We are excited to announce the Call for Papers for Violent Spaces, the annual PGR conference of the Landscape, Space and Place Group, which will be held on the 9th of September at the University of Nottingham. Spatial violence is an expansive concept which covers a range of environmental, social, political, economic and historical phenomena. As such, what is offered here is merely an insight into the way in which spatial violence might act upon and shape our contemporary world.

Environmental pressures are currently ravaging landscapes and seascapes across the globe, with the rapid rate of climate change creating extreme weather conditions that pose real and permanent threats to the places that they affect and the communities, plants and animals that inhabit them. Spatial violence is also a socio-economic concern. The rise of hostile architecture in major cities, the gentrification of previously affordable neighbourhoods and the commodification of landscapes for tourist purposes all have serious implications - in both urban and rural environments – for those left behind in these hegemonic spatial processes. Spatial violence might also be interpreted in a literal sense in the migration of refugees fleeing war zones and the subsequent processes of assimilation of such displaced communities into new countries, landscapes and cultures. However, such readings of spatial violence do not need to be situated in the contemporary. We are also interested in the way in which such violent spaces might find a historical precedent in past societies – not merely limited to the material landscapes of war but also engaging with political violence, contested boundaries, and religious/cultural spaces of violence.

As an interdisciplinary group, our Call for Papers is deliberately wide to reach as many disciplines as possible. We therefore ask speakers to read spatial violence broadly. Papers of twenty minutes may include but are not limited to:

• War and Geopolitics
• Spaces of Protest and Resistance
• The Spatiality of Terror
• Borders, Boundaries and Displacement
• Urban Redevelopment and/or Uneven Development
• Rural Tourism and Rural Redevelopment
• Environmental Violence and Ecocritical Conflicts e.g. Anthropocene, Apocalypse
• Perspectives on Globalisation in a Digital Age
• Marginalised Spaces/Identities

We invite submissions from scholars and creative practitioners working across the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences including (but not confined to): English Literature, Geography, Language and Linguistics, History, Classics, Creative Writing, Politics & International relations, Sociology, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Film and Media Studies. Presentations other than traditional academic papers – e.g. short films, photography, artwork and readings – are especially welcome

Papers and Creative Work: Individual papers and creative pieces should be twenty minutes in length. Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words with a short bio (100 words max) to [email protected] by the 15th of July 2019.

Panels: Panel presentations should be sixty minutes in length. Please send an abstract of no more than 800 words and scholar biographies of no more than 100 words per person to [email protected].

All male panels will not be accepted. All abstracts must be submitted on or before the 15th of July 2019. Decisions will be communicated by the end of July. If you have any access requirements, please email us and we will do our best to accommodate you. There will be no fee charged for attending this conference.