Call for Papers: 2008 Conference of the Association of American Geographers
Dear HumanDHS network friends
Please find below a call for papers for the 2008 Conference of the Association of American Geographers
Kind regards
Brian Ward
Call for papers -DIASPORA AND THE CITY: MEMORY, EMOTION AND BELONGING
Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers
Boston, Massachusetts
April 15-19, 2008
Organizers: Alison Blunt, Jayani Bonnerjee, Noah Hysler-Rubin and Shompa Lahiri, Queen Mary, University of London
Although ideas and lived experiences of diasporas are intrinsically transnational, a wide range of research invokes the nation through material and imaginative connections to a past, present, or imagined homeland. Other research focuses on the city primarily as a site of diasporic resettlement. Drawing on historical and contemporary research, the session will focus on the city as a distinctive location within diaspora space (Brah, 1996) and will address the ways in which the city, as a place of origin and resettlement, is a site of diasporic memory, emotion and belonging. Through its focus on urban diasporas and the importance of the city in fostering diasporic imaginations and experiences, the session will extend debates about transnational and postcolonial urbanism, cosmopolitan cities and urban memory.
Key themes include:
- the emotional, embodied and sensory geographies of cities in diaspora
- diasporic tales of the city through life stories, cultural practices and representations
- cities as sites of diasporic origin and resettlement
- urban modernities, cosmopolitanism and consumption in diaspora
- public and private spaces of diasporic urbanism
- familial attachments across cities and diasporas
- comparative studies of cities and diasporas
- diasporic memories, imaginings and experiences of the city
Please send abstracts of up to 250 words to Alison Blunt, Queen Mary, University of London (A.Blunt[@]qmul.ac.uk ) by Wednesday 17 October.