Centre for Security Research

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Call for papers for CeSeR annual conference

Theme: Securing the Self in Strange Places and Times

25 April 2023 

University of Edinburgh

In-person, with a possible hybrid option

Organizers: Dr. Andy Hom and Lauren Rogers

We invite contributions to our annual CeSeR conference. Rising anxieties and uncertainties in global politics challenge traditional notions of security studies, prompting reassessment of what it means to be (in)secure in the modern international system. From the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the contested politics of maritime borders, to climate change, space, and myriad other  global challenges, fundamental shifts in how  political subjects understand security are taking place—what it means, who has or does it, and the nature of threats and risks. In some cases, this means revisiting old ways of conceptualizing security or opening up new physical places to secure. In others, it means seeking to secure the Self in the face of exogenous shocks and over time.

We welcome papers that examine either novel contexts for security politics or the changing ways in which security is produced, negotiated, or contested. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Rethinking the spatial and temporal limits to questions of security
• Critical approaches to understanding new referent objects of security: the system, the self, the planet
• Anxiety and emotion in security discourse
• Reimaging alliances and borders in light of new global challenges

We are particularly interested in work with relevance to contemporary challenges, and are committed to encouraging a pluralism of approaches, perspectives, and subject positions in the hope of better capturing the intrinsic diversity of security today.

Please send a (working) title, abstract (up to 200 words), and short bio to lrogers3@ed.ac.uk by February 17 2023. We will notify acceptance the following week. We may be available to offer a limited contribution to travel expenses, depending on need and demand.