CFP: Japan's Natural Legacies (30 Sept 07; 1-5 Oct 08; Yellowstone)

Japan's Natural Legacies:
Bodies and Landscapes Realized, Idealized, and Poisoned

Goal of the Conference:
Environmental awareness has been a latecomer, often unwelcome, in Japanese studies. The aim of this conference is nothing less than to shift debate in the field: to explore ways to integrate discussions of Japan’s physical environment--human and nonhuman bodies, landscapes, natural disasters, climatologic and seismic events, oceans and rivers, etc.--into discussions of Japan’s cultural and historical experiences.

Venue and Plans:
The conference will be held October 1-5, 2008 at the stunning 320 Guest Ranch near Yellowstone National Park, Montana. Three weeks in advance, participants’ full-length, original papers will be posted on a secure website so that sessions can focus on material already read and digested. Some papers will be selected for further revisions and a possible follow-up conference within the academic year. These contributions will form the basis for a tightly-knit, edited volume.


Call for Proposals:
If you are interested, please send a title and abstract (just a paragraph or so) to the selection committee at:
thomasjna@aol.com by Sunday, September 30, 2007.

For the Conference Blurb, Call for Papers, and Information about the 320 Guest Ranch, see:
http://www.montana.edu/history/index.php?s=conference

Brett L. Walker, Montana State University, Bozeman
Julia Adeney Thomas, University of Notre Dame
Ian Jared Miller, Harvard University


Julia Adeney Thomas
Department of History
University of Notre Dame
Mailing Address:
5719 S. Kenwood Ave. 5S
Chicago, IL 60637 USA
Email: thomasjna@aol.com
Visit the website at http://www.montana.edu/history/index.php?s=conference