Call for Papers
Conference Rationale and Call for Papers
In struggling to define development, policymakers have often relied on monetisation, materialism and quantification, speaking of economic growth and economic development; often conflating the two. Such a framework, however, ignores the value of society as structure and agent. This is to the detriment of small states, whose internal and external vulnerabilities, economic, social and environmental, are largely at the hands of structures and systems that are in many ways, not adequately geared towards transformative well-being. The concept of sustainable development, while appearing to offer hope for inclusion and understanding of small states and their populations, still holds dear to the core concepts of the meta-economy, where the indicators for success of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals rely on quantitative measures. The next challenge related to defining development is to do with understanding value. As it is, the notion of value is dictated by capital. The re-evaluation of value is a crucial step in challenging the dominant capitalist paradigm and envisioning more inclusive models of social and economic organization.
In seeking to build resilience in small states, we at SALISES wish to invite policy professionals, activists, scholars and students, across disciplines, to submit papers that interrogate (extra) human well-living and genuine ecological sustainability as a way to reclaim liberating understandings of value. We are also interested in papers that interrogate the effects of the current status quo as it relates to conceptualisations of value. The role of society, its social, economic and ecological systems, needs to be readily understood, appreciated and valued.
A purely monetised policy approach to development and resilience-building forgoes a potential plethora of liberatory and societal approaches not based on purely monetary indicators. Society is not a simple passive player in the process of development, but retains agency, and as such affects change. Without rethinking capital’s grip on value, how are sustainable, just futures possible?
We welcome submissions seeking to address diverse conceptions of value and ruse with notions of sustainable development in this current historical moment.
The Conference sub-themes are as follows:
- Development as Justice and the Promotion of Well-being
- Life, Society, Business and the Common Good
- Re-energising Representative Democracy
- Towards Sustainable Just Futures
- Reimagining a More Sustainable Resilient Food System
- Reviewing Caribbean Social Science Thought, Work and Policy: The UWI Post the New World Contribution
- The Centrality of Gender and Women’s Labour in Unpacking Notions of Value, Productivity and Time
- Higher Education and Value Transformation
- The `Well-Living’ Paradigm: Actualising the Vision in a Small Island Developing State Context
- Climate Change Challenges and Mitigation Strategies: Establishing Best Practice
- The Faith Factor in Reimagining Development
- Late Modern Narratives of Faith
- Gender, sexuality and social justice
- Crime, Harm and Justice
- Interrogating “Criminal Justice” Logics in the Caribbean
- Youth Participation and the Public Sphere
- Re-adjusting our Sporting Sites/Sights
Submission of Abstracts
Full Abstracts, not exceeding 200 words should be submitted electronically in Times New Roman Font, 12-point in MS Word (2007/2010) by January 10th, 2025, to
salises@cavehill.uwi.edu and copied to
alicia.graham@cavehill.uwi.edu. Notification of acceptance of abstracts is
January 17th, 2025.
Papers should be submitted electronically in WORD and in PDF format. For further information on the 2025 SALISES 26th Annual Conference, visit our website:
https://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/salises/home.aspx or visit us on Facebook: Sir Arthur Lewis Institute Cave Hill Campus.