Call for Papers

Cities and the State of Exception/State of Emergency
Ausnahmezustand and the Urban Condition

Fifth Annual Conference of the Transatlantic Graduate Program,
Berlin - New York
at the Center for Metropolitan Studies Berlin
Berlin, June 4-6, 2009

Cities are central sites where persistent tensions between order and
chaos, political legitimacy and violence, inside and outside, and sobriety
and excess periodically erupt during critical moments of crisis. Framed in
terms of the German notion of Ausnahmezustand, these moments challenge and
realign established relations of power and their concrete manifestations
in urban space. The fifth annual conference of the Transatlantic Graduate
Program will explore the urban dimensions of Ausnahmezustand in its double
connotation as both "?state of emergency"? and "?state of exception."?

The aim of this conference is to use the concept of Ausnahmezustand to
illuminate urban conditions and imaginaries and to investigate unveiled
mechanisms and structures in order to gain a deeper understanding of how
power functions in transforming the urban substance.

In the context of a "?state of emergency,"? Ausnahmezustand is widely
understood as an official declaration that temporarily suspends existing
rights, rules and regulations. In order to deal with an immediate crisis,
such as a natural disaster, political emergency, threat of civil war or
popular upheaval, which often have their most profound effect on cities,
the state suspends or alters rules, norms or practices. The implementation
of a state of emergency represents the authority's attempt to regain
control of a threatening situation, affirm and legitimate its sovereignty,
ensure its monopoly on violence and to reestablish the status quo.

Nevertheless, Ausnahmezustand also connotes a "?state of exception"? where
existing norms, rules and regulations are challenged and potentially
overthrown, even if only temporarily or locally confined. Thus, it is
equally important to analyze Ausnahmezustand as a "?state of exception"? - a
multi-directional process that involves multiple actors and sites of power
and is therefore not reducible to the application of state force. Instead
it may contain a transformative potential to remodel established urban
structures, discourses, social relations and the built environment itself.

Themes and questions this conference seeks to explore are:

-How can states of emergency/exception be defined, theorized and
conceptualized to understand urban conditions?
-How do political emergencies or natural disasters alter daily life,
institutional responses and the make-up of urban environments?
-What are the consequences and impacts of states of exception/emergency on
urban political institutions, social relations and cultural practices?
-How are states of emergency/exception embedded and anticipated in the
uses and designs of urban infrastructures, architectural paradigms and
urban planning? How are scenarios for urban conditions developed to deal
with future states of emergency/exception?
-Which actors are involved in evoking, sustaining, challenging and
responding to states of emergency/exception in the urban context?
-How do urban states of emergency/exception affect notions of class,
gender and ethnicity? How can urban conditions of liminality, social
exclusion and otherness be framed in terms of states of emergency/exception?
-How are states of emergency/exception represented in urban space? Are
there places and spaces of exception in the city?
-How are states of emergency/exception imagined in the cultural production
of urban figures and narratives?

We are interested in conceptual and empirical contributions that deal with
the historical and contemporary manifestations of "?states of
emergency/states of exception"? in the urban political, economic,
socio-cultural, symbolic and built environment. Since this conference
seeks to encourage interdisciplinary discourses, we invite contributions
from all junior and senior scholars who wish to contribute to the field of
urban research.

Please submit a short CV and a less than 300 word abstract in English to
ausnahmezustandmetropolitanstudies.de by February 2nd, 2009.

Applicants will be notified via e-mail around February 15th, 2009.

The conference will take place at the Center for Metropolitan Studies,
Technical University Berlin, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
The conference language is English.

Unfortunately, the Center for Metropolitan Studies cannot offer travel
grants. Travel and accommodation expenses are responsibility of individual
participants. However, we can support you with recommendations and
information regarding your stay in Berlin.