call for papers - IMAGINING OUTER SPACE, 1900-2000 -- Germany, Feb 2008

call for papers - IMAGINING OUTER SPACE, 1900-2000 -- Germany, Feb 2008



IMAGINING OUTER SPACE, 1900-2000
February 6-9, 2008
Deadline for Proposals: May 15, 2007

- Call for Papers -


This conference on the cultural history of outer space, space travel and
space exploration suggests looking at Europe via its ways of imagining the
spatial beyond. It proceeds from the observation that the currently thriving
interest in space as both explanans and explanandum can be traced back to
early attempts at exploring outer space, and that the contemporary
predominance of the visual must be understood as, implicitly, preparing for
existence in the space capsule.


If, as historian Walter McDougall has argued, three structural forces were
required to launch the American space program - namely an economy prosperous
enough to finance the endeavor, the availability of appropriate
technological means, and the necessary imagination - this conference will
focus exclusively on the latter. Unlike most of the existing historiography,
it is less interested in the political, diplomatic and technological aspects
of European space programs per se, but rather in the socio-cultural
rationale behind the investment of enormous resources. How was outer space
represented and perceived over the course of the twentieth century? In what
way were changing conceptions in turn affected by the continuous and ongoing
exploration of outer space? How did the idea of spaceflight develop into
such a central element of the project of Western modernity? In what form did
changing images and conceptions of outer space, 'other worlds' and the
entire cosmos impinge on religion, transcendental beliefs and competing
versions of the future? And what was the cultural and societal impact of
space exploration and space travel in Europe at large?


Thus, contributions to the conference will analyze the cultural significance
and imaginative repercussions of outer space, space travel and space
exploration rather than the actual scientific findings in a variety of
instances. Analyzing contact points between science and fiction from a
comparative European perspective, it will pay special attention to sites and
situations where technologies and images have contributed to the
omnipresence of fantasmatic thought.


Themes of possible contributions include but are not limited to:
1. Outer Space and the Spatial Turn
2. Futurist Technologies and Past Utopias
3. Science Fiction as History
4. Space Personae
5. Aliens and the Plurality of Worlds-Debate in the Twentieth Century
6. UFOs, SETI and the Quest for Radical Alterity
7. Space Technology's Places on the Ground
8. Space and the Beyond in the History of Religion and Western Esotericism
9. Outer Space and Nuclear Power
10. Historicizing the Overview Effect
11. The Frontier-Myth in the Orbital Age
12. European Astrofuturisms in Comparative Perspective


Speakers include Profs. Steven J. Dick (NASA), Roger D. Launius (National
Air and Space Museum), Michael J. Neufeld (National Air and Space Museum),
Claudia Schmölders (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Helmuth Trischler
(Deutsches Museum). The conference will also feature a special screening of
historical films compiled and commented on by Jürgen Ast (Berlin).


Proposals for papers are invited from those working in history, history of
science and technology, aeronautics, astrophysics, geography, archaeology,
art history, literary criticism or related disciplines. All papers will be
circulated before the conference to leave ample room for discussion among
its 20-25 participants. Conference language will be English. Travel funding
is available for all speakers. Please submit an abstract of no more than 300
words together with a short CV before May 15, 2007 for consideration to
Alexander Geppert at .


Info:
http://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/...erspace.htmlor he http://www.h-net.msu.edu/announce/sh...venerAlexander C.T. GeppertFriedrich-Meinecke-InstitutFreie Universität VenueZentrum für interdisziplinäre ForschungUniversität BielefeldWellenberg 1D-33615 Bielefeldwww.uni-bielefeld.de/ZIF