Call for Papers: "Capitalizing Power: The Qualities and Quantities of Accumulation"

Keynote speakers:

• Jeffrey Harrod, University of Amsterdam -- Global Weimarism: The Demise of Cohesive Global Power?

• Herman Schwartz, University of Virginia -- Intellectual Property Rights, Collective Action, and the Continuing Power of "Finance"

• Justin Podur, York University -- Nature, Capital and Commodification: Ecology and the Capital as Power Framework

• J.J. McMurtry, York University -- Community Capital: The Pitfalls and Promise of Local Power

• Jonathan Nitzan, York University -- No Way Out: Crime, Punishment and the Limits of Power

With the global crisis lingering, many now wonder how capital has become so powerful, and what should be done about it. Although we are eager to provide answers, the problem starts with the question itself: what exactly do we mean by ‘capital’, and what does it mean to say that capital is ‘powerful’?

The theme of the 2012 conference is the capitalization of power. The focus is the conversion of qualities to quantities: to theorize and research how the qualities of power – the multifaceted interactions of command and obedience, force and submission, violence and resistance – are universalized and discounted to the quantities of capitalization.

The conference will comprise two parts: public presentations open to all (September 28), followed by a closed workshop for the conference participants (September 29-30). The workshop will consist of longer presentations, allowing more time for debate, discussion and contemplation.

Financial assistance: we may be able to assist presenters by partly covering the cost of travel and accommodation. This possibility is still tentative; it is conditional on our ability to secure sufficient funding.

Deadline for abstract submissions: July 21, 2012.