Cultural and Political Landscape (1/5/03; 5/2/03-5/5/03)

The Social Landscape: Architecture, Arts, and Community

This theme in "Culture and the State, Past, Present, and Future," examines landscapes as national or cultural artifacts through their representation and formation. The modern (and ancient) landscape has always been a ground for competition between national, social, and artistic movements, often in the form of colonial architecture, depictions of place, or social movements to transform a given environment.

We seeks papers that creatively address any aspect of its topic and especially those that bring more than one discipline into focus. In particular, we encourage cross-examinations of landscapes themselves or their representation in literature, the visual arts, architecture, urban planning, or other media. Methodologies may include sociology, ethnographies, archaeology, literary theory, postcolonial theory, and art history, among others. Multimedia presentations are also welcome and equipment will be available. Presenters should note their multimedia needs in their proposal.

We invite papers that explore as wide an array of concerns as possible regarding landscapes, cityscapes, and the arts, as well as the role of landscapes in encounters between cultures, states, and other groups.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

* The Mediterranean landscape as history and subject
* Heritage, ecology, construction, and the community
* Racial, national, and cultural representation of landscapes
* Colonial architecture as intrusion or palimpsest
* State imposed transformations of the urban landscape
* Claiming the land: national, ethnic, and cultural conflict
* Landscape as transformative and/or transformed space

Please submit an abstract of approximately 250 words for papers of 20 minutes by January 5, 2002. Send all submissions to the theme coordinator, James Gifford. Early submissions are encouraged and email submissions are welcome.

Theme Coordinator:

James Gifford
Department of English
3-5 Humanities Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada, T6G 2E5
gifford@ualberta.ca

The conference will be held in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) at the University of Alberta from May 2-5, 2003, and will involve several different themes relating to Culture and the State. The conference is also sponsored by the Canadian Research Chairs program.

Visit the conference website:
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cms

About Edmonton:
http://www.tourism.ede.org/