DKG Pre-Conference Workshop: The Critical Geographies of Making and Unmaking Knowledge
Bonn, 11-13 September 2027 (Saturday to Monday)
School of Geography, Meckenheimer Allee 166
This Critical Geographies Workshop will take place before the Conference of German Geographers (DKG) in Bonn (13.9. to Friday 17.9.2027) and sessions will occur in English. The workshop will interrogate ways of knowing and the (un/re)making of knowledge in our present moment by expanding spaces of exchange between feminist and geopolitical geographies. In academia, the making of knowledge by context can produce the appearance of ‘national schools’ in theory and practice. As feminist and anti/decolonial scholars have pointed out, such schools often become solidified through masculinist, hierarchical and (b)ordered ways of making, validating and communicating knowledges in the discipline. The workshop organizers note the contention that all knowledges are situated and produced in particular contexts that include geopolitical developments and constellations. The rightward shift in these geopolitical contexts for many geographers makes it ever more urgent to cultivate a feminist and anticolonial politics of translation and solidarity grounded in liberation struggles and knowledge making that serves and learns from those struggles.
Critical Geographers attend to the making of knowledge by peoples in struggle, and can learn from activist, feminist, queer, Indigenous and antiracist knowledges that ‘unmake’ existing hegemonic narratives and ‘remake’ histories/futures through different epistemological practices, politics and possibilities. The sharing of knowledge across spatial-temporal contexts always involves elements of translation. Anti/decolonial approaches to translation, knowledge exchange, listening and solidarity must acknowledge historical and unfolding asymmetries, including of colonialism, binary prohibitions and differentiated social movements.
For this international symposium we invite papers, roundtables or other formats that address and the above issues and following questions. Contributions may also be related to the intersecting themes of the geopolitics and feminist geographies in the making, unmaking, translation and sharing of knowledges.
- In what ways are organic intellectuals outside the the North American and Eurocentric core making knowledges that challenge the presuppositions of hegemonic discourse?
- To what extent and in what ways do academic geographers need to interrogate fascist geographies if we are to address the dangers of spatial imaginaries in the current moment (and as linked to potential histories and futures)?
- What are the limitations and potential of identity-based knowledge-making?
- For Feminist, Black, Queer, Anarchist and Socialist Geographies, what are the relations between the self-understanding, contexts, and positionalities of people(s) engaged in struggle and the rendering of that understanding within academic contexts?
- What are the relations between decolonising knowledges and anticolonial practices?
- What constructive purpose do quasi-universals such as ‘justice’ and ‘solidarity’ play in the normative discourses of diverse contexts, and within the empirical work produced to legitimate justice claims, particularly given systemic inequities in access to legal remedy?
- What are the prospects and problems with producing geographical knowledge for justice-based multilateral agencies?
- How might feminist, anticolonial, queer and other epistemologies renew Critical Geographies through radical politics of solidarity and hope?
Details about workshop format, submission deadlines and forms, and registration fees are below. If you have specific questions about the workshop, feel free to contact one of the organisers directly (Patricia Ehrkamp, Matthew Hannah, Kathrin Hörschelmann, Sandra Jasper, Gerry Kearns, and Karen Till) or the organisational team at: CritGeoBonn2027@gmail.com.
Format of the Workshop
There will be a field excursion and informal discussions on the afternoon/evening of the Saturday. The panels and paper sessions will be refereed and cover the Saturday and Sunday. We are planning for intensive discussion across extensive themes with no parallel sessions. We hope for an informal meeting and have a limited space capacity, and will prioritise submissions by early career scholars. We anticipate about 40 papers and plan for all participants to participate, by giving a paper, contributing to a panel, or in another capacity. In addition there will be places held for geography graduate students of the University of Bonn.
Submission Deadlines
Panel Proposals Due: 31 August 2026
Acceptance date: 21 September
Paper Proposals Due: 15 October 2026
Acceptance date: 15 November
Submission Guidelines
In keeping with the reflexive emphasis of the call for papers, we welcome papers that relate to work in progress, even in prospect. We particularly welcome participation from early career stage scholars. We encourage submissions that acknowledge a conversation between feminist and geopolitical approaches in Critical Geographies. In selecting papers we will give preference to ensuring a mix of early-career and more established scholars. We will give preference to scholars from the Global South, and will seek to balance the genders. We are particularly keen to foster dialogue upon common issues and will cluster the papers around emergent themes. The submissions will be refereed by the international workshop organisers (Patricia Ehrkamp, Matthew Hannah, Kathrin Hörschelmann, Sandra Jasper, Gerry Kearns, Karen Till).
Panel proposals should explore issues related to the broad themes outlined above. Panels should highlight unresolved or contentious issues of scholarly practice and stimulate debate. They should include at least four participants. In selecting panels we will give priority to proposals that include both early career participants as well as participants from multiple institutions. Please confirm at least four distinct paper (or equivlanet) presentations. For panels: Please include: a panel title; the names and affiliations of the panel organiser/s; a panel abstract (50-100 words); the names, affiliations, paper titles and abstracts (150 words) for the four paper panelists; and, if possible, the name/s and affiliation/s of a panel chair and discussant (may also be the chair). For roundtable or discussion sessions, please provide: a session title; the names and affiliations of the panel organiser/s; a session abstract (50-100 words), and the names, affiliations, tentative titles and short statements (50 words) for the four roundtable/discussion participants; if possible, include the name/s and affiliation/s of a panel chair and discussant (may also be the chair).
Please submit your proposal for panel by the appropriate deadline to this Forms link: Session submissions only.
Paper proposals should include: a title; name and affiliation of presenter; an abstract of 150 words.
Please submit your proposal for an individual paper by the appropriate deadline to: abstract submissions only.
Following review of proposals, the committee will contact people through email to provide further details about registering and information about field excursion options (tbc).
Registration Fee
The registration fee covers administration, security, coffee and tea, snacks, and lunch. In addition to dinner, there may be modest additional costs for the field excursion (tbc).
Early-career and under/unemployed scholars €40
Others €90