Call for Proposals
Rooted Futures: Visions of Peace and Justice
The International Peace Research Association (IPRA), the world's largest body of peace researchers, professors, students and community-based practitioners, invites your proposals for its 29th biennial conference, to be held in Trinidad and Tobago, mid-May 2023. The conference, “Rooted Futures: Visions of Peace and Justice,” will bring communities of academics, activists and artists together to reflect on the past, present, and future of peace and justice praxis.
We invite participants to reflect on building futures rooted in the lessons of the past. As the Māori proverb, Hoki whakamuri kia anga whakamua, suggests, we must walk backwards into the future. Indeed, a socially just world requires us to contend with the historical roots of our modern-day crises: the precarity of our global systems, our long-standing anthropocentrism, and our ‘lingering colonialities.’ Yet, while the roots of contemporary crises are long, we recognize that so too are the roots of resistance and resilience. Ancient practices, indigenous knowledge, and histories of struggle offer wisdom that we cannot afford to ignore, forget, or mythologize. The 2023 IPRA general conference is therefore an invitation to come together to root our future-making practices in historical, local and indigenous wisdoms.
The conference gathering place - Trinidad & Tobago, a twin island republic in the Caribbean - provides a distinct opportunity to do this retrieval of historical memory. The Caribbean region has endured the triad of colonialism, slavery, and indentureship. It has also been the meeting ground for diverse peoples and cultures, including Indigenous, African, Indian, Chinese, Lebanese and Syrian descendent populations. It is a seedbed of resistance movements and a container of deep syncretic wisdom.
From the Māori of the Pacific indigenous to the West African Sankofa - looking back to look forward - we reflect on building autonomous encounters, like the decolonizing South American encuentros seeking “autonomy of the heart” as well as the Mayan and mestizo “Ch’ixinakax” mixing and opposites which can bring about new wholeness and hope. We call “Ashe” to the Trinidadian local yet internationalist spirits and legacies of George Padmore, CLR James and Kwame Ture, of Mama D'Leau and Claudia Jones, of the Merikins and Maroons, who have come before with lessons on building the future in the present. We intend to make our 2023 gathering a deeply Pan-African, Pan-American, truly global time together.
The conference aims, as does IPRA and the field of peace studies itself, to promote dialogue across disciplines. Diverse formats and activities are encouraged, and ongoing relationships will be nurtured. In so doing, it promises to be a site of critical dialogue, reflection, and action - a truly unique and urgently needed opportunity to advance progressive justice and peacebuilding strategies.
TOPICS FOR CONSIDERATION
The IPRA 2023 Conference welcomes papers/proposals which explore the following Major Thematic Areas, alongside other Sub-Themes within IPRA’s various Commissions. Applicants are encouraged to creatively link their proposals to one or more of the following themes and/or sub-themes:
Major Thematic Areas of “Rooted Futures: Visions of Peace and Justice”
● Peace and Justice in Community Organizing
● Living in Climate and Economic Crisis
● Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on islands in the Caribbean and in the Global South
● Creative Economies for Peace and Justice
● Building Peace Movements for Justice: Experiences, theory and methods
● Rethinking Sustainability for Peace and Justice
● Interculturality and Ethical Communities
● Restorative Justice and Community Building
● Community and Youth-led Movements
IPRA Commission Sub-themes:
● Indigenous Peacebuilding Knowledges and Practices
● Peace Theories and History
● Peace and Ecology in the Anthropocene
● Human Security and Society
● Pathways towards Peace and Justice (PPJ)
● Youth, Sports and Peace
● Gender and Peace
● Media, Conflicts and Journalism
● Nonviolence and Peace Movements
● Development, Political Economy and Sustainable Peace
● Art, Music and the Culture of Peace
● Memory, Museums and Peacemaking
● Peace Education (PEC)
PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS
The IPRA 2023 conference will have diverse modalities for presentation and interaction, including:
● Plenaries
● Panels & Single papers
● Poster sessions (e.g. academic, experiential & artistic)
● Art exhibits/installations
● Video presentations and discussions
● Experiential workshops/Dialectical Conversations/Restorative Justice Circles
● Youth workshops
● Song/Dance/Movement Workshops/Performances
We aim to build spaces of encounter, where ideas and experiences can be shared and reflected upon collectively, where new ideas and relationships can be built, and where future actions and interactions can be seeded.
We offer two formats/hubs for your proposal:
(1) Ideas
Submissions to the idea hub will include single papers, posters, artwork, or activity proposals that will later be grouped thematically with others and in diverse formats (such as panels, roundtables, workshops, exhibits). Those who participate in this hub will connect with thought-partners and collaborators to share ideas and experiences. These collaborations may take form in diverse formats of interaction, designed to fortify connection and dialogue.
(2) Arrangements
Submissions to the arrangements hub will include proposals for panels, workshops, or exhibits that have a pre-established theme and methodology. The organizers of these events will submit a proposal that includes a description of the unifying theme, the presenters and their respective contributions, and the methodology that will be used. We ask that you consider ways for these events to be participatory and sustainable over time.