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A reminder - deadline 21st January. Thanks! RGS-IBG 2005: 31st August - 2nd September 2005, London Post-Socialist Geographies Research Group Europes: Old, New, East, West Convenors: Dr Alison Stenning Geography, Politics and Sociology, University of Newcastle [log in to unmask] Dr Kathrin Horschelmann Geography, University of Durham [log in to unmask] In recent years there have been countless and ongoing debates over the meanings and geographies of Europe, especially the ‘new Europe’, many riven with assumptions and suggestions that the ‘east’ is not a genuine part of Europe (see, for two contrasting perspectives, Domański 2004a, b and Habermas and Derrida 2003) and that the west continues to form the core of Europe. Even in the currently ubiquitous phrase ‘enlarged Europe’ there is an implicit notion of a true Europe confined to the 15 (‘old Europe’). These debates are played out not only in academic spheres but in the European media, in debates over the new EU constitution and in myriad other spaces. The accession of eight former Soviet bloc countries to the EU in 2004 and the continuing debates over Turkey’s accession open up space for exploring geographies of the continent, which account for both halves – east and west, and indeed for the other 'faultlines' (north and south; black and white; Christian and Muslim etc.) within the European imaginary. In populations, imaginaries and discourses, trade and investment, twinnings between cities, schools and universities, the politics of production and consumption and everyday encounters with the ‘flood’ of migrants, connections between east and west are invoked every day. Echoing the spatial imaginary of a postcolonial critique in his discussions of the nature of the ‘transition’ and the place of the West in this transition, the social anthropologist Steven Sampson (2002, 299) claims “the West is not just a place ‘out there’; it is ‘here’ among us”, and it would be just as appropriate to reiterate this statement replacing ‘east’ for ‘west’. This session seeks to explore this east-west imaginary further and calls for papers which construct geographies across European divides – east and west, old and new. Papers might relate to some of the following topics: ▪ economic/social/cultural/political geographies of east and west ▪ European flows and relations ▪ European borders and border crossings ▪ new European identities ▪ teaching European geographies If you are interested in participating in this session, please submit a title and short abstract (not exceeding 200 words) to either of the organizers by 21st January 2005.