QUESTIONING URBAN MODERNITY
May 18, 2012, University of Amsterdam
Deadline: 10 February, 2012
http://www.nica-institute.com/questioning-urban-modernity/
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Jennifer Robinson (Department of Geography,
University College London)
It is widely accepted that our understanding of contemporary city life is
based primarily on the tradition of western conceptualizations of
modernity, dating back to the turn of the twentieth century. The ways in
which Western thinkers have articulated city spaces in relation to urban
subjectivities have formed the pillars upon which many new directions in
urban studies have been built.
Now that post-, late, neocapital-, cyber- and global modernity have all
entered and altered the urban experience, it is time for a reconsideration
of the concept of modernity in relation to urban space, culture, and
theory. How has our understanding of modernity been influenced by different
thinkers, theories, and aesthetics of modernity? Are various modernities in
conflict? How to rethink and reconfigure the notion of urban modernity,
especially in the context of recent thinking about postcoloniality,
globalization and new media? How to break with contemporary
hierarchizations of modern cities, which frequently seek to distinguish
between Western urban originals and non-Western imitations/fakes? What are
the mediating forces that compel certain aesthetics of modern cities? And
to what extent can we understand these aesthetics as modern? And, finally,
how might we develop more inclusive theories of the city in the context of
early twenty-first century globalization?
Please submit abstracts (max. 250 words, for 20 minute papers) together
with a short academic CV to J.A.Naeff@uva.nl by February 10, 2012.
Questioning Urban Modernity is sponsored by the ASCA Cities Project:
www.hum.uva.nl/cities
The organizers are Pedram Dibazar, Christoph Lindner, Miriam Meissner and
Judith Naeff.
Judith Naeff
ASCA Cities Project
University of Amsterdam