Call for proposals, deadline February 28th – “Right to the Discipline” grants

Notwithstanding the efforts of many brilliant, committed – and often unrecognised – scholars, geography has largely failed, and in many cases even resisted, calls within its own ranks to acknowledge the influence of racism, sexism, heteronormativity, ableism, classism, and related hatreds, on the making and practices of the field. Governmental and institutional responses to Covid-19 have served to greatly exacerbate the resultant inequities and exclusions, exposing informalised workers and graduate students to greater job insecurity, creating deeply unequal risks for different social groups, while sharpening racialised and gendered divisions of labour. As a longer term crisis comes together with a more recent one, we find ourselves in a new conjunctural moment, one that has also severely curtailed many of the initiatives supported by, and giving life to, the Antipode community (our International Workshop and Scholar-Activist Project Awards, for example, have been cancelled this year). Responding to this moment, we noted in our Conjunctural Insurrections section that now, more than ever, we need to “amplify the voices of those often unheard and invisibilised in politics, daily life and academic discourse”. As protests beyond the discipline (Black Lives Matter, Speak Her Name, #MeToo, LGBTQIA+ revolutions, Indigenous movements, immigrant advocacy, ecological well-being, to mention a few) continue to expose the ongoing legacies of racist, patriarchal, heteronormative, and ableist exclusions within our field we are therefore issuing a call for creative change.

Acknowledging that too many are still “outside the project”, and that Covid-19 has served to further sharpen those exclusionary boundaries, this call seeks to hear the cries, and amplify the demands, from those seeking thoroughgoing change in classrooms, academic workplaces, conferences, job interviews, journals, research funders, and myriad other sites where unsustainable demands and problematic practices exist (indeed, flourish), practices exacerbated in the current moment. This is a call intended to support those struggling for a “right to the discipline”.

We seek proposals for research and writing, as well as less traditional scholarly forms, that might find a home in the pages of Antipode or on AntipodeOnline.org, the journal’s companion website. Such work will make a significant contribution towards transforming radical/critical geography into something more diverse, equitable and inclusive, making space for the voices of silenced or unheard struggles and emerging movements, pushing debates forward in novel ways or taking discussions in new directions. We look for proposals that speak to ongoing conversations in the field, but, as representatives of an undisciplined discipline, we also look for proposals that stray beyond established borders (of all kinds) and that think creatively about geography’s lines of descent and possible futures to take on these provocations in bold and compelling ways through the current conjuncture.

Our Scholar-Activist Project Awards and International Workshop Awards have in previous years supported the exchange of ideas across disciplinary boundaries and beyond the confines of the academy, building meaningful relationships and productive partnerships: these ambitions must today reckon with a fast-changing present and radically uncertain future in which the freedom to go out and make connections cannot be taken for granted. The Awards are not available this year: something smaller, more creative and, perhaps, revolutionary is needed in this moment, and we need to be cognisant of the ways in which theses freedoms have always been unevenly distributed. Indeed, while the lucky few might find themselves awash with unspent travel funds, fewer and fewer resources are actually available for research and writing and, perhaps more importantly in this moment, for the social reproduction and collective care that make research and writing possible. The revolution we have in mind simply must be funded.

The Antipode Foundation expects to allocate each initiative up to £10,000.00 (ten thousand pounds sterling, or its equivalent in the awardee’s currency of choice) but the amounts of its grants will vary according to the proposed initiative, and may be used to address existing obstacles to the applicant’s research and publication in innovative ways (the living costs of those un/underemployed, in precarious positions, and/or with care responsibilities, for example, are eligible for funding). This is a modest sum but one we hope will nevertheless enable critical and creative work. The distribution of funds will be as equitable as possible, with other prospective resources and the nature of the proposed initiative being taken into consideration. The Antipode Foundation will explicitly privilege early-career researchers/non-tenure-track applicants and applicants from historically under-represented groups, regions, countries and institutions in its decision-making processes. Successful applicants will work with Antipode’s Editorial Collective and/or the Foundation’s trustees to prepare their work for peer review and, if successful, publication as an open-access article in the journal or on the website, as appropriate.

Who is Eligible and How to Apply?

Anyone can apply for a grant (including academics and students, and activists of all kinds). Application forms are available here or from the Foundation’s Executive Director, Andy Kent ([email protected]), and should be returned to him before/on 28th February 2021. Applications will be considered by a panel of trustees of the Antipode Foundation and editors of Antipode, and all applicants will be notified of the results in late April 2021. Unfortunately, we cannot give detailed feedback to unsuccessful applicants. Funded work should be submitted with 12 months of receipt of a grant, unless a later date is approved at the time, and the support of the Antipode Foundation should be acknowledged. The phrase to use is: “This work was supported by the Antipode Foundation.”

All applicants must read and acknowledge the Foundation’s transparency notice. This notice sets out how we use and protect your personal information. In order to consider your application we must send it to our Trustees, some of whom are based outside the European Economic Area (EEA) including in jurisdictions where personal data may not have the same protection as within the EEA. This is a necessary part of the application process. By submitting your application you agree to it being sent to our Trustees outside the EEA in accordance with the transparency notice.