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Call for Papers Theme: Place Type: 11th East-West Philosophers Conference Institution: East-West Center University of Hawaii Location: Honolulu, HI (USA) Date: 25.–31.5.2016 Deadline: 1.11.2015 __________________________________________________ Humanity takes up space. In this, humanity is no different from other species. Humanity also purposefully transforms space, but is not unique in doing so. Other species also reshape the spaces they occupy to serve their purposes: birds create nests, bees create hives and beavers create dams. What seems to be uniquely human is the disposition to qualitatively transform spaces into places that are charged with distinctive kinds of significance. Contemporary philosophical uses of the word “place” cover considerable conceptual ground, centered on a distinction between ‘space’ and ‘place’ that was formalized by geographer-philosopher Yi-fu Tuan, who suggested that “place incorporates the experiences and aspirations of a people” over the course of their moral and aesthetic engagement with sites and locations. Building on this distinction, we might say that spaces are openings for different kinds of presence—physical, emotional, cognitive, dramatic, spiritual, and so on. Places emerge through fusions of different ways of being present over time—a meaning-infusing layering of relationships and experiences that imbue a locale with its distinctively collaborative significance. Place implies sustainably appreciated and enhanced relational quality. For many indigenous peoples, the relation to “place” has traditionally been so intimate that to be forced off the land is to be forced out of themselves, cut off from part of what makes them who they are. But contemporary urban residents develop similar senses of the dynamic and recursive relationship between who they are and where they are, and among even those who are most globally mobile, recognition persists of the significance of a ‘house’ being transformed into a ‘home.’ Humanity is a place-making species. Yet the place-making propensities of humanity seem from the outset to have been inseparable from questions about our place in the world—the place of ‘humanity,’ of ‘my people,’ and of ‘me’ personally. One result of these questions has been the crafting of complexly imagined cosmologies and narratives of “promised lands” and “paradises” beyond the horizon of present experience. Another result, however, have been concerns growing out of the recognition that our places in the world are not equal and that being present together in some common social, economic, or political space does not necessarily endow us with equivalent opportunities for participation and contribution. At times, these concerns about equity and justice have led to the crafting of “non-places”—utopias—as means to establishing trajectories of hope that might lift us out of opportunity- and dignity-denying places. For the 11th East-West Philosophers’ Conference, we are inviting panel and paper proposals related to the theme of “Place.” Of special interest are panels and papers that explore how places emerge through the sustained, shared practices of mutually-responsive and mutually-vulnerable actors. Subthemes might include: - the place of the personal, including issues of identity-construction and privacy - place and culture, including considerations of how cultures shape and are shaped by relationships with natural and built environments - places of pilgrimage, including places charged with political or cultural, as well as, religious significance - places of memory - places of mediation, including social and mass media - place and the political, including places of justice and places of both conflict and peace - trading places, including the places of entrepreneurship and concerns about the place of equity in economics - the place of philosophy, addressing issues about the real and ideal roles of philosophy in contemporary society The 11th East-West Philosophers Conference will be hosted May 25-31, 2016 in Honolulu, HI on the adjoining campuses of the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii, Manoa. We welcome both paper and panel proposals, including proposals on the conference theme from outside the discipline of philosophy. Proposal abstracts of 200-300 words should be submitted via the contact email provided below by November 1, 2015. For more information, please visit the conference website. We look forward to welcoming you to the Islands. Conference Co-Directors: Roger T. Ames Peter D. Hershock Contact: Dr. Roger T. Ames Department of Philosophy University of Hawaii, Manoa Sakamaki Hall 2530 Dole St. Honolulu, HI 96822 USA Email: [email protected] Web: http://hawaii.edu/phil/2016-east-west-philosophers-conference-cfp/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
