Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 18:06:37 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Maunu H{yrynen <hayrynen@csc.fi>
To: H-verkko <h-verkko@sara.cc.utu.fi>
Subject: Rajamaat & periferiat -seminaari Renvall-instituutissa
THE DIVIDING LINE. SEMINAR ON BORDERS AND NATIONAL PERIPHERIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, 22 - 23 NOVEMBER 1996
Organizers: Renvall Institute of Area and Cultural Studies & Finnish Landscape Network
The two-day seminar will take place at the Renvall Institute, University of Helsinki. The seminar is arranged together by the Renvall institute and the Landscape Network in cooperation with the Finnish Network on Cultural Studies and the Institute of Geography at the University of Oulu. The seminar continues the series of international seminars started at the Institute in 1994 under the topic "Landscape and Northern National Identity". The programme will consist of a keynote lecture together with a plenary session. Further on the seminar will divide into workshops on specified topics. Contributions are invited from Nordic countries, Russia and Britain as well as from USA and Canada. The proceedings will be published in the publication series of the Renvall Institute.
The seminar seeks to look at borders, frontiers and boundaries as historical phenomena, social institutions and spatial practices. The main objective is to find out how the national identity has been defined by the establishing of borders and peripheries. Different cases of borders and borderlands are discussed, with an emphasis on the Finnish-Russian border and the adjoining areas. The scope is not necessarily limited to national borders, but may also cover ethnic and regional borders, etc. The seminar is interdisciplinary and open for contributions from different fields of study, historic as well as geographic or social scientific.
Working groups:
I The Institutionalization of Border - What constitutes a border? - Historical practices of borders - Border in the physical landscape
II The Formation of Borders - The establishment of national borders - Defining national identity through borders - The emergence of borders and boundaries as a spatial system
III The Images of Border - Cartographical representations of borders - Borders in national imagery
IV Borderlands and Frontiers - Disputed lands - Ethnic minorities - Manifest Destinies
Those interested in contributing to the seminar with a paper are requested to send to the organizers until 15 August 1996 the following information: personal data, academic status and affiliation, the preferred working group as well as a description of the intended topic (in one or two sentences).
Contact information:
Dr Lars-Folke Landgren Renvall Institute University of Helsinki P.O.B. 4 FIN-00014 U. of Helsinki Tel. +358-0-191 22985 Fax: +358-0-191 23107 E-mail:
Dr Maunu Ha"yrynen Finnish Landscape Network Unioninkatu 45 E 51 FIN-00170 HELSINKI Tel/fax +358-0-135 9213 E-mail: hayrynen@csc.fi