Thursday May 12- Saturday May 14, 2022 

Bochum, Germany (Institute for Social Movements, German Mining Museum) 

Brexit, the election of Donald Trump as US President, and the rise of right-wing populism in Europe have refocused attention on deindustrialized working-class communities, positioning them as central to an understanding of the times we live in. While the political revolt in deindustrialised places is often understood as a phenomenon that crosses borders, there is still very little transnational comparative research on deindustrialisation and its legacies. Nor is there much attention to deindustrialization as a global process. Instead, the significance of deindustrialisation has often been framed by over-simplified or stigmatising media narratives about post-industrial places.  

There is a pressing need therefore to establish a transnational conversation that will provide a genuinely comparative, in-depth and nuanced understanding of the implications of deindustrialisation in a long-term perspective.   

For now, we are left with many questions. To what extent have working-class people in deindustrialized areas turned to right-wing populism in recent times, and why? How have race, immigration, and gender become entangled with class resentments and realignments in hard-hit working-class communities? How do working-class communities cope with the long-term consequences of deindustrialization?  In what ways have trade unions, governments, and other organizations responded? What do we know about the transnational flow of industrial heritage ideas? And how does deindustrialization differ across national borders and in the Global South or Asia?  

This is the inaugural in-person conference of the “Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time (DePOT) partnership project, funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. We invite you to submit a proposal for a session, paper, workshop, or research-creation outcome. Local or regional studies are welcome too as long as they engage with wider horizons/debates. 

We are encouraging the circulation of accepted papers 3 weeks in advance of the conference in order to deepen the conversation. Selected papers from the conference will result in publication.  

Proposals should be 250-300 words in length and include a short (2-3 page) curriculum vitae. The deadline for submission is September 24th and it should be sent to steven.high@concordia.ca .  

Download pdf versions of the full Call for Papers here: 

Call for Papers – Transnationalizing Deindustrialization Studies [link to pdf] 

Appel à communications – Transnationaliser les études sur la désindustrialisation [link to pdf]