Congresos, Conferencias y Seminarios Internacionales

International Association for the study of Traditional Environments
OCTOBER 12-15, 2000

I A S T E 2 0 0 0 CALL FOR PAPERS

SEVENTH IASTE CONFERENCE. TRANI, ITALY
THE END OF TRADITION?
OCTOBER 12-15, 2000

As we approach the next millennium, there is a great deal of contentious debate regarding the "end of history", the "end of geography", and the "end of tradition". The emergence of the term "post", as in post-developmentalism, post-modernism and now post-traditionalism, serves as an indicator of our present day discourse.

In past conferences, IASTE scholars and practitioners have attempted to make sense of this ever-changing intellectual landscape and have grappled with how processes of globalization are irrevocably restructuring space and place. This conference will be concerned with a specific historical moment, one where a seemingly all-consuming late capitalism levels differences and particularities, but where there is at the same time a resurgence of localisms, populisms, and fundamentalisms. It is this paradoxical simultaneity which necessitates our question: The End of Tradition?

The conference will be structured around three broad themes:

1. Deterritorialization/Globalization. The idea of globalization has unsettled the conventional connections between place and culture. While some see these dislocations as new traditions in and of themselves, others argue that the spatial basis of tradition is still firmly grounded. Both groups, however, have come to accept that globalization is forcing a rethinking of the very idea of tradition. The new research on vernacular and traditional settlements may demonstrate both the dynamics of localization (or the process by which spaces become places redolent with meaning) and placelessness (or the process by which the meaning of environments ceases to be fixed or attached to given places).
· Sites and agents of globalization
· Localizing global traditions
· Discourses of place/deterritorialization
· "Local" traditions in the post-imperial/colonial city
· Territorial implications for a placeless society
· Tourism and the construction of tradition
· Education and the globalization of place
· Mutations of language and the making of place

2. Tradition as a Call to Arms. The fervent revival of some place-based traditions marks the landscape of much of the world at the end of the millenium. From the ravages of the Balkans to the nitty-gritty neighborhood battles of post-industrial first world cities, "the politics of difference" are playing a major role in shaping cities, nations, and entire regions. Such exclusionary, often segregationist, invocations of
tradition have destroyed the Archimedean vantage point, and the supposed neutrality, of vernacular studies and research on traditional settlements. A recognition of what some consider the hegemonic and oppressive nature of traditions should be a central tenet in our new research agenda.
· The insidious revival of tradition
· Invented nations/invented traditions
· Mobile/izing spatial scales: the shifting politics of tradition
· Politics of space in post-war reconstruction
· Usurping traditional forms: stabilization or homogenization?
· The rhetoric of tradition: co-opting policies of participation
· Uses and abuses of tradition and the rise of kitsch
· Gender perspectives and dwelling transformations

3. Practice and the New Technologies of Place. Technology has often been seen as a positive force in everyday practice. However, lurking within the liberatory possibilities of technology are its hegemonic tendencies. New professional practices in the field of traditional environments may need to engage in self-critique, examining not only the implications of technology but also its subversive potential.
· The technology of knowledge: learning from place
· Technology for whom? dwelling in the space age
· Practice and the rise of post-traditional places
· Multiculturalism as a new paradigm in planning practices
· Civil society and the space of resistance
· Science as a maker/breaker of traditions
· Technology, pedagogy, and the making of urban landscapes
· The impact of global technology on architectural education

IASTE has always been an unconventional intellectual space, drawing upon the strengths of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural investigations. Perhaps it is now time to extend this unconventionality to our analytical strategies. We thus propose an interrogation of the traditions of "place;" for the "End of Tradition" should also be interpreted as a dislocation of intellectual traditions as well.

Submission Requirements:
Interested colleagues are invited to submit a hard copy of a short, one-page abstract not to exceed 500 words. Do not place your name on the abstracts but rather submit an attached one-page curriculum vitae with your address and name. All authors must also submit an electronic copy of their abstract and CV at the same time via e-mail. Abstracts and CVs must be placed within the body of the e-mail and not as an attachment. E-mail this material to iaste@uclink4.berkeley.edu. Authors must specify one or two of the above sessions when submitting abstracts. Proposals for complete panels and poster sessions are welcome. All papers must be written and presented in English.

Following a blind peer-review process, papers may be accepted for presentation in the conference and/or publication in the conference Working Paper Series. Contributors whose abstracts are accepted must preregister for the conference, pay registration fees of $325, and prepare a full-length paper of 20-25 double-spaced pages. Please note that hotel accommodations and travel are not covered by the registration fees.

Conference Schedule:
January 15, 2000: Deadline for receipt of abstracts and CVs
March 15, 2000: Notification of accepted abstracts for conference presentation
July 1, 2000: Deadline for preregistration and for receipt of papers for possible publication in the Working Paper Series
August 1, 2000: Notification of accepted papers for the Working Paper Series
October 12-15, 2000: Conference Presentations

Organizing Committee:
Nezar AlSayyad, Conference Director, University of California, Berkeley
Attilio Petruccioli, Conference Local Co-Director, Politecnico di Bari
Jean-Paul Bourdier, Conference Co-Director, University of California, Berkeley
Michele Stella, Conference Local Coordinator, Istituto per la Residenza e le Infrastrutture Sociali (IRIS)
Ananya Roy, Conference Advisor, University of California, Berkeley
Montira Horayangura, Conference Coordinator, University of California, Berkeley
Mark Gillem, IASTE Coordinator, University of California, Berkeley
Nora Watanabe, Conference Administrator, University of California, Berkeley

Sessions Committee:
Dieter Ackerknecht, Joe Aranha, M.R. Austin, William Bechhoefer, Juan Fernando Bontempo, Hugh Burgess, Jeffrey Cook, Greig Crysler, Howard Davis, Vicente Del Rio, Dalila Elkerdany, Aly Gabr, Anne Hublin, Derek Japha, Hasan-Uddin Khan, Heng Chye Kiang, Michael Landzelius, Morna Livingston, Robert Mugerauer, Paul Oliver, Marcela Pizzi, Manuel Teixeira, Gunawan Tjahjono, Donald J. Watts, John Webster

Italian Advisory Committee:
Nicola Costantino, Claudio D'Amato, Antonio Castorani

Conference Sponsors:
Facolta di Architettura, Istituto di Progettazione, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
Center for Environmental Design Research and the College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.
IRIS, Consigno Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy
Municipality of Trani, Italy

Conference Site:
The conference will be held at the medieval castle in Trani, Italy north of the city of Bari. In order to obtain special conference room rates at local hotels, reservations, accompanied by full payment, will have to be made by July 1, 2000. Hotel and travel arrangements should be made directly with the designated travel agency.

Interprogram
Via Talefati 89
Bari, Italy
Phone/Fax 39.080.521.2853

Optional Excursions:
A number of one day and half day trips to nearby sites will also be available after the conference to conference participants for an additional fee. These include Castel del Monte, Apalia, and Aberobello.

Inquiries?
Please send all inquiries regarding the conference to:
IASTE 2000
Center for Environmental Design Research
390 Wurster Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1839, USA
Phone: 510.642.6801/510.642.2896
Fax: 510.643.5571
E-mail: iaste@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Website: http://www.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/research/iaste

International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE)
Center for Environmental Design Research
390 Wurster Hall #1839
Berkeley, CA 94720-1839
tel: 1.510.642.6801
fax: 1.510.643.5571
email: iaste@uclink4.berkeley.edu
www: http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/iaste