Dear comrades,
On behalf of the steering committee for the Marxism & Disability Network (MDN), we hope you all have been keeping well amidst a year of struggle but also success. To continue efforts that heighten understanding while prefiguring the communities and society we want to live in, the steering committee is excited to announce this year’s call for proposals in preparation for the 2026 MDN schedule of events! As such, we would like to encourage and invite proposals for presentations and/or reading group resources.
Deadline: 31 January 2026
Submission process: please submit your proposal either by:
· Completing the on-line Google Form
· Completing the Word Document you can find at this link:
attached to this email (with the same questions outlined on the Google Form) and emailing the attachment to marxismdisability@gmail.com
Once received and reviewed, we aim to share the schedule of events by late February 2026.
With its aim being to deepen Marxist analyses toward disablement as a capitalist social relation and informing disability-liberation projects through the application of Marxist insights, the MDN has witnessed growing interest and involvement in the networks work. Be it our on-line events, reading group sessions, conference participation, or publications, the MDN’s contribution to debates on Marxism and disability has grown exponentially. The plans for 2026 are to augment and balance this important level in engagement and interest.
With the network’s expanding growth in content and critique, in various but equally important directions, the number of accepted proposals for 2026 will see the delivery of a maximum of eight [8] rich and insightful scheduled events delivered monthly between March-December 2026.
While we welcome fully formed submissions, we also encourage abstracts that may be in a stage of partial development. Proposals need not be 100% polished (as we can publish and share the final version of your abstract on the website closer to the formalized date of the event). The submission process may be competitive, but the selection will be done based on your presentation’s theme and argument – not on the standard of academic writing. What is important is conveying why the arguments of your presentation matter. The format through which the event is shaped and delivered (i.e., lecture, panel, roundtable, seminar, etc.) should also be made clear within the proposal and may (or may not) be possible depending on an ad hoc basis and available supports.
The purpose of this initiative is to explore how disability and Marxist analyses create fruitful bases for an inclusive, creative, and critical approach to the inequalities, alienation, and oppression of disabled people under contemporary capitalism, as well as the central place of disability politics within working-class and anti-capitalist struggles. We welcome contributions that are trans-disciplinary in nature, drawing from all Marxist traditions and strands of disability theory and focused on both philosophical/theoretical and political/empirical questions.
On behalf of the MDN steering committee,
James J. Brittain
