The “Problematics of Culture and Theory” Seminar, held by the School of English at Aristotle University, will be hosting an online talk by Dr Christina Jackson (Associate Professor, Stockton University, US) in collaboration with Dr Matina Kapsali (Aristotle University, Greece) on Wednesday, May 18th, at 5:30pm. The title of the talk is:
Urban Struggles and Resistance Movements in the American and Greek Context
Short Abstract
Urban neighborhoods across the world are transitioning rapidly due to gentrification, unaffordability, climate change and financial crises. This political economic landscape in cities has prompted grassroots movements to respond in ways that counter traditional narratives about urban growth.
This research presentation will bring together two urban scholars, Dr. Christina Jackson (Stockton University, USA) and Dr. Matina Kapsali (Aristotle University, Greece) who will present research on both the American and Greek context. Dr. Kapsali will discuss the urban struggles and grassroots movements in Greece since the outbreak of the 2010 financial crisis until today. Dr Jackson will discuss how past racialized patterns of investment, gentrification and climate change influences different perspectives on grassroots organizing in the United States.
The talk will take place via the Zoom platform. The relevant link will be sent by email on the eve of the talk to all those who submit the registration form.
Problematics Seminar Coordinators:
Dr L.E. Roupakia (roupakia@enl.auth.gr) and Dr Ε. Botonaki (botonaki@enl.auth.gr)
GUEST SPEAKERS’ BIOS
Dr. Christina Jackson
Associate Professor of Sociology, Stockton University, USA
Dr. Christina Jackson is an urban and environmental sociologist in the Sociology and Anthropology program at Stockton University (USA).Dr. Jackson was part of the core team of Black Lives Matter Atlantic City, in New Jersey. She is a Stockton Community Engagement Award recipient (2017). In conjunction with Stockton’s Polling Institute, Dr. Jackson completed an Atlantic County Food Security poll in 2020. Dr. Jackson co-authored Black in America: The Paradox of the Color Line (2019) and Embodied Difference: Divergent Bodies in Public Discourse (2019) and numerous journals and books including The Journal of Urban Affairs, Shelterforce, and The Ghetto: Contemporary Global Issues and Controversies.
Dr Matina Kapsali
Postdoc Researcher, School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Dr Matina Kapsali is an interdisciplinary urban scholar whose work spans Architecture, Urban Planning, Geography, and Urban Studies to interrogate the relationship between urban space and politics. Her research focuses on how cities can be reimagined and realized as critical terrains of politicisation. She holds a PhD in Geography and Planning from AUTh and an MSc from The University of Manchester. Her areas of interest are urban commons, urban political movements, housing and public space. In September 2022, she will be joining the University of Manchester as an Urban Studies Foundation postdoc researcher to study grassroots infrastructures of social reproduction in Greece and the UK.
Recent publications:
Kapsali, M. (2020) Political infrastructures of care: Collective home making in refugee solidarity squats. Radical Housing Journal, 2(2), 13-34.
Karaliotas, L. & Kapsali, M. (2021) Equals in Solidarity: Orfanotrofio’s Housing Squat as a Site for Political Subjectification Across Differences Amid the “Greek Crisis”. Antipode, 53(2), 399-421.
