Call for papers
July 7, 2025 : deadline for submission of proposals
Squatting can be defined as occupying a place without the approval of its legal owner. It encompasses practices that can be termed in various ways and that are found in both urban and rural contexts: occupation of buildings (whether or not intended for residential use), of land or agricultural plots, slums, makeshift camps, informal settlements, occupied or self-managed social centres, ZADs (zones à défendre, i.e. zones to defend) and squats occupied by artists or activists.
These various forms of squatting have given rise to the development of distinct bodies of literatures that engage in too little dialogue, with gaps between works on the North or the South, on activist or non-activist squats, on the occupation of buildings or plots of land and public space.
The aim of this conference, which will take place in Paris on January 8-9, 2026, is to encourage dialogue is to encourage dialogue between studies focusing on squatting in the North and the South, between illegal occupations of land and real estate. The goal is to combine different disciplinary approaches and various fields of study in order to understand what illegal or informal occupations can tell us about our contemporary societies.
Submission procedure
Timetable
• July 7, 2025 : deadline for submission of proposals
• October 1st, 2025 : notification to candidates concerning their acceptance or refusal
• January 8-9, 2026 : conference, taking place in Paris
Guidelines
• Proposals, of no more than 500 words, in English, must include a title, clearly state the type of occupation studied, the methodology, the research question and the initial results. They must indicate the thematic axis they fall under.
• They must be anonymized.
• They must be sent before July 7, 2025 at https://www.squatconference.com/submission
• The proposals will be anonymously evaluated twice by the members of the scientific committee.
Scientific committee
Thomas Aguilera (Arènes UMR 6051, Sciences Po Rennes, France); Sutapa Chattopadhyay (St. Francis Xavier University, Canada); Margherita Grazioli (GSSI – Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italia); Miguel A. Martínez (IBF, Uppsala University, Sweden); Stella Paterniani (State University of Campinas, Brasil); Cécile Péchu (IEP et CRAPUL, Unil Lausanne, Swiss); Marcelo Carvalho Rosa (Não-exemplar, CPDA/UFRRJ, Brasil); Amandine Spire (Université Paris-Cité, CESSMA, France); Alexander Vasudevan (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
Organizing committee
Olivia de Briey (Lasco; UCLouvain); Coralie Douat (Labex PasP; ISP; Université Paris Nanterre); Alizée Lazzarino (Labex dynamite; Géographie-cités; Université Paris 1 PanthéonSorbonne; IFAS-Research); Kossi Loumonvi (UMR SENS; Université de Montpellier PaulValéry); Agathe Nieto (HAR, LESC; EUR ArTeC; Université Paris Nanterre); Oriane Sebillotte (Géographie-cités; EHESS; ICM); Alice Thibaud (UMR8547 Pays germaniques; CMB Centre Marc Bloch; ENS)
