CfP: ACTION. Feminisms and the spatialization of resistances. Lisbon (online), 21-23 April 2021

Call for Papers: ACTION. Feminisms and the spatialization of resistances. Lisbon (online), 21-23 April 2021

The V International Congress Architecture and Gender | ACTION. Feminisms and the spatialization of resistances continues the reflections organized since 2015 and mainly from southern Europe, enabling the construction of networks, research and transcontinental experiences. In this genealogy, with varied programs and themes, the previous congresses are ArquitectAs (2014, Seville), Matrices (2015, Lisbon), MORE (2017, Florence), and Fielding Architecture (2019, Brighton). The fifth edition emphasizes the political component of space and rights intersection, never forgetting the diversity of being a woman or a girl and the crossing with the current circumstances derived from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 1995, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at IV World Conference on Women, was an essential event in the fixation of a political, strategic and global agenda, related to women’s rights and opportunities. Today, twenty-five years later, we witness the coexistence of public practices and progressist policies in parallel with severe losses and silences. To reflect, discuss and propose, critical and collectively, theories, strategies and practices, become urgent. Through an expanded and interdisciplinary stance, we call for a focus on resistances, anchored by intersectional feminisms – necessarily post-colonial and decolonial, and women and non-normative people’s rights, revindications, wishes and aspirations.
Throughout the world, in diverse socio-cultural and professional spheres, several struggles against patriarchy, racism and capitalism are organized collectively. From bodies to global territories, in local and transnational contexts, space strands’ understanding and action are fundamental answers to discriminations, marginalization and absence of rights. Starting from resistance dynamics in the production and appropriation of territories, cities, architectures and objects, we are especially looking for contributions placed as purposive actions in the spatialization of rights. In the context of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, emphasis will also be placed on critical and situated reflections on, on the one hand, the affect and alteration of women’s lives in the private and public spheres, and, on the other hand, what are the possibilities for territories we inhabit.
Among others, this congress intends to discuss and act, in a critical reflection framework, on the following topics:

  1. Equality between women and men and their spatial dimensions with diverse scales (body – house – city – macro territory);
  2. Climate justice and (eco)feminists spatial praxis in the territorial embodiment of equality and women and girls’ roles in effectively defending territories and the planet;
  3. Professional practices as feminist emancipatory processes of architectures, cities and spaces in a broad sense;
  4. History, stories and feminist methodologies in the construction of amplified narratives; and
  5. Spatial pedagogies – territorial, urban, architectural, among others – as alternative models with transformative potential.

Submission of original proposals must be done through EasyChair platform until 15 October 2020. The abstract should have 300 words as maximum, until 5 bibliographic references (APA format) and include the intended topic. Each person may submit at most one individual abstract and one in co-authorship, or two in co-authorship. The working languages of the congress are Portuguese, Spanish and English. The publication of articles, validated for this purpose in a posterior blind peer review, is planned, in paper or online format. Due to pandemic circumstances, the congress will take place in an online format.
More information can be found on the conference webpage.

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