cfp.english.upenn.edu

UPDATED
New submission deadline for abstracts: 20 May 2009

The Rhetorics of Place: Public, Private, Secular and/or Sacred.

Perhaps achieving apotheosis with Foucault's theoretical conscription of Bentham's Panopticon, architecture and other material sites have been used to generate ideas about space and power. In turn, the theoretical material seems to have lost sight of the places themselves. The Editors would like to explore the rhetorical power of specific places and their relationship to the society in which they are located. In other words, while theoretical/textual engagement is crucial to this call for submissions, the Editors will be most interested in publishing pieces that take one or more actual places as their object of analysis.

Questions that might guide or inspire (but are not meant to limit) inquiry:

•How is power reinforced through architecture?
•How is power diffused through urban design?
•How might an ethnographic approach to place contribute to our understanding of power?
•What is the difference between private and public space/place, and how is this difference reinforced?
•What is the relationship between "space" and "place"?
•What is the intersection of private/public with secular/sacred place?
•How is the sacred reinforced visually? architecturally?
•How do buildings and spaces generate civil religion?
•Do acoustics contribute to the edification of power?

As usual, submissions from all disciplines are welcome.
Formats include written and hyper-text, audio or video podcasts or photo essays. We strongly encourage multi-media formats - it's an electronic journal!
We will consider abstracts as well as completed works.

Submissions should be sent by 20 May 2009 to
J. David Hester
and
Erika Olbricht
Sr. Editors,
Queen