Call for Papers and Participants | ‘Walking-with Amsterdam’ – Walking as Research Practice (WARP) Research Group Conference 2022

Call for Papers and Participants | ‘Walking-with Amsterdam’ – Walking as Research Practice (WARP) Research Group Conference 2022
Deadline: July 15, 2022 (extended)
Notification of acceptance: July 29, 2022
Conference Dates: September 29-30, 2022
Submission and Contact: warp-cus@uva.nl
Location: University of Amsterdam
Organisers: T. A. Cardoso, F. Ranalli, F. Smits & Prof. Dr A. Twemlow
Credits: 2 ECTS

Background

The University of Amsterdam Walking as a Research Practice Research Group (WARP), in collaboration with the Centre of Urban Studies (CUS), Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), Platform for Research through the Arts and Sciences (ARIAS) and Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA), is delighted to announce its first conference, to be held in Amsterdam 29-30 September 2022. The conference is organised by T. A. Cardoso, F. Ranalli, F. Smits & Prof. Dr A. Twemlow with the support of the UvA Centre of Urban Studies.

With this conference and the ongoing activities of the Research Group, we hope to stimulate a rich transdisciplinary dialogue about how, why, when, and with what results, walking practices are being explored and engaged with in the social sciences, humanities, and the arts. In particular, the conference is centred on the intersection between artistic or design research and an expanded conception of urban research. The conference seeks to highlight how the ways in which artists and designers use walking in their research practices, and a renewed attention to the role of the body and the senses, might invigorate a critical rethinking of traditional methods and perspectives in the field, and thereby help in fostering a more inclusive and transdisciplinary discourse on place-making and becoming in the context of a city. The conference will also appeal to those working in adjacent disciplines such as geography, artistic practice, artistic research, art history, journalism, environmental humanities, performance, media studies, digital humanities, and more.

Guest speakers

Prof. Dr Stephanie Springgay (McMaster University) will be giving a keynote lecture.

Stephanie Springgay is Director of the School of the Arts (SOTA), at McMaster University, Canada. She is a leading scholar of research-creation with a focus on walking, affect, queer theory, and contemporary art as pedagogy. Her SSHRC-funded research-creation projects include WalkingLab (www.walkinglab.org) and The Pedagogical Impulse (www.thepedagogicalimpulse.com). She has published widely on contemporary art, queer-feminist anti-racist pedagogies, and social practice arts.

Prof. Dr Annemarie Mol (University of Amsterdam) will be leading a walking seminar.

Annemarie Mol is Professor of Anthropology of the Body at the University of Amsterdam. Her research, following an anthropologist’s perspective, questions how we deal with our bodies and their deep-rooted paradigms such as coping with and reflecting on illness and the meaning of eating. In addition, she hosts The Walking Seminar, where participants talk-walk about various issues concerning academic work, to access thinking processes in different ways.

Details and Requirements

WARP Conference 2022 welcomes submissions for presentations on all aspects of walking as a practice and a method of research in the arts, humanities and social sciences from academic, arts and citizen researchers alike. We are looking for reflection on inclusivity, transdisciplinarity, methodological innovation, or applied solutions of walking-based research. Such reflections can also include artistic approaches to walking, and to walking in a more-than-human world. Since Amsterdam provides the context and walking playground for this conference, participants might also want to explore aspects of Amsterdam’s histories or current issues.

Please send your submission stating your proposed format, and including 5 keywords and a short biography to warp-cus@uva.nl. All proposals should be between 500-700 words.

Themes

Proposals might address, (but are not limited to) the following themes:

• Walking in relation to methodological innovation
• Walking as transgression practice
• Walking as decolonization practice
• Walking with difference
• Surfacing poetic and sensorial experience through walking
• Walking as means of claiming the urban commons
• GIS and spatial analysis through walking practices
• Deep mapping, experiences of place
• Mapping mobility, spatial connections and networks with walking
• Linking walking and writing: mixed-method approaches
• Environmental humanities: walking as awareness
• …

Formats

We welcome conference contributions in the following formats:

1) (Mobile) Panel Discussions (2 hours max)

Panel discussions where 3 speakers share their views on a particular topic and engage in discussion with one another and participants.
The panel discussion can also take the form of a walk. Proposals should include panel topic, speaker biographies, how the participants can contribute and, if a walk, how many participants can be accommodated, technical requirements, route to be taken, and expected outcomes, if any.

2) Papers/ Guided Walks / Walkshops (2 hours max)

A researcher/practitioner can choose to present their paper to a seated audience or guide a walk which demonstrates and shares a particular approach to walking as a research method. Proposals should include a detailed description of the content of the paper and, if a guided walk, what the method is, how the walk will be led/instructed, how many participants it can accommodate, technical requirements, route to be taken, tools and/or skills needed by participants, and expected outcomes, if any.

3) Short Papers / Posters / Method Demos

A portion of the conference will be devoted to the exhibition of experimental approaches, new projects, and emerging research trajectories.
These will be activated by short presentations of 10 minutes + 5 minutes for discussion and are suited for reporting on ongoing research and/or research in its early stages. Short papers are particularly welcomed from Early Career Researchers (e.g. Masters or PhD Students). Proposals should indicate what themes and issues the approach, method or project addresses, and what format it takes (prototype, model, app, map, video, sound piece etc). Demonstrations are meant to be interactive and can optionally be accompanied by posters.

Publication

The editors of Soapbox Journal for Cultural Analysis (soapboxjournal.net), an independent and open-access publishing platform, will be dedicating an issue of the journal on the discussions and outcomes of the WARP Conference: Walking-with Amsterdam. Editors will invite delegates to offer papers for peer review consideration and possible development into journal articles. Similarly, there will be an opportunity to publish non-academic work (without peer review) related to the conference such as visual/artistic outcomes and interviews.

Key Dates

• Deadline for Proposals: 30 June 2022
• Notification of acceptance: 14 July 2022

Contact details for informal enquiries: warp-cus@uva.nl

Credits

For PhD- and Research master students affiliated to Dutch universities, attendance and participation of the conference can be rewarded with 2 ECTS. In order to be allocated these credits, students are asked to attend the entirety of the conference (2 days), actively participate and to submit a short assignment after the event.