International Conference University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School of Regional, Transnational and
European Studies, "European Travel Cultures" Research Group
14.10.2016-15.10.2016, Amsterdam
14.10.2016-15.10.2016, Amsterdam
Twenty-five years after the collapse of Communism,
mutual perceptions of “the East” and “the West” seem more than ever to
be building on Cold War stereotypes. Exploring the roots of this
phenomenon, the European Travel Cultures research group at the
University of Amsterdam invites the submission of proposals for the
second “Close Encounters” workshop.
The workshop will focus on the sense-making of tourist encounters
between East and West during the Cold War. How did tourists and
travellers understand their encounters with people, cultures, and
political systems on the other side of the Iron Curtain and how were
these meanings disseminated and received?
We are particularly interested in papers dealing with East – West encounters at the intersection of mediality and materiality:
- What kind of media (TV, Radio, Printed matter, dictionaries, books, maps etc.) did tourists use in preparation of their journeys? How critical did the users approach these source of information?
- How was “being elsewhere” experienced and understood by people traveling across the Iron Curtain for leisurely purposes and work? We invite participants to include attempts at mutual understanding as well as conscious attempts at self-distancing.
- How did travel experiences influence self-conceptions and identities of the travellers while being abroad and back home?
- What kind of images, stories and material souvenirs did the tourist bring home and how did they try to circulate their experiences and interpretations back home?
We particularly welcome papers from the fields of history of the
everyday, consumption history, media studies, reception studies, and
cultural anthropology exploring mutual misinterpretations, misreadings
of the alien environment, cases of conscious and subconscious misconduct
etc.
Participants will be required to submit papers for pre-circulation
four weeks ahead of the conference. We also ask for the submission of
original contributions as we plan publishing an edited volume.
Deadlines:
Please send an abstract of up to 500 words and a short bio (max. 100
words) to close-encounters-fgw@uva.nl before 15 June 2016. Conference
papers are due on 15 September 2016.
Conference fee: € 50 covering lunches and the conference dinner.
Funding: Very limited funding is available to cover accommodation and
travel costs. Please indicate when submitting the abstract if you would
like to apply for funding.
Conference organisers: Dr Christian Noack (c.u.noack@uva.nl); Dr Sune Bechmann Pedersen (sune.bechmann_pedersen@hist.lu.se)
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