Call for Papers: "The Social Life of Rome's Rivers," 5 - 6 June 2025, JCU

Rome’s rivers have always been crucial to the city’s geographies and economy, its cultural transformations, and social interactions. Today, in the context of climate change and the pressing need to make our cities more socially and environmentally sustainable, scholarship on the contemporary roles of Rome’s waterways is expanding in exciting ways. Much of that research is fragmented, though, confined within disciplinary boundaries.

With this conference, we plan to bridge the many approaches that engage with the sociocultural, economic, and political relevance of these rivers and their ecologies, with the hope of shaping Rome’s Social Riverscapes as a field of study in its own right. We are interested in physical and representational spaces, with a focus on contemporary Rome but also on how the past haunts the present. We also ask, what can Rome’s riverscapes tell us about other cities, and vice versa? We invite papers that compare the lives of Rome’s rivers to other contexts – in Global North and South(s) – as well as those engaging with environmental challenges to urban social life. 

Our goal is to promote a dialogue between Italian and international scholars and practitioners who rarely exchange perspectives. We particularly hope to involve early career and postgraduate researchers. Registration will be free and the conference will be held in person and in English. Contributions should be 15-20 minutes long and a selection will be collected for a book project. Proposals that address any of the following topics are especially welcome:

Everyday uses and experiences of Rome’s rivers and islands, past and present (norms, rituals, homemaking, representations, leisure, consumption, etc.)

• Evolving economic roles of the rivers (tourism, trade, livelihoods, industry, etc.) 
• Changing political discourses and contestations (activism, river commons, environmental politics, etc.)
• Social impacts of changing architectures, urban policies, and conservation projects (accessibility, post-industrial renewal, landscaping, etc.)
• Comparative studies on Rome’s rivers and other urban contexts

Please submit a 250-word abstract together with author/s names, brief bio, and contact information to [email protected] by 14 January 2025. Decisions about accepted papers will be communicated in February 2025.

Organizers: Professor Isabella Clough Marinaro (John Cabot University, Department of Psychological and Social Sciences) and Dr. Will Haynes (University of Sheffield)