<nettime> Renewing the Anarchist Tradition Conference Call

[stevphen shukaitis <stevphen@autonomedia.org>]

RENEWING THE ANARCHIST TRADITION
A Scholarly Conference
November 2-4, 2007 in Montpelier, Vermont

The eighth edition of the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition (RAT)  
conference, sponsored by the Institute for Anarchist Studies, once  
again aims to provide a participatory and scholarly space in which to  
reexamine, reinvigorate, and make relevant the social and political  
tradition of anarchism.

Each year, RAT brings together anarchists, anti-authoritarians, and  
libertarians who want to critically engage both the tradition itself  
and the world in which we live. Participants and presenters at the  
conference thereby contribute to developing a more rigorous  
contemporary theoretical framework for anarchism as well as a  
stronger basis from which anti-authoritarian movements can organize  
and resist.

In a historical moment characterized overwhelmingly by war,  
exploitation, forced displacement, dispossession, and environmental  
devastation, it might seem strange to spend a peaceful fall weekend  
in conversation with friends and comrades in Vermont. But we believe  
that the contemporary context makes it more important than ever to  
foster a space in which to collectively and honestly appraise the  
strengths as well as weaknesses of different anarchist practices,  
platforms, convictions, dogmas, truisms, and theories in helping us  
to understand and ultimately transform the layered systems of  
domination and oppression that structure it. We also see RAT as a  
place to discuss and share theoretical tools from beyond the  
anarchist tradition(s) that can add to building more sustainable  
social movements and practices, and eventually a world characterized  
by freedom, justice, and dignity for all.

RAT aims to nurture and support a new generation of anti- 
authoritarian public intellectuals from different backgrounds and  
experiences. So when we describe it as "a scholarly conference," we  
are referring to a quality of the presentations and discussions--not  
to some professional identity of the participants. You do not have to  
be an academic to attend or present at RAT. All you have to do is be  
ready to actively participate in the conversations and debates, as  
peers who are creating the conference space together. In the past,  
RAT has served as a forum for organizers, scholars, writers, artists,  
educators, publishers, and students from a range of anarchist and  
libertarian left tendencies to come together to engage in challenging  
yet respectful dialogue. Participants have observed that RAT offers a  
distinctive social environment in which long-term conversations and  
relationships between anti-authoritarians from various places and  
political contexts can be built.

At previous conferences, presenters have proposed topics that ranged  
from the character of social change to the ongoing relevance of  
categories such as class, community, and labor; from the changing  
shape of the state and capital to emergent forms of both domination  
and resistance in a globalizing world; from the character of twenty- 
first-century technology to the functions and potentials of anti- 
authoritarian art and propaganda; and from anarchism's relation to  
geopolitical concerns such as terrorism and war to its ability to  
grapple with issues of identity such as race, gender, and sexuality.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
(Due by or before September 1, 2007)

We are once again accepting proposals for a limited number of  
presentations. In addition, we will be curating a series of panels  
that build on previous conversations and provoke even more dynamic  
debate than at past conferences.

If you are interested in presenting, please take a look at the RAT  
archive (currently at http://www.homemadejam.org/renew) to get a  
sense of the topics that have been explored in the past. If you feel  
alienated when you look at this list, or think that important issues  
that should be considered through an anarchist lens have been left  
out, do not panic or decide not to attend. Please send us a proposal.  
We particularly encourage non-academics, working people, women,  
indigenous people, people of color, queer and trans people, and  
others frequently marginalized in scholarly life to submit proposals.

Each proposal should include: a succinct presentation title; a  
maximum 150-word description of your presentation and the question or  
topic you wish to address; a maximum 50-word description of yourself;  
and your full name and e-mail.

You can submit multiple proposals, and proposals for panels are also  
welcome. Please note, however, that we will be choosing from the  
proposals by September 15, and not every proposal will be selected.

If your proposal is accepted, you are automatically registered. All  
presenters must pay the registration fee, since RAT has no funding  
other than all of us contributing to make this space possible.

Send your proposal(s), by or before September 1, to:
rat-presentations@anarchiststudies.org.

REGISTRATION
(Starting on September 15, 2007)

RAT registration, limited to 150 people, will open on September 15.  
All presenters are automatically registered, but like everyone else,  
they must pay the registration fees in full by or before October 15.  
RAT has no outside or independent funding, so everyone who attends  
contributes financially to making this conference possible. Those who  
register for RAT can also book a table(s) for bookstores, infoshops,  
magazines, and other projects.

Once registration opens, we will offer a sliding-scale registration  
for the following three options:

     1. Registration and five meals (for locals and
        others not requiring housing): $45 to $65
     2. Registration, five meals, and 2 nights in
        shared dorm room: $105 to $125
     3. Registration, five meals, and 2 nights in
        single dorm room: $155 to $180

Also, a limited number of partial scholarships will be
available to subsidize RAT conference fees for those
with financial need. These scholarships, as in the
past, will be made possible because of the generosity
of other RAT participants who can afford to pay the
higher end (or more!) of our sliding scale.

SCHEDULE

RAT will open this year with a single panel on the evening of Friday,  
November 2, followed by a full day of presentations, panels, and a  
party on Saturday, November 3, and will wrap up with more  
presentations and panels until about 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 4.  
All presenters and participants should plan on attending the full  
conference, since RAT is meant as an extended conversation.

We are renting space at a small college in Montpelier, Vermont, for  
meeting rooms, tabling, five meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner on  
Saturday; breakfast and lunch on Sunday), and dorm rooms. On Saturday  
night, we'll be using the Langdon Street Cafe for a performance  
(rants! confessions! diatribes! music!) and socializing space.


--
Stevphen Shukaitis
Autonomedia Editorial Collective
http://www.autonomedia.org
http://slash.interactivist.net

"Autonomy is not a fixed, essential state. Like gender, autonomy is  
created through its performance, by doing/becoming; it is a political  
practice. To become autonomous is to refuse authoritarian and  
compulsory cultures of separation and hierarchy through embodied  
practices of welcoming difference... Becoming autonomous is a  
political position for it thwarts the exclusions of proprietary  
knowledge and jealous hoarding of resources, and replaces the social  
and economic hierarchies on which these depend with a politics of  
skill exchange, welcome, and collaboration. Freely sharing these with  
others creates a common wealth of knowledge and power that subverts  
the domination and hegemony of the master's rule." - subRosa Collective

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