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American Studies Association of Turkey
32nd Annual American Studies Conference
Perceptions of Space and the American Experience
November 7 – 9, 2007
Hacettepe University
Ankara, Turkey
Space is difficult to quantify because it eludes quantification: it comprises the celestial and the terrestrial, the infinite and the infinitesimal, and being and nothingness, all at once. Despite its indefinable framework, it has been a perpetual theme within the
American context. For example, in Call Me Ishmael, Charles Olson takes "SPACE to be the central fact to man born in America, from Folsom cave to now," and he "spell[s] it large because it comes large here. Large and without mercy." On the other hand, it can also be large enough "for all modes of love and fortitude," as Ralph Waldo Emerson posits. Above all, it has a multitude of meanings, encompassing unlimited progress and its discontents; the visual and
the invisible; the present and the absent; and as Foucault maintains, the sacred and the desanctified.
The American Studies Association of Turkey invites proposals that consider space, broadly conceived. We particularly encourage proposals which incorporate transdisciplinary explorations of space, and welcome proposals from any field of study.
Possible themes include, but are not limited to:
• Spatial Boundaries/Spatial Relations
• Outer Space/Inner Space/Interspace/Interstitial Space
• Walking Space/Living Space/Lebensraum
• Psychological/Mental/Physical/Space
• Private/Public/(Inter)Personal Space
• Environmental/Ecological Space
• Marginal Space and Agency
• Landscapes/Terrains/Regional Space
• Technoscapes/Cyberspace/MySpace.com
• Real/Virtual Spaces
• Urban Space/Cityscapes/Walking Space
• Commercial(ized) Space/(Over)used Space
• Heartland/Hinterland
• Theatrical/Dramatic/Performance/Performative Space
• Space, Time and Memory
• Travel Narratives/Space-phobias
• Sites/Countersites/Utopias/Heterotopias
• Subversive/Resistive Space
• (Non)violent Space
• Active/Activist Space
• Chaotic/Ordered Space
• Liminal Space/Zones/Boundaries
• Poetics of Space/Textual/Linguistic Space
• Space and the Body/Gendered Space
• Racial/Ethnic/Political Space
• Imaginary/Imagined Spaces/Geographies
• Museums/Ethnographic/Indigenous Space
• Classroom/Educational Space
• Modern/Postmodern Spaces
• Mythic/Sacred/Symbolic/Religious Spaces
• (Anti)Social Space
• (Sub)Cultural/Traditional/Spiritual Space
• Artistic/Musical Space
• Pioneering/Exploration Space
• Expansionism/Manifest Destiny/Imperialism
The time allowance for all presentations is 20 minutes. An additional 10 minutes will be provided for discussion.
We also invite submissions for an undergraduate student panel.
Proposals for papers, panels, performances, exhibits, and other modes of creative expression should be sent to Tanfer Emin Tunc(asat2007@gmail.com) and Bilge Mutluay Cetintas
(mutluay@hacettepe.edu.tr) and should consist of a 250 – 300 word abstract in English, as well as a 1 – 2 paragraph c.v./biographical description for each participant.
• Deadline for submission of proposals: July 15, 2007.
• Notification for acceptance of proposals: September
1, 2007.
Further information (e.g., on accommodation and registration) will be posted on our conference website in the near future:
http://www.ake.hacettepe.edu.tr/ASAT2007
Co-sponsored by the Embassy of the United States
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