I am putting out one last call for papers for the 'Diasporas and homelands'
session at the Boston AAG (description below). Although the deadline for
submissions has passed, there is a possibility of a third session if I receive
just a couple of more submissions. So if anybody is interested, I would be
pleased to hear from them in the next few days.
Thanks,
Willie Jenkins
“Diasporas and homelands: networks, politics, and practices”
Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference
April 15-19, 2008, Boston
Organized paper session(s) sponsored by the Cultural and Historical Geography
Specialty Groups of the AAG
Organizer: William Jenkins, York University
This session seeks to bring together scholars undertaking research on diasporic
populations in an effort to advance conceptual and comparative approaches to
their study in geography. It is firstly hoped to develop understandings of the
various types of cultural and political networks or connections that are forged
between diasporas and their homelands, the work that such networks do, and how
they become played out in practical, material and imaginative terms within
public, private and even surreptitious spaces. A related aim is to clarify and
compare how such diasporic connections promote discourses, knowledges and
‘facts’ about the historical and geographical contours of ‘the homeland’ across
a range of host societies. While the content of such knowledges may encompass
place names, landscapes and ‘memorable’ histories in textual or other forms,
the acts and rituals that they inspire and motivate across various diasporic
sites are also worthy of attention. As scholars have recognized, such acts may
encompass a wide spectrum of possibilities, including the routine staging of
ethno-cultural festivals, celebrations and commemorations; the establishment of
networks geared towards political fund-raising and/or revolutionary violence;
and the act of returning to the homeland itself. Papers that connect to these
themes in both historical and contemporary contexts are all welcome.
Potential paper topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:
The cultural and political work of diasporic spaces
The significance of place: comparative studies of diasporas
Diasporas and the narration of homeland
Diasporas and secret spaces
Displaying diaspora: material culture and the performance of diasporic
identities
Enacting memories of displacement
Circulating myths of diasporic descent and ancestry
Recognizing shared histories: forging diasporic alliances within and across
places
Institutionalizing diaspora: monuments and museums
Deconstructing diasporic homogeneity: race, class, gender, religion
Diasporic populations and host cultures: dimensions of cultural and political
exchange
Diasporic imaginations and the event of return
Should you be interested in presenting a paper in this session, please email
your title and abstract (no more than 250 words) to William Jenkins, Department
of Geography, York University, at [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. William Jenkins
Associate Professor
Department of Geography
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5J 1P3
Tel: (416) 736-2100 extn 22488
Fax: (416) 736-5988
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