About

The Society for Peace, Internationalism & Ecology (SPINE) provides a platform for rigorous scholarly research, cultural work, and organizing that stands up for peace, international solidarity, and environmental sustainability. It encourages innovative work that has real use-value for collective struggles and contributes to developing collaborative intellectual, artistic, and activist communities across Turtle Island and around the world. Rather than being restricted to particular fields or limited to those working in academic institutions, SPINE is resolutely transdisciplinary and encourages extra-academic scholarship, as well as contributions from artists and activists.SPINE does not take a neutral stance on global struggles or pretend to be value-free. Instead, it explicitly upholds and defends the values of international solidarity and environmental justice. It rejects all forms of social chauvinism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other types of oppression, while simultaneously recognizing that they cannot be fully overcome without going to their class and colonial roots. It thereby provides a space for materialist research, cultural production, and organizing that contributes to the goals of substantive social transformation in the direction of a more egalitarian, peaceful, and sustainable world.SPINE hosts an annual conference and supports other activities through the course of the year. Its founding co-sponsors are the Critical Theory Workshop, Iskra Books, and the World Marxist Review.

Membership

Membership information will be posted in due time. SPINE is currently being run collectively by co-chairs and an advisory committee.

Founding Co-ChairsColin Bodayle (Villanova University)
Taylor R. Genovese (Dutchess Community College)
Timour Kamran (Villanova University)
Jennifer Ponce de León (University of Pennsylvania)
Gabriel Rockhill (Villanova University)

Advisory CommitteeRóisín Dubh (Independent Scholar)
Tina Ngo (Independent Scholar)
Domhnall Óg (Independent Scholar)
David Peat (Independent Scholar)
Steven Powers (Villanova University)
Scott Ritchie (Kennesaw State University)
Creighton Ward (Independent Scholar)

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Society for Peace, Internationalism, and Ecology
October 2–3, 2026

• Download PDF version

DetailsSubmission Deadline: May 18, 2026Conference Dates: October 2–3, 2026Conference Venue: Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia)We are pleased to announce a CALL FOR ABSTRACTS for the second annual conference of The Society for Peace, Internationalism, and Ecology (SPINE). SPINE is an international and interdisciplinary platform for scholars, activists, and artists to share rigorous work devoted to promoting international peace, equality, and ecological sustainability.A decade’s worth of events seem to happen every week. The mask of democratic rights and international law has been lifted, revealing the horrific face of global imperialism in the form of a live-streamed genocide, massive displacements of large sectors of the global population, the abduction of immigrants or suspected immigrants by far-right paramilitary groups, the murder of protestors live on camera by federal agents, a return to the rhetoric of manifest destiny and Monroe Doctrine, the attacks upon the sovereignty of nations seeking self-determination, the rise of far-right political parties that openly identify themselves with the legacy of fascism, and the boiling away of natural resources to fuel the fires of profitable new technologies and industries.Is this intensification of imperialism and fascism the harbinger of even greater horror, or should we interpret these circumstances as the last-ditch-effort of an empire in decay? How should we theorize the role of new global alliances and the rise of a multipolar world in relation to the intensification of global imperialism? What can the history of liberation struggles teach us about fighting back against imperialism and fascism? What can we learn from the continuing experiments in ecological sustainability, socialism, and economic sovereignty about the possibility of a better world? What strategies and tactics should we use to fight back?We are seeking submissions covering contemporary social themes such as:–Imperialism and colonialism
–Migration and mass displacement
–National liberation
–Ecological socialism
–Fighting the rise of fascism
–Anti-imperialist artistic and cultural production
–Multipolarity
–Socialist experiments, past and present
–Any other theme related to peace, internationalism, and ecological sustainabilitySPINE brings together work that is rigorous, transdisciplinary, and rooted in a materialist and dialectical understanding of social reality and practice. Our aim is to foster an interdisciplinary space dedicated to the struggle for peace, international solidarity, and ecological sustainability.We are looking for 200-500 word abstracts for 20-minute presentations. We invite submissions from academics, activists, artists, organizers, and independent scholars.We are also accepting 200-500 word proposals for organizing workshops, artistic projects, or roundtable discussions by artists, authors, and organizers.We are accepting one submission per participant.Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be prepared for double-blind peer review. Please remove all names from the proposal itself, and include it as an email attachment (pdf, docx, doc, or txt). Please note in your email the title of your contribution and all names of the contributors. Please also indicate whether you plan on attending in-person or virtually.Send it by May 18, 2026 to [email protected].

Inaugural Conference
The Society for Peace, Internationalism, and Ecology
October 18, 2025

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our inaugural conference!FIND THE 2025 CONFERENCE PROGRAM HERE

DetailsConference Date: October 18th, 2025Conference Venue: Villanova University, Villanova, PennsylvaniaConference Focus: Recent decades have brought brutal imperialist wars, the massive displacement of large segments of the world’s population, the rise of far-right political movements, escalating nuclear tensions, and the increased threat of irreversible climate disaster. Despite these catastrophic circumstances, we have also seen the most oppressed and exploited people bind together to fight for peace, recognition, and dignity. In the past decade, the “wretched of the earth” have taken this struggle for equality to new terrain. Unprecedented alliances suggest a shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world, and continuing experiments in ecological sustainability, socialism, and economic sovereignty seem to indicate that a better world is not only possible, but imminent.Keynote Speaker:
John Bellamy Foster (University of Oregon)Villanova University Conference Sponsors:
Cultural Studies Program
Global Interdisciplinary Studies
The Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest
The Center for Arab and Islamic StudiesConference Organizers and Staff:
Gabriel Rockhill
Jennifer Ponce de León
Taylor R. Genovese
Timour Kamran
Colin Bodayle
Creighton Ward
Jordan Whelchel
Kaylee Dombrowski