IASESP
International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place
Previous Calls for Papers
Conference Information/Registration
ninth Annual
Conference
International Association for the Study of
Environment, Space, and Place
Towson
University: April 27-29, 2012
Theme: Spatial Inscriptions of Everyday
Life
Everyday life involves a
level of
significance that is normally
taken for granted, and that is
spontaneously and unconsciously
negotiated by social agents. The
meaning-assumptions are so familiar that
social agents are hard pressed to
articulate them. Space is taken as a
site for meaning-constitution, meaning
production, and meaning-commerce. These
processes also take place at a place
that is already there, but also,
thereby, constituted. Thinkers have
sought to open up this taken for granted
everyday world to reflection and
scientific study. The conference seeks
to bring together those who are
interested in this project to share
their findings. The focus is on
spatially inscribed meanings and
spatially inscribing processes.
Abstracts are welcome from all
disciplines and from those who are not
associated with the academy
Some possible topics (all germane topics
are welcome!):
|
Walking |
Gardening |
|
Commuting |
Eating |
|
Subwaying |
Malling |
|
Coffeeshopping |
Observing |
|
Clubhopping |
Texting |
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Housing |
Blogging |
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Driving |
Working |
|
Sidewalking |
Southern Connecticut State University: April 29 - May
1, 2011
Conference Theme: The Spacing of Festive Enactments
The Conference seeks to foster Crossdisciplinary—Interdisciplinary—Transdisciplinary
conversations on the subject of the
festive,
festivity,
festival
in terms of spatial production: produced and producing.
Presentations are to be 25 minutes with an additional 10
minutes for questions and discussion. Papers may be
submitted for possible publication in the journal
Environment, Space, Place. Panels are welcome.
Befitting a Feast: convivial, jovial, mirth,
merrymaking, cheerful, rejoicing, glad, gaiety, joyous
The festive is not merely a subjective feeling; the festive is not merely a spatial site designated/constructed to be a festive place. The festive involves spatial inscription including both enactments and built environments. The site of a World Series with its celebratory festivities becomes a site of horror during an earthquake. An ordinary city block becomes the site of the festive through the spatial enactments constituting “a block party.” Our goal for this conference is to examine festive enactments as taking place through the opportunities and limitations afforded by the spacing of built environments. How is spatiality itself agency in the production of the festive? How do festivities produce their own spatiality? How is built space to be constructed to promote the festive?
|
World’s Fairs |
Grand Ballrooms |
Cruise Ships |
Towson University: April 30 - May 2, 2010
SPACINGS OF TECHNOLOGIES
and formings of human life
In everyday life, technologies are taken to be tools, merely means
to ends. However, technologies are
spatially productive:
by spatially creating and reorganizing material conditions and
relations, social life and institutions, and human operators. This
conference explores the spatialized/spatializing aspects of
technologies as fashioners of life. Humans create technologies with
specific intentions in mind. Still, technologies exhibit their own
poiesis and function dialectically in contexts in which they alter
and are altered. As material forces they retroject meanings back
onto humanity, other living beings, and the environment in
unexpected and unforeseeable ways. Technologies create new forms of
space out of which new forms of phenomena appear. Technologies
inform human identities in constructing life in the image of their
Being.
Possible Subtopics:
Towson University: April 24-26, 2009
Conference Theme: Forbidden Places
To forbid is a moral command limiting human
freedom by prohibiting doing, having, using, or
indulging in something somewhere, or in the entering of
some place. Place signifies a spatial nexus of meanings
involving both a sector within the earthly horizon—an
identifiable place, and a spatial production, an
event—taking place. Forbidden place can mean an agency
of natural origin—an active volcano. Forbidden place can
mean a social production that places limitations on when
(time restraints), where (boundaries), who (social
discrimination), and what (proscribing certain actions).
Thus, the forbidden can involve any proscription within
places or setting off limits some places altogether.
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Places of Segregation
Apartheid Gated
Communities
Country Clubs
Religious Taboos
Religious Compounds Tombs
Secret Ceremonial Places
Exalted or Holy Places
Spaces of Being Lost
Spaces of Entrapment
Spaces of No Return
Spaces of Disorientation
Spaces of Embarrassment Dead
Space
Hacking into Forbidden
Cyberspace(s)
Invasion of Personal
Space
Invasion of Privacy Outer
Space |
Hell
Undergrounds
Secret Hiding Places
Politically Banned Space
Prisons
Trespassing
Covert Operations
Anomie
Lawlessness Sites
of Atrocities Slave
Markets
Executions
Terrorist Targets Gang
Territories
Dangerous Neighborhoods
Places of Sin Dens
of Iniquity
Whorehouse
Spaces of Abuse Drug
Trafficking |
Gambling Establishments Dog
and Cock Fighting
Forbidden Nature
Active Volcanoes
Earthquakes
Tornadoes
Mountain Tops Deep
Ocean
Caverns
Infestations Shark
Waters The
Wilds
Contaminated Places
Polluted Places
Radioactive
Contamination
Disease Areas
of Famine Areas
of Urban Blight
Forbidden Places of
Imagination and Memories
Spatial Phobias, Fear
and Aversions |
Towson University: April 25-27, 2008
Conference Theme: Tourism
The Conference seeks to foster an Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary conversation on tourism. Presentations are to be 25 minutes with an additional 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Papers may be submitted for possible publication. Panels are welcome.
No other life-form but the human tours. Touring, then, should reveal something about that being of which one of its possibilities is to tour. Is touring a fundamental structure of human existence, or, is it a socio-historical construct, or both? As the human is an earthbound creature, touring should at the same time reveal something about earthly embodiments. What is it about the earth that draws us to tour? As all worldly-horizons of human beings manifest as spatial productions, the world of touring modifies spatial organizations and thus presents denizens of the earth as well as processes, relations, events, etc. of the earth from the perspective of that world. What is the nature of the world of touring? What kinds of spatial productions does it entail? We inevitably speak about the earth as the wherein of human dwelling. What can tourism reveal about human dwelling, what does it reveal about the places of human dwelling, and what does its reveal of the relation of human to earth? We encourage conference participants to develop further interesting lines of questioning and to share their interpretations and insights with fellow members of our association.
Some possible topics (all germane topics are welcome!):
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toured other adventurers, relaxers . . . commodification of travel camp sites, cruise ships disneyfication eco-tourism encountering “the locals” exotic travel “getaways” |
toured places gendering of tourism genius loci and scenery safari, surfing, golfing simulacra of touring tourism and powe tourist economies tourist embodiments tour guide |
sacred sites tourist accommodation tour advertisement tour symbolisms tourist traps scenic highways vacation and vacuity vacation voyeurism virtual tourism |
DUQUESNE uNIVERSITY: April 27-29, 2007
Built Spaces: Earth-Sky and Human Praxes
The material expression of the human life-world is constructed by establishing patterns oriented through, and by, the earth-sky relation. Human socio-cultural praxes manifest spatially through establishing the fundamental spatiality, “a level”—an equilibrium that is formed through the collusion of the upright posture of the lived-body and the earthly horizon, marking the measure of the earth-sky relation and human experience.
Presentations may address any aspect of spatial production as long as the aspect of “builtness” is taken into consideration. In other words socio-cultural events are patterns that are always interlocked with materially expressed spatial patterns. The phenomena that we want to address in this conference concern our built environments. What is it to build? What is a building, or buildings? How do we build? How does building open a world, limit a world, destroy a world, protect a world, or enliven a world? What are the many forms of human dwelling about which building must address? How can we build a better world? Who builds and why? What do certain forms of building do for us, or to us?
Suggested Sub-topics: (these topics are not exhaustive; they are meant only to spark your own thinking)
| Indigenous Dwellings and
Spatial Constructions Sacred Sites The Genius Loci of Built Places Architectural Design and Urban Planning Megalopolis, Sprawl, Smart Growth Neighborhood Bar, Playgrounds, Plazas, Lawns The Politics of Built Space Developers and Development Zoning Laws Instant Worlds Le Corbusier, Venturi, Bauhaus Building in the Margins |
Vernacular Building Intimate Spacings Unique Places Suburbs, Ruburbs New Urbanism Dance Floors, Sidewalks, Stadiums The Sociology of Built Space Superstores Environmental Protection Main Street Ruskin, Vitruvius, Lynch Preservation and Renewal |
Towson University: April 28 - 30, 2006
Globalization: Reconfigurings of World Space
The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place will hold its Second Annual Conference at Towson University, Towson, Maryland, on April 28-30, 2006. The Conference seeks to foster an interdisciplinary/ transdisciplinary conversation on the present, past, and future global reconfigurings of World Space. It will examine the presuppositions, implications, and consequences of the geographical reconfigurings of the world. Abstracts are invited from any academic discipline as well as non-academic professionals and activists.
Possible topics: Spatial Reconfigurings of . . .
Environment/Ecology: wild/domestic; environmental impact of globalism; genetic modification
Political: private/public; northern/southern hemisphere political tensions; power distributions in developed, developing, undeveloped regions and nations
Economics: new distributional patterns of wealth; global economies; globalizing markets, forms of economic organization, globalizing corporations
Cultural Arts: architecture, art, theatre, and music in a globalized world
Anthropological: the impact of globalization on peoples and cultural identities
Religion: religious tensions in the globalized world, new religious forms, religious sites
Sociology: new roles, stratifications, mobilities in the globalized world, new forms of association
Law: global law; legal boundaries; global justice
Communication: the role of new technologies, new forms of communication
Philosophy: competing paradigms of globalization; the sense of globalism
Towson University: April 29 - May 1, 2005
Symbolic Meanings of Spaces/Places
The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place will hold it's Inaugural Annual Conference at Towson University, Towson, Maryland April 29 - May 1, 2005. Our theme is Symbolic Meanings of Spaces/Places. Abstracts are invited from all those who are interested in the theme of the Conference.Some possible topics:
Symbolism in human landscapes (forest, river, mountain, sky, rock, cloud, animal, beach, ocean, wilderness, earth, cave, etc.)
Symbolism in human landscapes (nation, mall, skyscraper, restaurant, garden, hell, heaven, stadium, school, cemetery, prison, temple, pyramid, television).
Towson University: April 30 - May 2, 2004
Ecoscapes
The conference organizers have coined the word, ecoscapes, to refer specifically to the geographical moment of ecology, or, to state it another way, the spatial relations comprising environments. J. B. Jackson remarks that the suffix, ‘scape,’ is essentially the same as ‘shape.’ ‘Scape’ also indicates something like an organization or system. ‘Eco’ has to do with habitat or environment. So, ecoscapes concerns the geographical shape of environmental relations and interrelations.
Papers are to address the spatial configurations of the relations that form particular landscapes. Spatial relations are constitutive of a geographical matrix that includes human-natural-artifactual-virtual components. Any combination from the matrix is possible: e.g. human to human; human to natural; human to artifactual; human to virtual; natural to artifactual; natural to virtual; artifactual to virtual. The many other combinations of relations from the above matrix are also available for exploration. Geographical case studies of the spatiality of specific types of relations in specific locales are encouraged. Whatever your research concerns, please make thematic the geographical moment of relations and your work will be appropriate to the theme of the conference.
Towson University: April 25 - 27, 2003
Topographies
The Society for Philosophy and Geography will hold its Fifth Annual International Conference at Towson University, Towson, Maryland, April 25-27, 2003. Abstracts are invited from any academic discipline. We also invite abstracts from non-academic presenters.
Theme:
Topographies
Possible topics include: mountains, beaches, rivers, coasts, sacred groves, brothels,
post offices, banks, saloons, springs, canyons, kivas, cemeteries, prisons, churches,
restrooms, barios, favelas, temples, quilombos, sweat lodges, army camps, ritual
grounds, agoras, malls, tropics, huts, savanahs, suburbs, hades, zen gardens, fast
food restaurants, highways, prairies, zoos, hospitals, deserts, paradise, game
reserves, atlantis, caves, political borders, crematoria, acropolis, theaters,
campuses, skies, cathedrals, valleys, hell.