Apologies for cross posting. The deadline for this is in less than a week.
Best wishes,
Romola
IASTE 2012
Portland, Oregon
November 1 Abstract Submissions Deadline
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Myth of Tradition
Recent IASTE conferences have explored traditions as they relate to the formation of boundaries, the politics of consumption, and utopian futures. Building upon these earlier inquiries, this conference will examine the role of myths in the creation and endurance of particular traditions of space and practice. In many cultures, narratives based on little more than a story retold ever so eloquently are used to establish and perpetuate traditions that guide behaviors, customs, and actions. Through constant repetition myths become regimes of truth, as well as structures of shared meanings in the making of tradition.
The roots of the term “myth” stretch back to the Greek word “mythos” and it remains a term with different meanings in different cultures. A myth is often a story origin that is beyond anyone's memory or any group’s history. For some, it is used to suggest “fiction” or “illusion.” Among certain scholars of culture, it refers to stories coded among primitive societies over time, which constitute “living myths.” Many of the myths we hear as children have been passed down to numerous generations, becoming embedded so deeply in the landscapes of our imagination. Myths, however, are not merely stories to read aloud, but rather they are regulating narratives and rhetorical. They impart a particular ethos, map out morality, and define the parameters of accepted behavior, making legible the particular boundaries of religion, culture, and practice. Traditions, then, constitute the ways in which these myths maintain their hold, and space becomes key in their manifestation and perpetuation. Indeed, spatial traditions continue to operate even when the myth upon which they were founded has disappeared.
While myths and the traditions they engender often emerge as devices that dictate certain codes and norms, they have tangible effects on space and place. For example, the analysis and use of myth in urban planning and architecture has a long history but for the most part has focused on the design of urban utopias or religious places such as the mosque, the synagogue, and the cathedral. However, traditions based on myths have shaped the profane spaces of the everyday not only the sacred ones. For instance, in the 20th century, many architects and planners operated under the belief that a particular spatial fix could provoke the modern condition. Striving to configure spaces for development and progress, they built projects ranging from the high modernism of Brasilia to Soviet collective housing. But these projects demonstrated that environmental determinism was little more than a myth; a fictitious story masquerading as a theory that influenced a generation of practitioners and theorists who sought to shape society through space. The New Urbanism movement, responding to the perceived failures of modernism, has itself reinvented the myth of the perfect small town. Discourses on sustainability are also often be based on particular myths regarding efficiency and productivity. Meanwhile, in the global south, what is arguably the myth of the entrepreneurial slum-dweller, perpetuated by both academia and popular media, has led to a new transnational tradition of slum upgrading and microfinance. The myths that have justified these traditions have their inherent problems, which when exposed raise new questions regarding spatial productions. Moreover, they often have tangible political and spatial implications. For example, the tradition of urban renewal—carried out in different time and on different sites as diverse as Boston’s downtown, London’s docklands, Abu Dhabi’s central market, and Mumbai’s Dharavi district—perpetuates in its name a myth: that renewal would reinvigorate inner-cities, when it sometimes simply furthers the logic of accumulation that privileges certain groups sustaining the myth of the free market.
IASTE scholars have weighed in on many aspects of tradition but the focus in this conference turns to a critical examination of one of tradition’s important foundations. This IASTE conference will attract an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners from around the world working in the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, art and architectural history, sociology, transportation planning, geography, urban studies, cultural studies, anthropology, religious studies, archaeology, and environmental studies. They will present papers related to the following three tracks:
Track 1. The Politics of Myths in the Construction of Traditions and the Placemaking Process
The selective pursuit of certain myths over others necessarily privileges one story over another and injects political motives in the making of place. The founding of nation states by colonial powers continues to shape political actions today, where democratic desires are meeting resistance from leaders of states based on artificial lines, foundational myths, and colonial dreams. Ongoing revolutions in different parts of the world have questioned the meaning of citizenship and the myth of the nation-sate and the end of history. Understanding the political landscape within which myths operate is fundamental to understanding the places that these myths produce. Papers in this track will probe the complex relationships between tradition, politics, and myth and investigate the role of state and non-state actors in the deployment of myths to advance socio-political agendas that shape the built environment.
Track 2. Foundational Myths and Invocations of Tradition in Socio-Spatial Practices
A key objective of this conference is to uncover ways in which myths have shaped traditions, which in turn have been used to structure space and place. Inquiries into ways this has occurred in religious, civic and urban spaces, buildings, and complexes are encouraged. Many ancient civilizations have cultivated myths and legends to shape their built practices. But what role do myths play in the contemporary world? From ideas about the stabilizing role of subsidized homeownership to the sustainability benefits of urban growth boundaries, myths influence today’s economic systems, environmental policies, and spatial practices. Papers in this track will distinguish between tradition, myth, and habitual current practice, explore foundational myths, and analyze ways in which these myths have been used in the placemaking process.
Track 3. The Myths and Traditions of the New Digital Age
Today, new social practices are being reshaped by both new technologies and entrenches systems of belief. Digital social networks become increasingly important in daily life in a manner that is connecting virtual space to physical space. The recent uprisings in the Middle East are a reminder that revolutions do not happen in cyber space even if they start there. New media, which can be analyzed as the mix between traditional cultural conventions and digital technology, is now used to shape more flexible spaces that serve multiple purposes. Papers in this track will investigate the connections between virtual and physical space and its impacts on tradition.
Submission Requirements
Please refer to our website http://iaste.berkeley.edu for detailed instructions on abstract submissions. A one-page abstract of 500 words and a one page C.V. are required. For further inquiries, please email IASTE Coordinator Sophie Gonick at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.
Proposals for complete panels of four to five papers are welcome. Please indicate the track the panel supports. Panel submissions will include an overall abstract as well as abstracts and CVs from all proposed speakers. IASTE may accept the panel as a whole or only accept individual papers and place them in appropriate tracks.
All papers must be written and presented in English. Following a blind peer-review process, papers may be accepted for presentation in the conference and/or publication in the Working Paper Series.
Contributors whose abstracts are accepted must pre-register for the conference, pay registration fees of $400 (which includes a special discounted $25 IASTE membership fee), and prepare a full-length paper of 20-25 double-spaced pages. Registered students may qualify for a reduced registration fee of $200 (which includes a special discounted $25 IASTE membership fee). All participants must be IASTE members. Please note that expenses associated with hotel accommodations, travel, and additional excursions are not covered by the registration fees and have to be paid directly to the hotel or designated travel agent. Registration fees cover the conference program, conference abstracts, and access to all conference activities including continental breakfasts at the conference hotel, receptions, keynote panels, and the walking tour.
Conference Schedule
Deadline for abstract submission
November 1, 2011
Acceptance letter for abstracts/conference poster
January 15, 2012
Deadline for paper submission
May 1, 2012
Notification of acceptance in Working Paper Series
August 1, 2012
Conference program
October 4-7, 2012
Post-Conference Tour - Historic Oregon: From the Cascades to the Coast
October 8-9, 2012
Conference Organizing Committee
Nezar AlSayyad, IASTE President, University of California, Berkeley
Mark Gillem, IASTE Director and Conference Chair, University of Oregon
Sophie Gonick, IASTE Coordinator, University of California, Berkeley
Emelia Day, IASTE Conference Coordinator, University of Oregon
Vicky Garcia, CEDR Conference Administrator, University of California, Berkeley
Conference Advisory Committee
Hesham Khairy Abdelfattah, Heba Farouk Ahmed, Howayda Al-Harithy, Duanfang Lu, Sylvia Nam, Mrinalini Rajagopalan, Romola Sanyal, Ipek Tureli, Montira Horayangura Unakul
Local Advisory Committee
Howard Davis, Kingston Heath, Deni Ruggeri, Alison Snyder, Yizhao Yang, Jenny Young
Conference Sponsors
School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon
Department of Architecture, University of Oregon
Urban Design Lab, University of Oregon
Conference Co-Sponsors
Center for Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley
Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Conference Site and Accommodations
The Nines
http://www.thenines.com/
Post-Conference Trips
Following the conference, two optional one day trips will be offered at for an additional fee. These trips will be in a luxury coach and will take participants to historic sites from the Cascades to the Coast. Participants can sign up for one or both trips.
Monday, October 8: Participants will begin with a drive up the scenic Columbia River Gorge with stops at key historic sites. Dinner will be at the Timberline Lodge, which is a National Historic Landmark at Mount Hood built during the Great Depression. The day will end in Portland with accommodations at the conference hotel.
Tuesday, October 9: Participants will travel to the Oregon Wine Country and visit historic sites along the Oregon Coast. The day will end back in Portland with a dinner and drinking tour of Portland microbreweries. Accommodations will be at the conference hotel.
Inquiries
Please use the following information when making inquiries regarding the conference.
Mailing address:
IASTE 2010
Center for Environmental Design Research
390 Wurster Hall #1839
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1839
Phone: 510.642.6801<tel:510.642.6801>
Fax: 510.643.5571<tel:510.643.5571>
E-mail: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Website: iaste.berkeley.edu<http://www.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/research/iaste>
Sophie Gonick
IASTE and Conference Coordinator
International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments
Center for Environmental Design Research
390 Wurster Hall #1839
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1839
T: 510.642.6801<tel:510.642.6801>
F: 510.643.5571<tel:510.643.5571>
http://iaste.berkeley.edu
--
Romola Sanyal,
Lecturer in Global Urbanism
Global Urban Research Unit
School of Architecture Planning and Landscape
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
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