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14th International Conference

of Historical Geographers

23–27 August 2009, Kyoto, Japan

 

Session Proposal

 

 

Proposals for special paper sessions are shown below. Those who would like to join the sessions or need more information can contact coordinators by email. Abstracts of special sessions should be jointly submitted by the session coordinators, with information on all the papers. Please see also Call for Papers.

 

Heritage, Pilgrimage Landscapes and Planning the Heritage Cities [uploaded on 8 December 2008]: CANCELLED

Progress in the Empire [uploaded on 4 February 2009]

 

 

CANCELLED: Heritage, Pilgrimage Landscapes and Planning the Heritage Cities

Coordinators: Professor Rana P. B. Singh (Baranas Hidnu University, INDIA: ranapbs@gmail.com) and Professor Masaaki Fukunaga (Gifu Womenfs University, JAPAN: office@fukunaga.cc)

 

 

Progress in the Empire

Coordinators: Dr. M. Satish Kumar and Dr. Steve Royle
(Queenfs University, Belfast, UK:
s.kumar@qub.ac.uk, s.royle@qub.ac.uk)

 

In an attempt to differentiate and distance itself from other empires, and, indeed, the mercantilist regimes of East India Companies, the established colonial state, post-1857 clearly attempted to present itself as a modernising entity. A civilised administration meant that public utilities and improvements would stimulate industry and peace among its subjects. Progress became enshrined in the rubric of the empire. The intention was to domesticate, discipline and, at the same time, modernise the indigenous peoples, thereby eliciting loyalty among subject races. Colonial geographies became bounded and homogenised to conform to a notion of progress. A new imaginative geography was put in place, which allowed for the suppression of local and internal differences. Official claims were all about material, social and moral progress. Progress in the colonies was inevitably hitched up to become part of the intrinsic imperial economy. Such a modernist state intensified geopolitical competition and rendered visible claims of progress in far-flung colonies. Progress had to be grounded in official discourses suggesting improvement at all levels. Local sovereignty was re-cast and superseded by ideas and imperatives of global improvement and regulation. The promise of material progress thereby led to the intensification of the state plans.

 

This session attempts to provide an opportunity to explore the material, social, economic and moral attributes of progress as embedded in the context of empire. We invite participants to contribute to this session by bringing into focus ideas from diverse empirical contexts across a range of empires.

 

 

ICHG2009Kyoto Second Circular : Call for Papers