Call for workshops

There is a wide consensus in academic and activist communities, that oppressive systems and power dynamics need to be examined and challenged on a structural level. In other words, complex social issues and inequities (e.g., in education, migration, health care, or media contexts), are best understood when viewed through a lens that is critical and sensitive to the sociocultural, historical, and political processes that sustain them. Honing in on an individual person or incident in disregard of structural issues may disregard or downplay the magnitude and insidiousness of oppression and consequent social problems.

Focusing our attention instead on dismantling underlying structural issues thus seems imperative. Intersectional approaches are needed to deeply understand structures of power and oppression, which calls us to consider a broad range of forms of power and oppression and their relationship, including but not limited to racism, ableism, classism, (hetero)sexism, transphobia, and ageism.

Despite some helpful pointers towards investigating oppression and power as structures, it still often remains implied or unclear what these structures are, how they have been built and maintained, and how they can effectively be transformed. Furthermore, dismantling structural oppression may be considered unfeasible in scope, or not encouraged as an appropriate paradigm of scholarly activities (be in research, teaching, activism, or administration).

During the ETMU Days 2023, we aim to shed light on Structures of Power and Oppression by asking questions such as: What do structures of power and oppression consist of? How are they materially, discursively, linguistically, socioculturally, and historically constructed? How have they developed throughout time and space? How can they be made visible? What harm have they caused? Who has benefited from them? How can they be challenged and dismantled? What other structures, processes, or relationships could and should be built instead?

We invite workshops to explore the conference theme and related topics around migration, mobility, belonging, displacement, racialization, intersectionality, Indigenous rights, multiculturality, trans/nationalism, and human and minority rights. Workshop conveners will be responsible for reviewing and selecting abstracts for their session and facilitating the presentations of their contributors.