Tuesday 22nd February 2011
13.30 – 18.00
Venue: Royal Holloway Central London Building, Bedford Square, 2 Gower Street, WC1E 6DP.
‘Strange Naturalisms’ is a half day symposium aimed at collating discussions of the spectral, the fortean and the occult in geography; demonstrating that the very events and practices that we regard as supernatural are better viewed as instances of the vitality of nature. This event will bring together a number of geographic thinkers to discuss the uncanny formations of an occult landscape.
Investigations into the fortean have proliferated within geography and cognate disciplines in recent years (See Holloway:2003,2006, Pile:2005, Dixon:2007). As such, the immateriality of place has come to rival the importance of material features in geographic writings. To this end, we have seen something of an occult turn in approaches to the landscape, with attention turning to uncovering the hidden or mystical properties of place.
This session is dedicated to locating experiences of the strange; to elucidating those places that are perceived as anomalous, weird, and unnatural. There is much scope to develop understandings of the mystical, spectral and enchanted in relation to landscape, particularly in exploring the methods or ways in which we might encounter the uncanniness of N/nature. Through relations to place, landscape and the cultural practices and narratives that aid in their construction, each paper will provide an account of how our surroundings are bound up in a network of landscape mysticism.
The day will consist of short paper presentations with time allocated for immediate questions. This will be followed by an extended round table discussion in the latter half of the afternoon.
Confirmed speakers:
Deborah Dixon (Aber)
Julian Holloway (MMU)
Owain Jones (UWE)
James Kneale (UCL)
Steve Pile (OU)
James Thurgill (RHUL)
Please see the Abstracts page for further information on presentations.
The seminar is free to attend. Light refreshments will be served on the day. Spaces are very limited for this event, to confirm your place or for any further information please email james_thurgill@hotmail.com by Friday 17th December 2010.
Strange Naturalisms 