国际学术会议论文征集通知

斯土斯民： 环境历史中的城市与乡村

地点：中国北京中国人民大学

时间：2014年5月29日-6月1日

主办单位：中国人民大学生态史研究中心、德国慕尼黑大学蕾切尔·卡森环境与社会中心

会议召集人：唐纳德·沃斯特（Donald Worster中国人民大学生态史研究中心名誉主任）

            克里斯多夫·毛赫（Christof Mauch 德国慕尼黑大学蕾切尔·卡森中心主任）夏明方（Mingfang Xia中国人民大学生态史研究中心主任）

       乡村之人是否在自然和彼此之间和谐地生活？城市之人是否与土地相疏离，并在其生态行为中充满剥削性？诸如此类的问题，指向那些横亘时空，或者跨越古代中国至今日非洲的文化迷思。本着英国著名文化批评家雷蒙德·威廉斯对“城市与乡村”的探索旨趣，此次会议试图审视对此一问题的文化认知，并探索长期以来将乡村与城市栖息地维系在一起的物质纽带。我们尤为欢迎跨越国界的比较研究，假如这样的研究将世界上那些被忽视的角落呈现于世人眼前，且在在时间维度上回溯到20世纪之前的思想视野。

         我们邀请学者就以下议题提交申请：在乡村与城市中人们看待自然的文化观念；食物的生产及其向城市的输入；城市废品在乡村的处理；病菌的媒介与传播；在不同地方，人们谋生的地方，不论大小，它们彼此之间由贸易、资本，以及国家所铸造的关联；在保护（自然保护与资源保护）的意义与实践上，城市与乡村之间的冲突；“绿色”城市与“生态乡村”；以及城市作为非人类物种栖息地的存在。

         此次会议向包括研究生和教授在内的所有学者开放。提交的会议申请材料包括：论文标题、摘要（英文300个单词，中文500字左右），附加一至二页的个人简历。申请截止日期为2014年1月1日，2014年2月1日公布申请结果，2014年5月1日前提交论文全文（英文5000-7000单词，中文15000余字）及提要（英文600个单词以上，中文1200字左右）。

         所有论文将事先在与会者中间传阅，会议中不做论文宣读。在作者许可情况下，会议将出版中文论文集。同时，我们也将邀请部分与会学者会后提供反思性短文，在蕾切尔·卡森中心系列出版物《视野》中结集发行。

会议不收取会务费。境外学者旅费将由蕾切尔·卡森中心承担，中国人民大学生态史研究中心将负责与会学者在京会议期间食宿。会议最后一日将安排京郊乡村考察。

中、英文申请请发往以下电邮地址：

Donald Worster, dworster@ku.edu

夏明方：xiamingfang2@vip.sina.com

Christof Mauch, mauch@lmu.de

相关事务性问题请询问会议秘书：侯深（中国人民大学生态史研究中心副主任）houshen414@gmail.com，或Agnes Kneitz(中国人民大学生态史研究中心成员) agnes.kneitz@email.de。

                                           中国人民大学生态史研究中心

                                   德国慕尼黑大学蕾切尔·卡森环境与社会中心

                                                                2013/10/25

The Country and the City:  

Connecting People and Their Places

in Environmental History

An international conference to be held in Beijing, at Renmin University of China, May 29-June 1, 2014 

Co-Sponsored by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Munich, and the Center for Ecological History, Renmin University of China

Do rural people live in harmony with each other and with nature? Are urban people alienated from the land and exploitative in their ecological behavior?  These questions point to cultural myths that have persisted across time and space, from ancient China to modern Africa.  This conference seeks to scrutinize such cultural perceptions, in the spirit of famed British cultural critic Raymond Williams, and at the same time examine the material connections that have long bound rural and urban habitats together.  We are especially interested in comparative studies that cross national boundaries, in papers that bring neglected parts of the world into view, and in perspectives that extend back in time before the twentieth century.

We seek papers on such topics as the cultural views of nature on the farm and in the city; the production of food and its export to the city; the disposal of urban wastes in the countryside; vectors of disease; the links forged by trade, capital, and the state among the various places, big and small, where people make their living; urban-rural conflicts over the meaning and practice of conservation; “green” cities and “eco villages”; and the city as habitat for nonhuman species.

This conference is open to all ranks and all scholars, from graduate students to senior professors.  Paper proposals should be one-page long (or about 300 words) and include a title and a one- or two-page CV.  The deadline for consideration is 1 January 2014.  Successful proposals will be announced by 1 February, and complete drafts of papers (5,000-7,000 words in English or the equivalent in Chinese characters) will be required by 1 May. 

All papers will be circulated to the participants in advance for careful reading and will not be orally presented during the conference.  The organizers have no plans to publish a conference volume, although some of the papers may be translated into Chinese for publication in China, with the authors’ full consent.  Also, we may ask a few of the presenters to provide post-conference “thought pieces,” short reflections on the themes and issues that emerged, for publication in the Perspectives series of the Rachel Carson Center.

Travel expenses for scholars living outside of China will be paid by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society.  Scholars living within China should depend on their own universities for covering travel expenses.    For all participants, hotel expenses for four nights will be covered by Renmin University of China. 

The last day of the conference will be devoted to a field trip that will explore the links between Beijing and its hinterland in food, water, and energy.

Send proposals in Chinese or English to all of the conference organizers:

Mingfang Xia

xiamingfang2@vip.sina.com

Christof Mauch               

mauch@lmu.de

Donald Worster

dworster@ku.edu

Mingfang Xia is director of the Center for Ecological History, Renmin University of China, Beijing, and professor of history and director of the Qing Institute.  Christof Mauch is director of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, and professor of American cultural history, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.  Donald Worster is Hall professor of history emeritus, University of Kansas, USA, and distinguished foreign expert, Renmin University of China.  The organizing committee also includes Professor Shen Hou, deputy director of the Center for Ecological History and associate professor of history at Renmin University of China.  The conference secretary is Agnes Kneitz, assistant professor of history at Renmin University of China.