>> Universität Bielefeld

>> Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZiF)

>> February 6-9, 2008

>> Deadline for Proposals: May 15, 2007

>>

>>

>>

>> IMAGINING OUTER SPACE, 1900-2000

>>

>> - Call for Papers -

>>

>> This conference on the cultural history of outer space, space travel 

>> and space exploration suggests looking at Europe via its ways of 

>> imagining the spatial beyond. It proceeds from the observation that 

>> the currently thriving interest in space as both explanans and 

>> explanandum can be traced back to early attempts at exploring outer 

>> space, and that the contemporary predominance of the visual must be 

>> understood as, implicitly, preparing for existence in the space 

>> capsule.

>>

>> If, as historian Walter McDougall has argued, three structural forces 

>> were required to launch the American space program - namely an 

>> economy prosperous enough to finance the endeavor, the availability 

>> of appropriate technological means, and the necessary imagination - 

>> this conference will focus exclusively on the latter. Unlike most of 

>> the existing historiography, it is less interested in the political, 

>> diplomatic and technological aspects of European space programs per 

>> se, but rather in the socio-cultural rationale behind the investment 

>> of enormous resources. How was outer space represented and perceived 

>> over the course of the twentieth century? In what way were changing 

>> conceptions in turn affected by the continuous and ongoing 

>> exploration of outer space? How did the idea of spaceflight develop 

>> into such a central element of the project of Western modernity? In 

>> what form did changing images and conceptions of outer space, 'other 

>> worlds' and the entire cosmos impinge on religion, transcendental 

>> beliefs and competing versions of the future? And what was the 

>> cultural and societal impact of space exploration and space travel in 

>> Europe at large?

>>

>> Thus, contributions to the conference will analyze the cultural 

>> significance and imaginative repercussions of outer space, space 

>> travel and space exploration rather than the actual scientific 

>> findings in a variety of instances. Analyzing contact points between 

>> science and fiction from a comparative European perspective, it will 

>> pay special attention to sites and situations where technologies and 

>> images have contributed to the omnipresence of fantasmatic thought.

>>

>> Themes of possible contributions include but are not limited to: 1.  

>> Outer Space and the Spatial Turn 2.  Futurist Technologies and Past 

>> Utopias 3.  Science Fiction as History

>> 4.  Space Personae

>> 5.  Aliens and the Plurality of Worlds-Debate in the Twentieth Century

>> 6.  UFOs, SETI and the Quest for Radical Alterity

>> 7.  Space Technology's Places on the Ground

>> 8.  Space and the Beyond in the History of Religion and Western

>> Esotericism

>> 9.  Outer Space and Nuclear Power

>> 10.  Historicizing the Overview Effect

>> 11.  The Frontier-Myth in the Orbital Age

>> 12.  European Astrofuturisms in Comparative Perspective

>>

>> Speakers include Profs. Steven J. Dick (NASA), Roger D. Launius 

>> (National Air and Space Museum), Michael J. Neufeld (National Air and 

>> Space Museum), Claudia Schmölders (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) 

>> and Helmuth Trischler (Deutsches Museum). The conference will also 

>> feature a special screening of historical films compiled and 

>> commented on by Jürgen Ast (Berlin).

>>

>> Proposals for papers are invited from those working in history, 

>> history of science and technology, aeronautics, astrophysics, 

>> geography, archaeology, art history, literary criticism or related 

>> disciplines. All papers will be circulated before the conference to 

>> leave ample room for discussion among its 20-25 participants. 

>> Conference language will be English. Travel funding is available for 

>> all speakers. Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words 

>> together with a short CV before May 15, 2007 for consideration to 

>> Alexander Geppert at [log in to unmask]

>>

>>

>> Convener

>> Alexander C.T. Geppert

>> Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut

>> Freie Universität Berlin

>> [log in to unmask]

>> www.fu-berlin.de/fmi

>>

>>

>> Venue

>> Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung

>> Universität Bielefeld

>> Wellenberg 1

>> D-33615 Bielefeld

>> www.uni-bielefeld.de/ZIF





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