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Hyper-Traditions

Tenth Conference of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments

This conference will explore the complex ways in which the idea of tradition has been destabilized by globalization, particularly as manifested in “hyper-traditions.”  We use the term “hyper” to refer to social and cultural realms, created and maintained through contemporary technologies of communication, transportation, and information transfer, that have radically transformed notions of time and space, forever changing the meanings of distance and immediacy.  As one form of current time-space altering media, the hyper-real entails simulation: in this realm, the simulation is a map that precedes the territory to which it refers, a map that effectively creates the territory and becomes the reality itself.  In this way, perhaps as a response to the perceived “end of tradition” or “loss of heritage” (seen by some as inevitable by-products of globalization), hyper-traditions emerge in part as references to histories that did not happen, or practices de-linked from the cultures and locations from which they are assumed to have originated.  This IASTE conference focuses on how these practices transform our understanding of tradition; how they shape the experiences and processes of tourism, migration, urbanization, and cultural change; and what liberatory prospects they may offer.  Scholars and practitioners from architecture, architectural history, art history, anthropology, archaeology, folklore, geography, history, planning, sociology, urban studies, and related areas will present papers related to the following three themes:  From Simulated Space to “Real” Traditions and Vice Versa, Hyper-Traditions in “Real” Places; and Identity, Heritage, and Migration.

Conference Site and Accommodations
The conference will be held at the Imperial Queens Park Hotel in Bangkok.  In order to obtain special conference room rates at the hotel, reservations, accompanied by full payment, will have to be made by October 1, 2006.  Hotel and travel arrangements should be made directly with the hotel through this link:  www.imperialhotels.com/group/iaste or with the contact information below.

Imperial Queens Park Hotel
Contact Person: Kanya Viravan
199 Sukhumvit Soi 22
Bangkok 10110
THAILAND
Telephone:  +66(0)2261-9000    
Fax: +66(0)2261-9530-34
Email: queenspark@imperialhotels.com

Keynote Speakers
Gareth Jones, London School of Economics, UK
“A Ghost in the Machine: Death, Memory and Modernism in the Mexican City”
Liisa Malkki, Stanford University, USA
“Professionalism as Universalism: Ethics and Solidarities among ICRC Workers”
Dietrich Neumann, Brown University, USA
“Cinema-Realities”
Alona Nitzan-Shiftan, Technion, Israel
“Jerusalem’s Hyper Traditions at the Foot of Temple Mount”
Michael Sorkin, City College of New York, USA
“The Urban Tradition”

Discussants
Mia Fuller, University of California at Berkeley, USA
John Lie, University of California at Berkeley, USA
Hasan-Uddin Khan, Roger Williams University, USA

Organizing Committee
Nezar AlSayyad, Conference Director, University of California, Berkeley
Vimolsiddhi Horayangkura, Conference Local Director, Thammasat University
Stacey Murphy, Conference Coordinator, University of California, Berkeley
Thavanan Tanesdechsunthorn, Local Conference Coordinator, Thammasat University
Pimpan Vessakosol, Local Conference Advisor, Thammasat University
Montira Horayangura, Local Conference Advisor, UNESCO
Mark Gillem, Conference Advisor, University of Oregon
Wannaluk Pasomkusolsil, Local Conference Administrator

Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand

College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley

Jeffrey Cook Award
Every year, the Jeffrey Cook award is given to two presenters at the IASTE conference:  the author of the best paper by a scholar and the author of the best paper written by a student.   The winners will each receive an award of $1,500 award and, after appropriate review and possible revision, their papers will be published in the Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review.  The paper should be concerned with the subject of traditional dwellings and settlements in a manner that challenges traditional scholarship on the subject and engages spatial analysis from an interdisciplinary perspective.  We strongly encourage all interested participants to indicate that that would like the Award Committee to evaluate their papers. 

Additional Excursion and Travel Agent
A three-day, two-night trip to Angkor Wat will be available following the conference to participants for an additional fee of approximately $560 per person including travel and accommodations.  For more detailed information, and to make all arrangements related to the additional excursion, contact:

2006 Conference Schedule
February 17, 2006:  Deadline for receipt of abstracts and CVs 
May 1, 2006:  E-mail notification of accepted abstracts for conference presentation
July 14, 2006:  Deadline for pre-registration and receipt of papers for possible publication in the Working Paper Series 
October 2, 2006:  Notification for accepted papers for the Working Paper Series 
December 15-18, 2006:  Conference presentations