UMW/CPR to host Conference “Wild Places, Natural Spaces”

14th Annual Conference The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place University of Mary Washington April 27-29, 2018 Conference Theme: Wild Places, Natural Spaces Call for papers We live in a world increasingly populated and altered by human beings. Along with the physical transformations have come fundamental changes in how we conceptualize our relationship with the world around us. Where once wild places represented darkness, danger, and temptation, they now conjure images of personal challenge (“conquering” the Appalachian trail or Mount Rainier), individual spiritual renewal, or hope against the degradation of rampant consumerism, inequality, or political rot. Nature—and its supposed pure form, wilderness—is both seen as the opposite of all things human and yet our true home. These changing and often inconsistent metaphors and models guide us in every area of our lives—the social, economic, aesthetic, philosophic, religious, and … [Read more...]