Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The ‘Good Life’: Imagining Alternative Futures -- Conference Call for Papers

The ‘Good Life’: Imagining Alternative Futures is a Conference on the Environment being held on Friday, November 5, 2010 at the Pace University New York City Campus.

The conference is hosted by the Pace Institute for Environmental and Regional Studies (PIERS) and the Pace Environmental Studies Program (ENV)

Discussion topics:
Historians and others have depicted the twentieth century in a variety of terms. Some refer to it as the ‘age of extremes’, others as the ‘age of anxiety’, and still others as the ‘age of science” or the ‘age of analysis’; but none have been foolish enough to call it the ‘age of the good life’ and compose eclogues in praise of it, and for very good reasons. There is growing public awareness, though far from reaching any consensus on solutions, that the institutional structures of the present are not providing the ‘good life’ for too many people. And the global environmental crisis is compelling evidence that the Enlightenment project of the ‘perfection of humanity’ has utterly failed to produce even a shadow image of the ‘good life’.

This conference is a forum to discuss competing but environmentally grounded conceptions of the ‘good life’. We invite panels, papers, and posters from all who find value in collaboration and view the environment as a unifying element in that collaboration. Preference will be given to contributions that represent interdisciplinary approaches to defining the ‘good life’ in environmental terms from the widest range of disciplines, including environmental studies, philosophy, theology, history, geography, anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, psychology, cultural studies, urban studies, women’s studies, and more.

The deadline for abstracts is October 1, 2010. Notifications will be sent 10 days later. To register for the conference and submit your abstract, please go to the conference website. For further information, contact Dr. Robert Chapman or Dr. Judith Pajo .

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