The Research Institute for the Languages of Finland cordially invites the submission of paper proposals for its cross-disciplinary symposium on urban place names. The symposium will be held on 13-16 August 2009, in Helsinki, Finland.
Objectives
Recent years have witnessed a considerable rise in the interest in the linguistic aspects of urban processes. In particular, institutional procedures, commercial aspirations and everyday meanings related to toponymic landscapes have been studied in different historical and present-day urban settings. The goal of the path-breaking symposium is to gather scholars to discuss the current theoretical and empirical challenges of urban place name research.
Following issues, inter alia, will be addressed in the symposium: in what ways power structures and social identities are constructed and contested through the naming of streets and everyday places? What is the role of place names in the formation of lived everyday meanings and cognitive perceptions of urban space? What is the contribution of specific disciplines to the study of urban toponymies, and how might interdisciplinary approaches to it be best facilitated?
We invite scholars from different countries and disciplines (e.g., linguistics, onomastics, geography, history, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, political science, and literary studies) to present theoretical openings and case studies on the above and related subjects.
The symposium will consist of keynote lectures, thematic sessions and excursions.
The symposium language is English.
Keynote speakers:
Prof. Maoz Azaryahu, Haifa University
Prof. Staffan Nyström, Uppsala University
Symposium site
The symposium will be organized in Vuosaari, Helsinki. The venue of the symposium is Hotel Vuoranta (http://www.sodexo.fi/en-GB/hotel_vuoranta/). It is located in beautiful coastal surroundings, only a metro trip away from downtown Helsinki.
Accommodation
Hotel Vuoranta (http://www.sodexo.fi/en-GB/hotel_vuoranta/) is the most convenient place to stay during the symposium. More low-budget accommodation is available in Rastila Camping (for more information, see www.camping.fi > Rastila), located in the vicinity of the symposium venue.
Symposium fee
The symposium fee is 180 euros. It includes meals, a symposium banquet and two excursions in Helsinki and its neighbouring municipalities.
Excursions
The symposium includes two half-day excursions in the Metropolitan Helsinki. After the symposium, an optional excursion to St Petersburg in Russia will also be organized.
Enrolment and important deadlines
If you want to present a paper at the symposium, please send your abstract (max. 300 words) to terhi.ainiala@kotus.fi by 1 December 2008. Abstracts will be reviewed by the symposium’s scientific committee. You will be notified by 15 February 2009 whether your paper has been accepted. In March 2009, we will also send you more detailed information on the symposium’s program and practical arrangements.
One or two peer-reviewed theme issues / publications will be produced on the basis of the symposium’s papers.
Organisers:
Terhi Ainiala, Research Institute for the Languages of Finland, Vuorikatu 24, FI-00100 Helsinki, email: terhi.ainiala@kotus.fi
Jani Vuolteenaho, Department of Geography, University of Helsinki,
email: jani.vuolteenaho@helsinki.fi
Scientific committee:
Dr. Terhi Ainiala (Research Institute for the Languages of Finland)
Prof. Maoz Azaryahu (University of Haifa)
Prof. Staffan Nyström (University of Uppsala)
Dr. Reuben Rose-Redwood (Texas A&M University)
Dr. Jani Vuolteenaho (University of Helsinki)