A session sponsored by the Political Geography Research Group (PGRG) at the 2010 RGS-IBG Conference, Royal Geographical Society, London 1-3 September 2010
Call for Papers
HOTELS: POLITICAL GEOGRAPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Session organisers: Sara Fregonese and Klaus Dodds (both Royal Holloway, University of London).
Hotels constitute fascinating cases to explore the mundane, material and performative practices that shape the mechanisms of international relations. The hotel, especially in the Cold War period and thereafter, has always been more than simply a place for visitors to stay, reside and consume. The Hilton Hotel chain, for example, was a significant intervention on the post-war European landscape. As an exemplar of American modernity, foreign direct investment and technological prowess, the Hilton was a powerful visual symbol – in many cities including London it was for a time the highest building within the city. Over the last six decades, hotels have had a prime role in diplomatic summits, UN-led diplomacy, media reporting, as well as in popular culture’s depictions of conflict and reconciliation (as in the film Hotel Rwanda). They have featured prominently as terrorist targets and as evidence of urbicide. The Europa Hotel in Belfast, the Holiday Inn in Beirut and the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai are just three striking examples of hotels caught up in conflict and violence.
This session considers the complex spatialities of hotels and their role in mediating economic, political, security and cultural landscapes. Papers are solicited on the following possible themes:
- The hotel as a site of diplomatic engagement
- Hotel space and social relations of power, domination, and gender
- Hotel space and conceptions of security
- Hotels as targets of violence and as exemplars of urbicide.
- Hotel as liminal places
- Popular geopolitics and representations of hotels in popular culture
We would also welcome papers that considered methodological issues concerning the study of hotels and their significance.
Please send 150 word abstracts and up to five keywords to [log in to unmask] by Thursday 11 February 2010.
BESTS is a mailing list for researchers with an interest at the intersection of STS and the built environment. Its homepage is "www.jiscmail.ac.uk/bests".
To subscribe, send the message "SUBSCRIBE BESTS forename surname" to "[log in to unmask]"; to unsubscribe, send "UNSUBSCRIBE BESTS" to "[log in to unmask]". If you want to reach the list manager personally, send a message to "[log in to unmask]".
|