Call for Papers: The financialization of housing in the semi-periphery

A workshop will be organized by the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology of the Central European University (CEU) in collaboration with the Budapest based Collective for Critical Urban Research (CCUR) at CEU between July 20-22, 2018.

Partners: the European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing, and the “Housing, social mobilizations and urban governance in Central and Eastern Europe” research project of Gothenburg University.

Housing is a central aspect of financialization, which the global financial crisis of 2008 made quite apparent. It also became evident that housing financialization is a variegated and highly uneven process. While local variations are sometimes reflected in the literature, there is a lack of a more systematic consideration of how the unevenness of financialization is articulated in different locales of the world economy.

The workshop aims to refine the notion of financialization as a “global” phenomenon by examining the process in the context of semi-peripheral economies. We treat financialization as part of the long history of capitalism and uneven development, and invite theoretical contributions or case studies that:

• reflect on what a global semi-peripheral position implies for how housing financialization unfolds;
• reflect on what these processes mean in terms of uneven development at subnational and local scales.

The aim of the workshop is not merely to share research results with each other, but also to think collectively about a conceptualization of systemic unevenness within the process of housing financialization in the context of the semi-periphery which can be taken further in collective publications, collaborative work and network building. As a concrete outcome of the workshop we plan to produce a special issue or edited volume.

In order to facilitate meaningful exchange and collective thinking, we propose a format that keeps a balance between individual paper presentation and discussion. We invite you to send contributions to one of the panels described in the call (please choose one).

We will ask the applicants to send a short (150 words) summary of their presentation, indicating the chosen panel by the 7th of May and all accepted participants to send a short written paper (2-3000 words) by the 10th of July, and to read the papers of their fellow panelists. At the workshop, all contributors will briefly present their work (10 minutes). A significant time will be left open for discussion to reflect on the comparative and theoretical potential of all papers.

Call for Papers (Download)