Call for Papers; 7th EARCAG　　

7^th East Asian Regional Conference in Alternative Geography (EARCAG)

Conference: Osaka, Japan, 23-25 July 2014

Retreat: Tohoku Area, 25-28 July 2014

Introduction

The aim of EARCAG is to provide a forum for critical geographers and social scientists to discuss and debate urban and spatial issues in East Asia. The main theme of this conference is "The Right to Inhabit: the Asian Challenges".

In East Asia, politics and economics are entering another stage of difficulty, unevenness and conflict. While countries that have switched to capitalism with stronger state intervention and large-scale production are enjoying considerable growth in the ever globalizing economy, those countries that have progress into a neo-liberal framework with concomitant financialization have been suffering from lower growth rates and resulting economical turmoil. Amidst such disparity, several countries are now looking into more nationalist politics, causing aggravating international rivalries in East and South China Seas as well as in the Sea of Japan/East Sea.

Turning our eyes to lower spatial scales, the uneven urbanization processes and patterns witnessed over East Asia are increasingly becoming socially and ecologically alarming. State-led authoritarian urban governance has been producing large-scale urban encroachments into newly targeted rural regions, and aggressive redevelopment strategies are restructuring existing cities. Consequently, land dispossession and the displacement of farmers have forced laborers to migrate to the cities to sell their labor power. It has been difficult for them to live in the city, as their rights to the city have not been well recognized and registered. Similarly, redevelopment processes within the city continue to force disadvantaged residents to leave their homes, resulting in homelessness for some.

In countries that have adopted a more neo-liberalist trajectory, authorities are also exerting policies to deprive people of their rights to inhabit, but in different, more subtle ways. Based on the assumption of neo-classical economics that human nature is inherently evil, governments have been experimenting with new means of surveillance, control and oppression over human space. Video cameras at every street corner, the IC transport cards used to keep track of people’s daily spatial paths, the enactment of various functional security legislatures in the guise of welfare etc. immediately jump to mind.

Furthermore, the rampant drive for capital accumulation and irresponsible governance of state power has produced many environmental disasters. Large amounts of land, sea and air have been contaminated with industrial and nuclear wastes. Our food, water, air and living environment have been seriously engendered, and our right to inhabit is thus being threatened in other, serious ways.

As such, the struggles against this multi-faceted elements of East Asian capitalism has come to be all the more difficult; but hope should not be abandoned. Numerous people suffering from negligence and abuse inflicted by governmental institutions are rising their voices, not only local but also on regional and global scales. In the cities, we continue witness various attempts to mitigate these social issues and other concerns, including new participatory community projects and alternative grassroot regeneration efforts to revitalize disinvested neighborhoods and attract new economic resources. In northeastern Japan, people still suffering from the aftermath of the earthquake/tsunami, as well as the nuclear disaster, keep struggling to get hold of the right to inhabit their respective localities.

These socio-ecological issues invite multi-scalar understandings, not to be restricted to the urban and local levels, but to be extended to across East Asia and even the global. The complex, socio-ecological forms of urban and spatial transformations and struggles must be understood and seriously debated. To contribute, we focus on the concept of "the right of inhabit", to imagine alternative ideas and suggest new configurations of space and social praxes to counteract both state capitalism and neo-liberalism. We therefore put forth the following themes:

Themes

/Struggles for the right to inhabit and social justice

/Claims to inhabit and alternative urban governance

/Urban and spatial discourses and power relations

/Redevelopment and gentrification

/Bottom-up revitalization projects

/Local and national welfare: initiatives and hidden power

/Spatial restructuring under neo-liberalism

/Nature and environment in capital accumulation

/Governance in disaster management

/Resettlement policies and housing studies

/Political economies of development under state capitalism

/Alternative urban economies

/Critical geopolitics in Asia

...

Date

Conference (Osaka): 23 -25 July 2014; Osaka International House

Retreat (Fieldtrip) in Sendai, Ishinomaki and Fukushima: 26-28 July 2014.

Venues

The conference is hosted by the Osaka City University, Urban Research Plaza and will be held in Osaka International House. http://www.ih-osaka.or.jp/english/. During the field trip, 2 sessions will be organized on-site (TBA).

Keynote Speakers

To be announced later.

Abstracts

Those wishing to present a paper are invited to submit by e-mail the TITLE and ABSTRACT (ca. 300 words) by 15 May 2014.

Organized Sessions

Those planning to organize a session or sessions must contact Prof. Toshio MIZUUCHI (earcag2014@gmail.com) by 30 April, 2014, with title and description of the session(s) and names of prospective presenters.

Registration

Those wishing to attend the conference must register by 15 May 2014. The registration form can be downloaded from http://econgeog.misc.hit-u.ac.jp/earcag/index.html

Registration Fee

1) Participants from the OECD member countries, Taiwan, Singapore and HKSAR

US$120 (faculty) US$60 (student)

2) Participants from rest of the world

US$60 (faculty) US$30 (student)

Accommodation

Conference: Hotel reservations can be made at "Hotel Chuo Oasis" (40 single rooms available at the cost of JPY 3,100)

Retreat: Hotel ... (Sendai, booking +- JPY 5,000, TBA)

Field Trip

In light of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami and the resulting nuclear disaster in Fukushima, a field trip will be organized to visit the disaster-affected sites. Accommodation will be provided on-site. The schedule is as follows:

(26^th) Visit to Sendai. From 3:00pm onward, Mr. Sugano will walk us around the areas where his NGO is providing rehabilitation assistance. Afterwards, we will visit temporary housing areas and employment assistance centers by chartered bus.

(27^th) Excursion in Ishinomaki, where the whole town has been wiped out by the tsunami. A local NGO will provide explanation on the current state of affairs.

(28^th) Visit to Fukushima by bus. Details will be provided later. After the visit, the bus will take us to Tokyo, where those who travel from Narita or Hanada International Airport can continue their way. A night bus will take those who travel from Kansai International Airport to Osaka (scheduled arrival: 29^th, 8:00am).

Transport:

1) By Night Bus: Leave Fri 25: 9.pm, arrive in hotel @Sendai, Sat. 26: 9 am. (price: free)

2) By Shinkansen: Leave at latest by Sat.:.9 am, arrive in Sendai Station by Sat.:2.pm, go by taxi to hotel (price 20,000 - 22,000 yen)

3) By Airplane: 70 minutes Flight, nineteen flights per day, (price 10,000 – 30,000 yen) "

Important Deadlines

Organizing session: 30 April, 2014

Registration: 31 May, 2014

Submission abstract: 15 May, 2014

Organization Committee (Steering Committee of EARCAG)

Byung-Doo Choi (Deagu University, South Korea)

Chu-joe Hsia (National Taiwan University, Taiwan/Nanjing University, China)

Jim Glassman (University of British Columbia, Canada)

Fujio Mizuoka (Hitotshbashi University, Japan)

Jinn-yuh Hsu (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)

Toshio Mizuuchi (Osaka City University, Japan)

Wing-Shing Tang (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong)

Bae-Gyoon Park (Seoul National University, South Korea)

Amriah Buang (National University of Malaysia, Malaysia)