[Discussion] (no subject)

[gpultar@cstgroup.org]

The Image of Maps/Maps of the Imagination
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.2
X-Originating-IP: 85.96.105.106

The Image of Maps/Maps of the Imagination

A one day conference, 13 May 2006, at the Ashmolean Museum, University of
Oxford, hosted by the Department of the History of Art.

This is a call for papers for a conference that intends to bring together
historians of all periods and locations who use 'maps' as an important source
for their research. By 'maps' we mean both maps of 'real' space, such as world
maps, as well as maps of 'unreal' space, such as mental maps. The purpose of our
conference is to investigate the similarities and differences between these two
types of maps - those that are real and imaginary - at different point in
history.

In recent years, in the fields of historical cultural studies, there has been
growing interest in the multi-faceted concept of mapping. Specifically, the
evidence of maps gives researchers valuable information on a wide range of
questions that are pertinent to those studying the history of science, art and
visual culture, intellectual history, and so on. This one-day symposium aims to
address the concept of mapping in two distinct but related ways. The first is
concerned for the physical product of the map and its histories. Historically,
the creation of maps has been at the intersection of a broad spectrum of issues
that include the relationship between art and science, the philosophy of space,
cultural and political geographies, among many others. In this way, maps are
cultural products which express the beliefs of those who created them, and as
such are an index to ideas that are not expressed in other extant texts. Second,
this symposium aims to address the concept of mappings as a means of creating
structures that are not limited to the organization of space, but which rather
use the metaphor of mapping as a means to organize the world. The process of
creating mental maps is one example of this, and it can also be argued that,
historically, people have used the metaphor of mapping as a means of organizing
encyclopedic knowledge, aiding memory, meditation, and other forms of invention.
Therefore, we may ask ‘historically, what has been the relationship
between these imaginary maps, those which organize concepts and ideas into an
imagined space, and those ‘actual’ maps which seek to make the
physical space of the world into a single image?’

This symposium is being co-ordinated by doctoral students in Art History, Steven
Stowell and Tania Woloshyn, at the University of Oxford and the University of
Nottingham, respectively, and as such, seeks to bring together graduate students
and young and experienced academics who are using either the concept or the
evidence of maps to enlighten their historical research. We intend for this
event to be a way of sharing our methodology, research, and addressing some of
the problems of using maps as historical evidence.

Please submit proposals for 30 minute papers by 12 January 2006 to:
image.of.maps@gmail.com

Steven Stowell
Linacre College, University of Oxford
St. Cross Road
Oxford
OX13JA

Email: image.of.maps@gmail.com

Visit the website at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ball2144/