CANCELLED/ POSTPONED

Academics across the social sciences and humanities have long worked to theorize the people, spaces, and politics of the fringes of traditional housing. Homelessness, eviction, squatters’ rights, and the right to land all find their way into fruitful interdisciplinary scholarship, much of which links these struggles to broader questions of belonging, governance, and exclusion. Meanwhile, housing activists around the globe address many of these same root problems, but from a grounded space of community organizing, in which organizers deploy popular and political education to help those immediately affected by the exclusions which occur at the margins of traditional housing situate themselves in broader fights for justice. In a sense, much of the work around these intertwined topics, which coalesce at the intersection of practices of exclusion and geographies of housing, run along parallel tracks, occasionally brushing near each other but rarely crossing or taking the time to fully understand the struggles which emanate from their respective locations. Seeking for a change in the current scenario where academia, activists and practitioners perform separately, our goal is to create a dedicated space for all who engage in work at the margins of traditional housing to come together. Over the course of this three-day gathering we will address the following questions:

• What can scholars learn from the practices of organizing around exclusion from the home? What can organizers learn from scholars studying organizing and exclusion from the home?
• How do academic theories and organizing strategies around housing justice compare and contrast across urban and national contexts?
• How can academic work resource those fighting for housing justice in multiple locations?

PATM II grows out of the Constructing Solidarities through Power at the Margins initiative, and follows an initial symposium at the University of Illinois (September 2017) and conference at the University of Minnesota (March 2018). Our intention is to continue creating a space in which the unique work done by organizers and academics can collide, fostered by proximity that is rare across both divides both geographic and work-related in nature. All panels include both organizers and scholars.

The Event

The conference will take place over three-days at the University of California, Berkeley campus at Wurster Hall from March 13-15. Importantly, the event is not set up like a traditional academic conference. The event will include the participation of over 140 academics and organizers. Concurrent panels and strategy sessions will comprise the center of the weekend’s activities. Strategy sessions will be facilitated by the discussant/moderator who will pose 3-4 questions to each of the presenters, followed by a 45 minute discussion between audience members, many of whom will also be organizers, policymakers and scholars working on that particular issue. There will be four plenary panels over the course of the weekend, each featuring a mix of housing justice organizers and academics. Friday evening will begin with registration and a plenary panel from 5-7:30pm. Saturday will be a full day of sessions from 9am - 7pm followed by a reception. Sunday will be another day of panels beginning at 8:30am and concluding at 2pm.

Organizers

Chris Herring

University of California Berkeley

PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology

Laura Belik

University of California Berkeley

PhD Candidate, Department of Architecture

Eric Goldfischer

University of Minnesota

PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Environment, and Society

Rob Robinson

National Economic and Social Rights Initiative and Friends of the MST

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contact us at: poweratthemargins2020@gmail.com