*/Converging Dichotomies/**//*

*/An interdisciplinary approach to Nature and Culture/**//*

4th-5th May, 2017

Università degli Studi di Milano

**

*Conference topic areas:***

Philosophy, Anthropology, Geography

*Call for abstracts: ***

The notions of Nature and Culture may appear as essentially independent
the one from the other for their literal definition. Indeed, it is
considered one of the traditional dichotomies in Western thought: Nature
seems to be an extrinsic dimension of Culture due to the absence of
artificiality and development, which seems rather to belong to the latter. 

Nevertheless, there have been important philosophical and scientific
considerations that have structurally based their theoretical
proposition on the close relationship, often dialectical, between the
endless change of Nature and the becoming of Culture.

Consequently, the goal of the conference will be to provide an
interdisciplinary debate through specific cases studies in the panorama
of Human Sciences. Every session will be introduced by a remarkable
keynote speech assessing a theoretical framework necessary for a broader
contextualization of every case study.

Authors are invited to produce contributions on this topic particularly
addressed to one of the following sessions.

*First session: Philosophy*

*Keynote Speaker*, Prof. Richard McKirahan, Ponoma College, Ancient
Philosophy

Nature and culture were among the central issues debated in philosophy
from the early Greek thinkers to contemporary reflections.

We are interested in investigating the various manners in which the
nature-culture contrast is assessed in the history of thought. This
interrogative leaves room open for a large number of approaches and can
be addressed within several different branches of philosophy, such as
ethics, politics, theology, epistemology, physics and metaphysics. It
can also be related to other disciplines in the humanities, such as
history, science and literature. For these reasons, we hope to welcome
PhD students and junior academics throughout the humanities and thus
create an interdisciplinary dialogue across various fields in the study
of classical antiquity and beyond.

Our main purpose is to examine how philosophers interpreted and assessed
the concepts of nature and culture in a wide variety of contexts,
including but without being restricted to:

·The raise of moral values and the question whether the origin of
justice has to be traced back to a natural or a cultural origin

·The origins of socio-political institutions

·The legitimacy of political governments

·The existence of the God/s

·The status of human rights

·the justification of slavery and of class distinctions among human beings

·The origins of language, knowledge and human society


*Second session: Anthropology*

*Keynote Speaker*, Prof. Laura Rival, University of Oxford, Anthropology

The nature/culture dichotomy has been the object of constant criticism
over the past decades, because of the limits of these concepts in
explaining human representations and practices. Considering the
positions of Philippe Descola, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and Tim
Ingold, anthropology has focused on the nature of human being and his
own place in a close relationship to non-human being life forms. In
their studies, these scholars have highlighted how climate phenomena and
local species biodiversity get involved in a complex social and cultural
relationship with the human communities. Following these ethnographical
perspectives, Nature and Culture dichotomy proves itself to be
meaningless: human communities are complex networks where men are
constantly connected not only with human but also non-human actors.
Moreover, as Bruno Latour argued, these networks involve tools,
technological devices and ideology. Therefore, the identity of a human
being does not presuppose a natural order existing independently from
and externally to a cultural order.

From this anthropological perspective, the natural world could be
inquired beyond the traditional epistemological classification in which
human and natural sciences don't share a common ground of analysis. What
principles must guide this kind of research? What methodologies should
ethnologists apply? Which concepts can render their results intelligible?

We are interested in contributions related mainly, but not exclusively,
on the following issues:

·Methodological issues on the epistemological role of anthropology

·The relationship between Nature and Culture as Western or transcultural
dichotomy

·Case studies dealing with process of constructing identity

·The relationship between body and culture in the human being

·The relationship between processes of identity construction and the
environment

*Third session**: Geography*

*Keynote Speaker,*Beth Rose Middleton, University of California Davis,
Geography

Following postmodernity and the crisis of the great narratives, Nature
and Culture have to be reconceptualized in a form of a new dialogical
relationship. In this sense, the rise of the new concept of the
Anthropocene /represents the public death of the modern understanding of
nature removed from society/ (Lorimer, 2012). Indeed a vision of Nature
as an independent entity from Culture and man is no longer sustainable.

In a geographical perspective, the dichotomy between Nature and Culture
has never been so strict and it has always been related with man and the
way he managed to live in his own environment. These two subjects set
the foundation of the whole discipline; Geography in its diachronic
evolution has adopted an array of different standpoints, ranging from
the early environmentalist theories to humanistic perspectives. What has
always remained constant is the interpretation of the relationship,
which has always been conceived as a dialogical system instead of a
dichotomic one.

Recently, the environment seems to have acquired a more significant
role, due to the wide group of phenomena known as /Global Change./ Thus,
in this new era of Anthropocene, feedback reactions to the initial input
given by human activities are forcing humanity to a deep reconsideration
of its behavior toward the environment. The result is a new balance in
the dialogical relationship, where Culture could be seen as the main
engine that moves the adaptation processes providing local answers to
global issues.

That being said, new fields of research can arise. How are different
communities - in different geographic regions - dealing with ecosystem
changes, land loss and resource exploitation? What consequences could be
involved for cultural identity, territorialization and the very sense of
/place/? Finally, how these particular examples translate to the global
scale?

The aim of the session is to explore this new balance throughout
specific case studies and to provide interdisciplinary debate through
specific cases studies in the panorama of Human and Environmental
Geography. We invite authors to submit abstracts for oral presentation
in the following topics:

·Resilience and adaptation in endangered environments (particular
attention will be given to the Small Islands Developing States and the
Alps).

·Conservationism and economic exploitation of natural resources

·Climate change, ecosystems and traditional economies

·Climate change,impacts, adaptation, and mitigation on local scales

·Water management, agriculture and conservation

·Cultivation and adaptability in changing ecosystems

·Heritage and Culture of wine in fragile environments

·Patrimonialization: methods and principles in landscape evaluation

·Conservation policy in cultural and natural heritage on local scale

·Ecology on the scale of the landscape

·Historical ecology

*Paper Submission and Conference Guidelines ***

Keynote speakers’ presentation will be 40 minutes long followed by 20
minutes for discussion; all other presentations bill be 20 minutes long
plus 10 minutes for discussion.

The language of the conference is only English.


We accept extended abstracts that should be prepared for a blind review
in a PDF format before *February 17^th *.

We ask two files: in the first one, the candidate is supposed to write
the proposal and in the second one, we would need the following details:
_name_, _institutional affiliation_, _contact_ _information_.

We invite proposals from graduate students and early career researchers
within three years of completion of their degree for papers of
approximately *2500 characters *including bibliography. Please write
‘Milan PhD Conference Abstract Submission’ in the subject line of your
email as well as the year in which the PhD was awarded in the case of
early career researchers. Abstracts should be prepared for blind review,
so ensure that your abstract is free from any identifying personal details.

Please, submit your proposals to: *[log in to unmask]*

The acceptance notification will be given no later than *March 7^th *.

Participation at the conference is free of charge.

Meals will be provided for the length of the conference.

*Organizers**:*

*For Philosophy***

Roberta Bonanno: [log in to unmask]

Tommaso Longo: [log in to unmask]

*For Anthropology*

Simona Azzan: [log in to unmask]

Sonia Rezzonico: [log in to unmask]

*For Geography*

Giorgio Masellis: [log in to unmask]

Emiliano Tolusso: [log in to unmask]

*Scientific committee*:

Stefano Allovio (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Valerio Bini (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Luca Bonardi (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Mauro Bonazzi (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Alice G. Dal Borgo (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Olivier Jacquet (Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté)

Giovanna R. Giardina (Università degli Studi di Catania)

Daniele Lorusso (Università degli Studi di Milano)


--
Ivan Severi Ph.D.

Doctoral School in Philosophy and Human Sciences
Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università di Milano
Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milano (Italia)
http://www.dipafilo.unimi.it/ecm/home

Chercheur associé
LAA - Laboratoire Architecture/Anthropologie, UMR 7218 LAVUE CNRS
118/130 Avenue Jean Jaures, 75019 Paris (France)
http://www.laa.archi.fr

Editorial Board:
Antropologia Pubblica (CLUEB)
Zapruder. Rivista di storia della conflittualità sociale (Odradek)

Presidente di ANPIA - Associazione Nazionale Professionale Italiana di Antropologia

Ph: +39 3880410753




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