Call for Papers: Into the Woods (Symposium), Melbourne, 22 July 2015

28 Nov Call for Papers: Into the Woods (Symposium), Melbourne, 22 July 2015

Into the Woods: An ‘Emotions and Environment’ Symposium
July 22, 2015, The University of Melbourne

Confirmed keynote speakers: Professor Stephen Knight, The University of Melbourne, Associate Professor Linda Williams, RMIT University

Forests, and the stories we tell about them, often belong to our earliest memories, regardless of the amount of time we have ourselves spent in the woods. As Robert Pogue Harrison has suggested, the destruction of the forest can be considered tantamount to the obliteration of cultural memories.

This day-long symposium will consider representations of the forest in music, art, literature and history, from the Medieval period to the present day.

Speakers are invited to consider the emotions associated with and evoked by the forest, while also addressing the role of the woodland and the imaginary. Topics may include:

Animals and forests

Conservation

Forest management

Climate change and the forest

Settlers and forests

Memory and forests

Forests and fear

Enclosure

Deforestation/the endangered forest

Forests and indigenous culture

Ecology

Woodland soundscapes

Fairytales/folklore

Forest fires

Forest adventures/revelry

The forest as sanctuary

Abstracts of no more than 200 words are due by February 28, 2015 and if your paper is accepted you will be notified by March 10. Please include a biographical statement of approximately 100 words with your submission. Abstracts may be mailed to Into-the-Woods2015@unimelb.edu.au.

Download the conference flyer.

The Centre for the History of Emotions is grateful to the Romantic Studies Association of Australasia for partnering with us with this event. The RSAA conference, Re-Reading Romanticism: Imagination, Emotion, Nature, and Things, will take place between July 23 and 25, 2015. For further details, please see the web page: http://conference.rsaa.net.au

Feature image: Alphonse Adolphe Bichard, ‘Baron Munchausen Flogs a Fox Out of His Skin’, c.1886, © The UIG/The British Library Board (902_05_1856420)