The conference seeks to cultivate interdisciplinary and intersectional exchanges that creatively navigate the space between “free society” and knowledge about encampment and a broad typology of camps and camp-like institutions. These include “assembly centers,” barracoons, slave depots, detention and internment camps, prisoner-of-war camps, labor camps, “black sites,” offshore detention centers, concentration and reeducation camps, and prisons, among others. Comparative work is welcome.
Participants are encouraged to formulate critical interventions that assist in better understanding and responding to realities of carcerality at the same time that they embrace the possibilities for future change. While proposals from all fields are welcome, organizers anticipate ample participation from inter-American studies, literary studies, cultural studies, legal studies, critical prison studies, Caribbean studies, critical discourse analysis, sociocultural analysis, and history.
Abstracts of 200-350 words for 20-minute presentations and proposals for panels of 3- 4 participants (each with an abstract) should be submitted to camps2024@uni-graz.at by January 31, 2024. Please include short bios of 100 words or less. Proposals for presenting creative work (poetry, art, film) will also be considered. The conference languages are English and Spanish, and abstracts are welcome in either. See our website for additional details and a longer version of this call.
