Call for Papers
Call for Papers
Historical Materialism Barcelona
2-4 July 2026
Countdown… Thinking the catastrophe to ward it off.
A wave of war and reaction is sweeping across the world. Reality seems to surpass the most dystopian of fictions. The authoritarian turn of capitalism is combined with the rise of reactionary forces, increasing geopolitical tensions and militarism, in a scenario of a rapidly worsening climate emergency. The genocide in Gaza is the most brutal manifestation of this age of disaster.
Despite the long shadows cast everywhere, the future is not written in stone, and many outcomes are still possible. It may appear that the trajectory of world events is on a permanent downward trend, but the continuous examples of resistance—solidarity movements with Palestine, strikes in platform companies, the persistence of feminism despite increasingly reactionary trends, and the growing radicalization of environmental struggle, among others—show that the situation remains open.
To reverse this dynamic, we need to exchange experiences, deepen analyses, and strengthen strategic debate. Understanding the global situation and having a grasp that combines both the wider picture with localised events, requires an international perspective more than ever. It is not the first time, however, that humanity has gone through moments of uncertainty. A historical perspective—learning from the past, from the successes and the mistakes of other times—is essential.
To face the magnitude of the catastrophe and discuss how to ward it off, we invite you to participate in the upcoming Historical Materialism Barcelona Conference 2026. Since its inception in 2019, the conference has brought together hundreds of people each time we have gathered, becoming a plural and diverse meeting place, open to honest debate and constructive discussion, and useful to build bridges between scholars and activists. The global network of Historical Materialism conferences includes recent gatherings in London, Paris, Athens, Ankara, Istanbul, Cluj, Montreal, and New York.
No aspect of the contemporary crisis—or of the means to overcome it—lies outside the spirit of the conference. We aim to address questions as diverse as:
- Genocide, imperialism, and war
- The national question and the colonial question
- The rise of the far right and new forms of fascism
- Digital capitalism, platforms, disinformation, and algorithms
- Fictitious capital, financialization, and new dynamics of capitalist accumulation
- Racism, racialization, and capitalism
- Class struggle: labour transformations, precarisation, and new forms of resistance
- Ecological disaster, climate emergency, and fossil capitalism
- Public services, equality, and social rights
- Social reproduction and the care crisis
- Feminisms, sexuality, and dissidence
- The sharpening authoritarian nature of the state, repression, social control, and surveillance
- Democracy and collective identities
- Capitalism and education
- Urban crisis, city model, and housing
- Legal critique, transformations of law, and the prison system
- Neoliberal subjectivities, individualist drift, and the erosion of social bonds
- Causes and antidotes of political narcosis
- Politics of the image
- Ideological uses of aesthetics
- Representations of catastrophe and utopia in literature and art
- Concept and critique of technique and science
- Strategy, tactics, and political alternatives
- History of popular movements and emancipatory struggles
- Current revisitations of classic works of the Marxist tradition and emancipatory thought
Beyond these lines of reflection, which are not meant to be exhaustive, other topics and disciplinary approaches connected to the overall framework of the conference are welcome.
We therefore encourage you to submit both individual paper proposals and full panel proposals. For individual papers we require the title, abstract, author’s full name, and email address. For collective proposals, we require the full names of all participants. For pre-constituted panel proposals, we require the general session title, the titles and abstracts of each contribution, and the full name and email address of each participant. The number of contributions per panel should be between four and five.
You will find all the necessary information for submitting proposals in the submission form.
Deadline for submissions: 15 January 2026.
