13th Annual Conference of The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space and Place (IASESP)

Alex Zukas Announcement
Subject Fields
American History / Studies, Architecture and Architectural History, European History / Studies, Military History, Philosophy

13th Annual Conference
The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space and Place (IASESP)
National University April 28-30, 2017
Conference Theme: “Nightmare Spaces/Uncanny Places”

People encounter the uncanny every day - the familiar object or person or place that becomes unfamiliar or strange or that is seen or experienced differently. Because the uncanny is familiar yet strange or inexplicable, it calls into question the “taken-for-granted” status of everyday objects and places. It creates a dual vision, or cognitive dissonance, within the experiencing subject due to the paradoxical nature of being attracted to or comfortable with an object or place yet simultaneously repulsed or unnerved by it. A nightmare space heightens a feeling of uncanniness and is more threatening and terrifying than bizarre and uncomfortable. Like the doubling associated with the uncanny, nightmare spaces can be encountered or created and involve repetition and (perhaps temporary) anxiety. The conference welcomes papers from any discipline that explore nightmarish or uncanny places/spaces but papers on other topics or themes will be accepted as long as a spatial dimension takes center stage. If there is sufficient interest, IASESP will also include up to two panels of video conference presentations. Revised papers can also be submitted for consideration in the IASESP peer-reviewed journal, Environment, Space, Place, published by the University of Minnesota Press.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Amusement Parks
Asylums
Battlefields
Borders
Bureaucracies
Closed/Tight Spaces
Concentration/Death Camps
Cruise Ships
Cyberspace
Dark Forests
Environmental Calamities
Gentrification/Urban Renewal
Ghost (or Deindustrialized) Towns
Graveyards
Gridlocked Highways
Hell/Hades
Movies/TV Shows
Novels, Short Stories, and Plays
Open/Wild Spaces
Prisons
Purgatory
Refugee Camps
Reunions
Road Trips
Shopping Malls
Vacations
Workplaces

Send proposals to Troy Paddock paddockt1@southernct.edu
Proposals are due February 8, 2017