MAPPING SPACES AND (THE) US
October 5-7, 2023
The thematic framework that the conference promotes envisages various exploratory areas of research which, following such paths as “the spatial turn,” have stimulated considerable interest in critical spatial thinking across a large variety of subject areas. Starting from geography, architecture, urban and regional planning, and urban sociology, spatial thinking has reached far beyond the traditional disciplines to cover such fields as cultural studies, anthropology, postcolonial and feminist thought, race and gender theories, literary criticism and poetry, art and music, virtual and digital space, theology, law and economics, and global studies. In a world undergoing rapid change, the concepts of space and time have acquired more complex meanings with a deeper, stronger impact upon mainstream communities of people and ethnic groups in the US and around the world. How does the US respond to the spatial challenges (whether physical or virtual) in general and to the spatial challenge of the (post) Covid 19 experience, in particular? What is the impact of space-time reconsideration upon real people and/or fictional characters? How do states of transgression and boundary crossing change space (re)location and mapping? How are spaces of the world reflected in the spaces of the text, art or architecture?
Proposals for papers and panel discussions can relate, but are not limited, to the following topics:
- Literary spaces, literary cartography, literary geography;
- Space and place, topophilia, topophrenia, topophobia, non-places;
- Leisure spaces, exhibition space, spaces of consumption, spaces of pleasure/displeasure; festival space and the carnivalesque;
- Imaginary, fantastic spaces; realms and portals, utopia and dystopia;
- Gendered spaces, liminal spaces, lieux de mémoires;
- Heterotopic spaces, hyperreality, spaces of simulation and simulacra;
- Configurations of space and time; setting and chronotope;
- Space and movement; quests, migrations and destinations;
- Borders and crossovers; pushing boundaries and crossing thresholds;
- Space in religion and mythology; places of worship; otherworld and underworld;
- Social space, spatial justice, hybrid space, space of power;
- Virtual spaces: television, film, (social) media, spaces of flow;
- Spatial theorists (Henri Lefebvre, Gilles Deleuze, David Harvey, Frederic Jameson, Michel Foucault, Edward Soja, Bertrand Westphal, Robert T. Tally Jr.)
We are pleased to announce that
Professor Robert T. Tally Jr., Texas State University, USA
Professor Meldan Tanrisal, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
Professor Anca Dobrinescu, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploieşti, Romania
have accepted our invitation to participate in the conference as key-note speakers.
Proposals for 20-minute papers should be submitted by 30 April 2023 in the form of an abstract of 150-200 words. As each paper will be followed by 10-minute discussions, participants are kindly asked to limit the presentation to their time-slot. Those interested in proposing a panel discussion should submit the title and the names of at least three other academics who will participate in the talk.
If you are interested in participating, please fill in the registration form attached separately to this message and return itto the following e-mail address: [email protected].
Conference fee: RAAS members – 200 RON / 40 EURO
RAAS member students – no fee
Non-RAAS members – 80 EURO/ 90 USD
A selection of conference papers will be published in a peer-reviewed volume with an established publisher or in a scholarly journal.
Please check conference updates at https://raas.ro/