Archive: Dicembre, 2013

• Geopolitics in Changing SE Asia – extended deadline

International Conference on

GEOPOLITICS IN CHANGING SOUTHEAST ASIA:

BOUNDARFIES AND BORDERLANDS

 
20-23 July 2014

School of Tourism and Geography

Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China

 

Organized by

– Yunnan Normal University (YNU)

– Institute of Geography Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS

– Beijing Normal University (BNU)

– East China Normal University (ECNU)
 
Sponsored by

– Geographical Society of China (GSC)

– Association of American Geographers (AAG)

– International Geographical Union (IGU)

– Geographical Society of Yunnan Province
 
Background

Two distinctive features of the world political map are that boundary issues remain of paramount importance and that borderlands have their own distinct landscape features. Boundaries, borderlands, border regions and frontiers on land and sea have a long and rich tradition in political geography. Contributions include books, monographs, articles and maps by geographers from almost every country, some writing about historical and colonial themes, others on contemporary and post-colonial issues. Boundaries and borders continue to be among the major topics studied by political geographers on all continents. These works are supplemented by other international associations and societies also committed to understanding the importance of boundaries in historical and contemporary contexts.
 
Promoting the geographic study of boundaries and borderlands have been major national and international geographical societies and associations and also commissions within the International Geographical Union, which have sponsored large and small conferences, field trips and publications to enrich the study of political geography and its counterpart geopolitics. Two of political geography’s major journals, Political Geography and Geopolitics regularly include articles and book reviews about boundary issues.
 
The School of Geography and Tourism at Yunnan Normal University is organizing the first political geography conference in China to be held in Kunming, Yunnan Province, in 20-23 July 2014. The title is “Geopolitics in Changing Southeast Asia: Boundaries and Borderlands.” The purpose is to bring together scholars from China, Southeast Asia, East Asia and those from outside the region who have interests in the twin subjects of boundaries and borderlands. We welcome the contributions of scholars from the social and policy sciences (sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, law) as well as the humanities (history, film studies, religion, music,literature) and those from interdisciplinary and regional studies programs. Our aim is to bring together junior and senior scholars and also graduate students from inside and outside the region with interests in the topic.
 
The conference languages will be Chinese, English and Spanish. The presentations will be followed by time for discussion. A printed copy of all abstracts will be provided those attending. There will be keynote presentations by noted scholars. The conference will be held on campus, which is in the Southeast part of Kunming.
 
The conference will include two days of papers and presentations; the third day will be a field trip to nearby border regions. Yunnan Province has a very rich ethnic diversity with 26 distinctive minority groups. Evening cultural events of music and dancing are planned.
 
Potential Topics

The conference organizers are open to a wide variety of topics that may include:

Cultural landscapes
Borderland landscapes
Cultural heritage
Historical land boundaries
Maritime boundaries
Disputed territories and boundaries
Environmental security issues
Regionalism
Cross-border environmental problems
International investments
Labor migration and labor issues
Refugee movements and resettlement
Tourism, including heritage tourism and cross-border tourism
Religions: traditional or emerging
Gender issues
Nongovernmental organizations
Sustainable development and local empowerment
Media geographies and the state
Cyberboundaries and cyberstates
 
Registration fees:

Those attending will not have to pay for room or meals; these will be provided by Yunnan Normal University. There is no registration fee.
 
Chinese Scientific Committee Members

Prof. Dahe Qin (IGU Vice President, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
Prof. Lin Yang (Yunnan Normal University, China)
Prof. Huasong Luo (Yunnan Normal University, China)
Prof. Shengkui Cheng (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
Prof. Weidong Liu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
Prof. Debin Du (East China Normal University, China)
Prof. Jia nxiong Ma (The Chinese University of HongKong)
Prof. Yuejing Ge (Chair, Beijing Normal University, China)
Prof. Shangyi Zhou (Beijing Normal University, China)
Prof. Yue He (Yunnan Normal University, China)
Prof. Jinliang Wang (Yunnan Normal University, China)
Prof. Yapin Chen (Yunnan Normal University, China)
Prof. Liran Xiong (Yunnan Normal University, Chin)
 
Supportive Members of International Geography Communities

Prof. Anton Gosar (Faculty of Tourism, University of Primorska, Portoroz, Slovenia and Past President of IGU Political Geography Commission)
Dr. Douglas Richardson (AAG Executive Director, USA)
Prof. Vladimir Kolossov (Moscow State University, President, International Geographical Union)
Prof. Alec Murphy (Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon)
Prof. Joe Painter (Department of Geography, University of Durham, UK and chair of the RGS-IBG Political Geography Research Group)
Prof. Elenna Dell’agnese (Department of Geography, University of Milan, Italy and Chair, IGU Political Geography Commission)
Prof. Natalie Koch (Department of Geography, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY Secretary, AAG Poltiical Geography Specialty Group)
Prof. Reece Jones (Department of Geography, University of Hawaii, Chair, AAG Political Geography Specialty Group)
Prof. David Newman ( Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Beersheba, Israel and Editor, Geopolitics)
Prof. Anton Gosar (Faculty of Tourism, University of Primorska, Portoroz, Slovenia and Past President of IGU Political Geography Commission)
Prof. Anssi Passi ( Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland)
Prof. Victor Konrad (President, Association of Borderland Studies and Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada)
Prof. Karin Dean (Senior Researcher Institute of Humanities, Talinn University, Estonia)
Prof. Viiginie Mamadouh (Department of Geography University of Amsterdam)
Professor James Sidaway (Department of Geography, University of Singapore)
 
Deadlines and Contact Persons

Please send tentative title, a 100-125 word abstract, email address and key words to the names below by 31 January 2014. A tentative copy of the program will be provided in Spring 2014.
 
Chinese language abstracts: Dr. Zhiding Hu, School of Tourism and Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China huzhiding2007@126.com
 
English language abstracts: Professor Stanley D. Brunn, Department of Geography, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506 and Department of Geography, Yunnan Normal University,Kunming, China brunn@uky.edu (he is Visiting Professor in the department for Fall 2013 and Spring 2014).

Full paper: May 20, 2014.

• Political Geography and the Environment

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

A meeting of the IGU Commission on Political Geography

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

June 19-21, 2014

http://geography.uoregon.edu/pge/

 

The theme of the conference will be Political Geography and the Environment. The meeting will consist of two days of sessions, followed by an optional day-long field trip to the Oregon coast on June 21.

One of the clearest obstacles to the effort to confront environmental problems is the fragmentation of the planet into political spaces, few of which are meaningful ecological units. The issue is not just that ecological and political boundaries do not coincide; the very roles that territorial states play in the international state system and the world economy frequently work against collective action in the interests of the environment. Building on a tradition of examining the relationship between spaces of governance and environmental geographies, this conference will explore the role political geographic arrangements and understandings play in the effort to address the myriad environmental challenges of our time.