27-28 April 2017, York University
Abstract submission deadline: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Context: Ocean frontier politics is part of the earthly politics of deploying science, technology and international law to construct maritime boundaries. This techno-politics includes ways and means of asserting a nation’s freedom of navigation, and making national claims of exploratory rights in the global commons. Such politics also involves marine and maritime infrastructural development, and is furthermore interrelated systematically to the science and technology of how space above and below the waterways are constructed, i.e. how national airspace is understood, bordered, and governed above maritime boundaries; how national land areas below the water is understood; and how the seabed resources below waterways are envisioned and exploited as national economic resources.
Workshop Objectives: i) to share comparative analyses of heterogeneous factors, geotechnical, techno-political and techno-legal issues influencing regional and international security; ii) discuss pragmatic resolutions, i.e. policies and strategies that could be the subject of further research and discussion on resolving peace and security issues; and iii) establish a cross-sector network (engaging academic-corporate-government sectors) to explore inter-disciplinary curricular frameworks for teaching and researching our planetary frontiers, as ‘Frontier Studies’ with ‘Peace’-‘Collective Peace’ as the central focus.
Topics/Themes of Papers: The workshop papers for sessions on Day 1 - 27 April 2017 are expected to address geotechnical issues, resource developmental ideals and problems, contested governance, policy challenges, and security concerns of militarized and industrialized ocean frontiers in the Canadian North and in the Indo-Pacific. Topics and thematic analyses are not limited to the following:
- Politics and Policies of maritime boundary delineation
- Geo-spatial mapping of competitive boundary claims
- Techno-political systems of ocean frontiers surveillance and governance
- Politics of Ocean Space Grabbing
- Politics of air defense zones and how they are linked to maritime boundaries
- Geotechnical aspects of militarized frontiers that threaten human security
- Socio-political and historical claims over maritime boundaries
- The efficacy/inefficacy of international law in maritime peace-making/peace-building
- UNCLOS and the legitimization of maritime expansion
- Environmental politics of geo-engineering/sand-dredging of artificial islands
- National and international organizations effective/ineffectiveness in ocean governance
- Corporations producing aerial and satellite imagery of disputed boundaries / island-building
- Workshop papers for the session on Day 2 - 28 April 2017 should focus on the following:
Interdisciplinary research frameworks and pedagogy for frontier studies, particularly on peace-making and peace-building in frontier conflict zones, and on constructions of ‘Peace’ as part of exploratory studies on planetary frontiers.
Since national maritime boundaries are the basis on which national airspace is constructed above waterways, and how the land below waters are understood, ocean frontiers and disputed sea boundaries are significant points of research and starting points for broader inquiry into planetary frontiers, frontier imaginaries and constructionist approaches to spatiality and governance of the global commons, that are critical in turn to constructing the peace of local and international order as well as knowledge about the natural and architected planet.
Participants of this 2-days workshop come from a range of disciplines including Science & Engineering disciplines, Environmental Studies, Law, Political Science, History and Geography, and will involve representatives from the government and corporate sectors.
Submission Guidelines: Pls. email your Abstracts to ycar@yorku.ca no later than 15 February 2017 (EXTENDED) using ‘Abstract – Ocean Frontiers Workshop – York U’ in the subject line.
Abstracts should be no more than 350 words.
Authors should include: name, designation and workplace below the abstract title.
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iii> Authors could indicate preference for Day 1 / Day 2 of the workshop
Notification of Accepted Abstracts: 28 February 2017
Submission of completed papers: 7 April 2017
Papers accepted for this workshop will be published as part of an edited volume of essays.
This workshop is organized by the Ocean Frontiers Research-Working Group of Science for Peace (Canada) in collaboration with York Centre for Asian Research, Robarts Center for Canadian Studies, and the Department of Science & Technology Studies, York University, Canada.