CALL_Autonomous Social Sciences and Alternative Development in Times of Multiple Crises

Autonomous Social Sciences and Alternative Development in Times of Multiple Crises

International Conference and Writing Workshop

This international conference is organized by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies (PSP3), IPB University, in strategic partnership with the Program on Alternative Development (AltDev), UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies, University of the Philippines and Institut de Recherche sur l’Asie du Sud-Est Contemporaine (IRASEC), Bangkok as the international partners and Sajogyo Institute as the national partner.

The event is designed as an international forum to address the multiple crises—a convergence of ecological collapse, rising authoritarianism, and structural inequality—that currently afflicts Southeast Asia. While mainstream development models have failed to solve this “poly-crisis, this conference brings together experts to champion “Autonomous Social Sciences” and “Alternative Development” as pathways toward more just and sustainable futures.

It will be an academic forum to foster dialogue on autonomous social sciences—theory rooted in the realities of the Global South—and to share alternative development visions and practices emerging from the ground.

We invite academics, researchers, students, practitioners and activists, and to participate and submit their best papers to this international conference.

Abstract Deadline : 28 February 2026
Full Paper : 30 April 2026

Topics include :

  • Decolonizing social science & alternative knowledge
  • Participatory development & governance
  • Digital politics & the threat of authoritarianism
  • Solidarity economy & community innovation
  • Gender & inclusive futures
  • Climate crisis & alternative development
  • Trans-regional migration & solidarity
  • Agroecology & food sovereignty
  • Ecologically just agrarian reform
  • Religious philanthropy for socio-ecological justice

🔗 Info & submission : https://psp3.ipb.ac.id/conference/ and download the program.

International Civil Society Week

On Nov 1, some 1000 activists from around the world will gather in Bangkok for “International Civil Society Week 2025 (ICSW)”, which will be held until Nov 5.

The world’s largest civil society gathering begins Saturday 1 November in Bangkok, Thailand, co-hosted by global civil society alliance Civicus and the Asia Democracy Network (ADN). The five-day event includes more than 120 sessions and cultural events led by more than 75 organisations from around the world.

Exhibition “Power of Youth & Symbols of Presence: Myanmar’s Spring Revolution Lives On”

21 December, 2024 @ 11:00 am2 February, 2025 @ 7:00 pm

Organized and curated by SEA Junction in collaboration with BACC Pop-Up, the exhibition “Power of Youth & Symbols of Presence: Myanmar’s Spring Revolution Lives On” is to be displayed from 21 December 2024 to 2 February 2025 at BACC pop•up, Gallery 1, Mun Mun Art Destination (MMAD), 3rd floor, Seacon Square, Srinakarin. The exhibition consists of two series of artworks by two Myanmar photographers, documentary photographer Ta Mwe (pseudonym) and art photography artist Shwe Wutt Hmon. The two series portray the resilience, hope and struggle of protesters in Myanmar’s Spring Revolution and its aftermaths with similar, yet specific, approaches.

Click here for further details.

Publishing: Handbook on Research Methods and Applications in Social Movements

New publishing from members of ALTERSEA:

2024: Gabriel Facal, Catherine Scheer, Sarah Anaïs Andrieu, Joel Mark Baysa-Barredo, Giuseppe Bolotta, Gloria Truly Estrelita, Rosalia Sciortino, Saskia E. Wieringa, et Wijayanto, “Cross-sectoral dialogues with social movements in Southeast Asia. Translating values, affects, and practices in a polymorphic region”, in Laurence Cox, Alberto Arribas, Sutapa Chattopadhyay, Anna Szolucha (dir.), Handbook on Research Methods and Applications in Social Movements, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 102-114 (https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781803922027/book-part-9781803922027-14.xml).