PEREC’S GEOGRAPHIES / PERECQUIAN GEOGRAPHIES
Interdisciplinary Symposium
University of Sheffield, Friday 6- Saturday 7 May, 2016
Supported by the AHRC ‘Translating Cultures’ theme, The Society for French Studies and the University of Sheffield, Dept of Geography
Georges Perec was one of the most inventive and original geographical writers of the twentieth century. His writing explores cities and streets; homes and apartments; conceptions of space and place; mathematical and textual spaces; imagined, utopian and dystopian spaces; time and the city; landscapes of memory and trauma; consumption and material culture; domestic spaces; everyday life, the everyday, the quotidian; ordinary and ‘infra-ordinary’ places. Perec addressed methods of urban exploration and observation; classification, categorisation and taxonomy; spatial inventories and indexes; and geographical and ethnographic description.
This symposium explores Perec’s Geographies (his own geographical writing) and the wider body of geographical writings and other practices he inspired or speaks to, ranging from novels to travel books, architectural projects and urban expeditions: we call these Perecquian Geographies.
This event will bring together researchers and practitioners from a range of disciplines including Geography, Architecture, French Studies, other Area and Cultural Studies, Town Planning and Architecture, and also engaging practitioners including landscape designers and artists with interests in Perecquian themes.
Readings and Keynotes:
- Karl Whitney, author of Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin (Penguin)
- David Matless, Nottingham University, author of The Regional Book (Uniformbooks)
- Joanna Walsh, author of Hotel (Bloomsbury)
- Derek Schilling, Johns Hopkins University, author of Mémoires du quotidien: les lieux de Perec (Septentrion)
Speakers Include:
- Amanda Crawley-Jackson, Sheffield
- Charles Forsdick, Liverpool
- Matthew Gandy, Cambridge
- Tim Edensor, Manchester Metropolitan
- Alasdair Pettinger, Glasgow
- Joanne Lee, Sheffield Hallam
- Richard Phillips, Sheffield
- Andrew Leak, UCL
- Peter Jackson, Sheffield
There are also opportunities for additional contributors, either as presenters or discussants. Proposals for contributions are welcome now and until 12 February, 2016, when the schedule will be confirmed. Registration early-bird rate £25 before 28 February, 2016. For expressions of interest, details of how to submit an abstract, register and pay, contact:
Richard Phillips r.phillips@sheffield.ac.uk
or Charles Forsdick c.forsdick@liv.ac.uk
