CFP: Thinking Mountains 2018 conference, Banff, Canada, Oct 2-5, 2018 (deadline Feb 23, 2018)

Katherine Ledford Announcement
Location
Alberta, Canada
Subject Fields
Canadian History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Environmental History / Studies, Geography, Humanities

 

Thinking Mountains (http://thinkingmountains.ca/index.html) is a triennial interdisciplinary mountain studies summit that promotes dialogue about mountain places, peoples, and activities around the world. It is an international meeting place for the best scholarship on mountains from the natural sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, and other communities of practice. To be held in the heart of Banff National Park from October 2–5, Thinking Mountains 2018 invites researchers from all disciplines, as well as members of artistic and activist communities, non- and for-profit organizations, government, the private sector, and NGOs.

 

Conference events include keynote addresses by renowned experts from across the disciplines, and paper presentations on a wide variety of topics showcasing diverse and exciting research. Thinking Mountains 2018 will provide opportunities to meet established authors, researchers, and experts in mountain studies, along with those who are new to the field. Special events and field trips will be scheduled for entertainment and to learn about the unique mountain landscape of Banff, and the Canadian Rockies generally.

 

The 2018 organizing committee is pleased to invite submissions for Sessions, Papers, Posters, and Side Meetings.

 

Deadline for session, individual, and poster proposals:  Friday, February 23, 2018

 

Mountains matter. They comprise a quarter of the world’s land surface. They house a quarter of the world’s human population. Mountains hold extraordinary cultural significance for societies around the globe, and are venerated in religion, art, and literature. Mountains can be sites of extraordinary possibility and wealth, but also be zones of debilitating poverty:  places on societies’ margins, where communications are poor and infrastructure, jobs, services, education, and health care are lacking. Mountains provide the world with critical ecosystem services, from fresh water to forests. They’re hotspots for biological and cultural diversity. They respond rapidly and intensely to climatic and environmental variation, and are increasingly coming to be recognized by both human and natural scientists as ‘sentinels for change.’ Mountains impact everyone, everywhere. 
 

Thinking Mountains 2018 will bring researchers, students, and teachers from across the scholarly disciplines into dialogue with activists, artists, Indigenous leaders, and community members, all of whom share a commitment to global mountain sustainability, and to the betterment of mountain peoples, places, and activities.

 

This will be the third interdisciplinary Thinking Mountains gathering. Thinking Mountains 2012 took place at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Thinking Mountains 2015 was held in Jasper, Alberta. Thinking Mountains 2018 – hosted by the University of Alberta, in conjunction with the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, and in association with our many academic and community partners – will be housed at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, in Banff, Alberta, from October 2–5. This international summit meeting will be devoted to the possibilities entailed in thinking not just within but across the boundaries of disciplinary scholarship, and to the power of understanding that can arise from the combination of new research findings with traditional orders of knowledge.
 

Please join us in our attempt to think mountains seriously, and better.

Contact Information
For further information about Thinking Mountains 2018, please contact our Conference Assistant, Heather Green, at thinkingmtns@ualberta.ca
Contact Email
thinkingmtns@ualberta.ca