Universidad de Concepción, Chile 17-20 March 2026
Call for Papers
Deadline: 10 November 2025
This call intends to create an open space for projects that engage with the 'big tent' that is critical legal geography. We welcome a variety of thematics and approaches. Given the locality of the conference in Concepción, Chile, we wish particularly to invite scholars whose work focuses on topics that are important in this context (Indigenous territories; extractive borders; the appropriation of common goods; the consequences of climate change; alternative spatial imaginaries) to apply. The intention is to generate debate concerning the current imbrication of law in sociospatial processes of all kinds with an emphasis on the value of perspectives from the South.
The emphasis of the conference on indigenous rights and environmental issues will be reflected not only in a series of parallel thematic sessions, but also in excursions. The Bio Bío Region of Chile, home to a significant population of the Mapuche people, has been the site of longstanding struggles over land rights, cultural recognition, and environmental justice. Indigenous organizations in Bio Bío have engaged in legal, political, and direct-action strategies to reclaim ancestral lands, protect sacred sites, and assert autonomy over natural resources. These efforts often challenge prevailing models of economic development and call for alternative frameworks grounded in Indigenous cosmovision and territorial rights. Excursions and meetings with local communities will enable participants to gain first-hand knowledge of these issues, which will stimulate research projects on these topics.
500 mi
No conference fee is requested.
We accept abstract and panel submission. We will respond to all submissions by 28 November 2025.
For further information, see the conference page.
This is part of the programing ‘Spatial Justice in the Americas’, focusing on spatial justice as a means of interrogating layered colonial histories and ongoing struggles for spatial justice. The program is coordinated with the support of CRN 35 Legal Geographies and financed through the LSA Advanced Grant Program.