introduction by Peter Barber to some unusual maps of ‘danger’ that are specific to the collections. An interdisciplinary panel of academics will speak on their work and will include Kate O’Brien from the University of Kent and Alessandro Scafi from the Warburg Institute.

We warmly invite and welcome proposals for themes for parallel sessions, papers or workshops. Joint papers are welcome. Please send 200 word abstracts as well as ideas for themes by Friday 13 March 2009 to conference organisers (below).

Possible themes include:

• Ideology/Power
• Space and Culture
• Mapping cognitively, emotions and the psycho-geography of space
• Mapping liminal spaces
• The ‘civilized’ space
• Literary, fictional and virtual maps
• New ways of reading maps
• Gender, race and ‘danger’
• Issues of surveillance and control

We invite attendees to join us for lunch as well as a networking session at the close of the symposium. A small registration fee of £10 will apply to all participants. Tickets will be available through the British Library box office from late March.

Laura Hanson (ljh29@kent.ac.uk) and Dr. Sarah Evans (sarah.evans@bl.uk)