This in an interesting symposium offered by my colleagues at the
Vermont Folklife Center!
Call for Proposals
Sequestering Tradition?: A Cultural Sustainability Symposium
August 15-18, 2013 ~ Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, Vermont
Overview
This Symposium grows out of the premise that "cultural vitality is as
essential to a healthy and sustainable society as social equity,
environmental responsibility and economic viability," as articulated
by Jon Hawkes in The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Culture's
Essential Role in Public Planning.
We view "cultural vitality" as the diverse, thriving practices and
beliefs that undergird social systems and make human action
meaningful. Just as environmental sustainability recognizes the
critical role of ecological diversity to the survival of our planet,
cultural sustainability recognizes the critical role of cultural
diversity to the health and well-being of our “cultural ecosystems.”
Cultural sustainability provides a framework for discussing tradition
as a dynamic cultural process, one that empowers people to make
intentional decisions about their communities.
In recent years practitioners and scholars from a range of fields
including anthropology, ethnomusicology, folklore and oral history
have begun to explore how the concept of sustainability fits in with
their work. In a related way, practitioners from fields such as arts
administration, education, environmental studies, community and
economic development, and community organizing have engaged
increasingly with how the cultures of the communities with which they
work can impact their professional efforts.
Sequestering Tradition?: A Cultural Sustainability Symposium provides
an opportunity for workers across this diverse range of fields to
communicate with one another around the intersections of culture and
sustainability in theory and practice. Through this Symposium we hope
to explore further the scope of cultural sustainability work and the
core ideas that inform it. Our title “Sequestering Tradition?” aims
to raise questions about what it means to “sequester” --to capture and
store-- cultural traditions in order to ensure their relevance and
viability in a rapidly changing world. In addition, we ask: How can
theoretical models from ecology and cultural work inform one another?
How do they shape the concepts that underlie the discourse of cultural
sustainability? Are there limits to these analogies? If protection
and preservation of traditions are not enough, then what is?
Sequestering Tradition?: A Cultural Sustainability Symposium invites
proposals for presentations and workshops that explore the role of
culture in sustainability from two related perspectives:
~ The introduction of the idea of culture into larger discussions of
sustainability.
~ The application of notions of sustainability to cultural practices
and concerns.
Goals for the Symposium
Symposium (noun), a "forum … to debate, plot, boast, or simply revel
with others."
~ To examine the idea of cultural sustainability, outline key concepts
and terms, and define a scope of professional practice.
~ To develop models for the practical application of cultural
sustainability methods and theories.
~ To encourage networking among scholars and practitioners engaged
with the work of cultural sustainability.
Who Should Attend
We invite scholars, students and practitioners concerned with the
impact that culture and sustainability have on/in their communities.
Cultural workers and community leaders interested in developing the
skills and knowledge to take action on behalf of a community will find
models and inspiration at this symposium.
Presentation Formats
We welcome proposals for 1) panels with multiple speakers organized
around specific topics or themes (45 minutes), 2) individual
presentations reflecting the themes proposed above (20 minutes), and
3) workshops sharing or developing specific models or practices (1.5
hours).
Proposals Should Include
Title, format (e.g. paper, workshop, panel), name of
presenter/co-presenters, name of institution/organization, email
address, technological needs, and a 250-word abstract describing your
proposed presentation.
Email proposals as a PDF or Microsoft Word attachment to the Cultural
Sustainability Symposium Planning Committee at
[log in to unmask]
Deadline for Submissions: May 3, 2013
View CFP online:
http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/education/cultural-sustainability/symposium.php
Partners
Sequestering Tradition?: A Cultural Sustainability Symposium is
sponsored by the Goucher College Masters of Arts program in Cultural
Sustainability, Sterling College and the Vermont Folklife Center.
The Master of Arts program in Cultural Sustainability at Goucher
College (Baltimore) brings together knowledge from anthropology,
history, folklore, ethnomusicology, communications, business and
management, linguistics, and activism to teach students how to effect
positive, community-driven change in the cultures they care about
most--whether it be an African village, an American inner-city
neighborhood, a remote tribe in Asia, or a threatened public space
just down the street. We teach our students how to work closely with
individuals and communities to identify, protect, and enhance their
important traditions, their ways of life, their cherished spaces, and
their vital relationships to each other and the world.
(http://www.goucher.edu/graduate-programs/ma-in-cultural-sustainability)
Located at the heart of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, and part of the
area's growing agricultural renaissance, Sterling College is a
liberal-arts college that integrates environmental studies throughout
the curriculum. Sterling's mission is to "combine structured academic
study with experiential challenges and plain hard work to build
responsible problem solvers who become stewards of the environment as
they pursue productive lives." Sequestering Tradition?: A Cultural
Sustainability Symposium capitalizes on the model of community and
experiential learning at the center of Sterling's curriculum, and
draws upon the resources of Sterling’s Environmental Humanities
program. (http://www.sterlingcollege.edu/environmental-humanities.html)
Founded in 1984, the Vermont Folklife Center (VFC) uses ethnography to
strengthen the understanding of the cultural and social fabric of
Vermont's diverse communities. The VFC's mission is to document and
preserve the cultural heritage and traditions of Vermont, and produce
educational programs and publications from its archive. We fulfill our
mission by conducting ethnographic field research that captures the
stories and traditions of our diverse communities; by teaching
Vermonters of all ages to use digital technology to document and share
their own life experience and heritage; by presenting public programs
that increase understanding of our ever-changing cultural landscape;
and by preserving personal and family stories, photographic
collections, moving images, and recordings of regional music in our
multimedia digital archive. (http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/)
--
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Margaret Tamulonis
Manager, Collections and Exhibitions
The Robert Hull Fleming Museum
The University of Vermont
802-656-0153
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