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

According to Michel Foucault, "space itself has a history in Western
experience…Our epoch is one in which space takes for us the form of
relations among sites." However, "despite the whole network of
knowledge that enables us to delimit or formalize it, contemporary
space is still not entirely desanctified…[it is] still nurtured by the
hidden presence of the sacred." Foucault's argument suggests the
intractable aspect of the concept of "space," which is constantly
eluding our grasp, and reverting back into the realm of nature and the
"natural." This conference seeks to fill the scholarly vacuum that
continues to exist with respect to space by removing it from the
domain of the sacred, questioning its conceptualization, and exposing
its manifestations within American Studies. We hope such a focus will
advance the interaction between scholars who have conflicting
historical and spatial epistemologies regarding the American
experience.

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_at_gmail.com) and Bilge Mutluay Cetintas
(mutluay_at_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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Received on Sat Mar 10 2007 - 04:47:06 EST