The Abolitions Conference will be held at the University of California Washington Center in DC, from May 6 to 8, 2023.

The abolitionist movement began with calls to abolish chattel slavery in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, philosophers called for the abolition of the wage system. In the twentieth century, abolitionists called for the abolition of the death penalty and prisons. More recently, the call for abolition has expanded to demand the abolition of police, family policing (also known as Child and Protective Services), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Still others call for the abolition of universities, of the family, of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), of the military, of capitalism, of the state, and of borders. The Abolitions conference will bring abolitionist voices together across multiple institutions to make sense of what abolition means today and how we can work together to create a future where we want to live and thrive.

We invite proposals from abolitionists everywhere. Please submit your proposal by March 6, 2023 here. Please submit a 250-word abstract that outlines what you will argue should be abolished and briefly explain how you will make your case. Proposals are for 15-minute presentations as well as interactive workshops. 

This mini-conference will be held in downtown DC at the University of California Washington Center. Speakers who do not have funding to attend the conference may apply for housing and/or $500 travel stipends, which will be distributed subject to funding availability.