[WSIS CS-Plenary] [WSIS CS-Plenary]: Conference on Inequalities, Conflicts and Intellectual Property

[mclauglm at po.muohio.edu]

Hello to all,

The following CFP for a conference in New Delhi, India (Jan. 2005) 
might be of interest to CS members. Please note that the deadline for 
abstracts is 15 September 2004. Also please note that organizers are 
supporting travel and board for all selected participants from the 
Global South.

All the best,

Lisa




Call for Papers

Contested Commons/Trespassing Publics ::
A Conference on Inequalities, Conflicts and Intellectual Property

6th - 8th January 2005 in New Delhi, India.

The past  few years have seen conflicts over the regulation of information;
knowledge and cultural materials increase in intensity and scope. This
conflict has widened to include new geographical spaces, particularly
China, India, South Africa and Brazil. Moreover, a range of new problems,
including the expansion of intellectual property protection to almost all
spheres of our social life, has intensified the nature of the conflict. It
is important to recognize that the nature of the conflict gets configured
differently as we move from the United States and Europe to social
landscapes marked by sharp inequalities in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

In the light of these transformations, we would like to revisit earlier
discussions on creativity, innovation, authorship, and the making of
property. Is it possible to draw comparative registers between earlier
histories of violence and dispossession that accompanied the making of
property, and the current turbulence around intellectual property on world
scale?

In this conference, we would like to push comparative discussions between
earlier and contemporary moments of dispossession and criminalisation,
between the open source movement and discussions on traditional knowledge
and bio diversity. We would also like to build a dialogue between different
moments in media history: print, film, music and the new media, so as to
prise open questions around culture, circulation and property.

This conference aspires to interrogate the philosophical persuasions,
cultural dynamics, political economy and legal grids that constitute the
contemporary consensus. This cross-disciplinary conference will bring
together people from different areas of study: law, history, sociology,
literature, anthropology, development and cultural studies, film and media
studies.

The conference is organised by Sarai (<http://www.sarai.net>www.sarai.net),
a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, and
the Alternative Law Forum (ALF), Bangalore. Sarai's research programme
focuses on urban culture and the media, while ALF is a collective of
critical legal researchers and practitioners based in Bangalore. Sarai and
ALF have been collaborating on research and practice in the domain of
'Knowledge and Culture Commons' over the last two years.

Abstracts of three hundred words (300) are invited. The abstracts may
address anyone of the above themes.

We will support travel and board of all selected participants resident in
the South.

Last date for submission of abstracts is the 15th of September 2004

Please mail your abstracts to
<mailto:ipabstract at sarai.net><ipabstract at sarai.net>

--------------
Conference Editors:
  >From Sarai/CSDS: Jeebesh Bagchi, Ravi Sundaram
  >From ALF: Lawrence Liang, Sudhir Krishnaswamy
--------------------------

Sarai
Center for Study of Developing Studies (CSDS)
29, Rajpur Road
Delhi 110054, India
Ph: 91 11 23960040
Fax: 91 11 23943450
Email: <mailto:ipl at sarai.net><ipl at sarai.net>

Alternative Law Forum (ALF)
122/4 Infantry Road,
Bangalore 560 001, Karnataka
Phone: 91 80 22865757
Email: <mailto:alforum at vsnl.net><alforum at vsnl.net>
---------------------------