Call for papers: RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, 27-29 August 2008
Session: Historical Geographies of the Subterranean
(Sponsored by HGRG)
Organisers: Sarah Cant (University of Plymouth) and Heidi Scott (University of Wales Aberystwyth)
The subterranean spaces that lie beneath the surface of the visible landscape have long been the focus of diverse human practices of both an embodied and an imaginative nature. These varied engagements include not only mining for natural resources, but also the use of the underground as a space of burial or concealment, of archaeological excavation and treasure hunting, of exploration and adventure, as well as a focus for literary and artistic production. There is no shortage of existing anthropological research on the varied ways in which human societies have imagined and used the subterranean. In addition, historians of science and literary critics have paid increasing attention to how the earth’s interior has been conceptualised in scientific and fictional writings. By contrast, however, surprisingly limited attention has been directed towards subterranean spaces by historical geographers. It may be argued that the subterranean – understood above all in a material sense – has played a far more varied and prominent role in past geographical imaginations and practices, not only in Europe but also beyond, than existing research in historical geography appears to suggest. The proposed session, therefore, will consider potential directions for further research on this area by exploring some of the practices and ideas relating to subterranean spaces that emerged in diverse societies, times and places.
Subterranean spaces may include (but not limited to) mines, tunnels, caves, underground chambers or homes, cellars, for example. We welcome papers that will contribute to exploring historical geographies of the subterranean.
Please send expressions of interest to both [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask]
Deadline for title and abstracts (c. 200 words): 31 January 2008
For further details of the conference please see RGS-IBG website:
http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Annual+International+Conference.htm
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