> Transnational Space and the Politics of Place
> May 8-9, 2009
> UCLA Campus
>
> Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities "Cultures in  
> Transnational Perspective"
> Third Annual Conference
>
> Featuring a Keynote Speech by Edward Soja
>
> Website:  Annual Mellon Conference - UCLA Mellon Postdoctoral  
> Program in the Humanities
>
> The concept of space is central to reflecting on transnational  
> communities that share languages, media or texts rather than  
> physical terrain. Theories of transnational space are also  
> instrumental in order to account for those who have been expelled  
> from their land or remain on the margins of their new cities. How  
> are space and place conceptualized within these various communities  
> and their cultural productions? Artists and intellectuals sketch new  
> spatial imaginaries in their work by destabilizing prevailing  
> discourses on space and place, thus laying the groundwork for the  
> revision of those discourses. Through translation and mediation,  
> furthermore, the circulation of discourse transnationally generates  
> new spatial metaphors of encounter and dialogue. Yet the processes  
> by which these map onto particular histories are shaped, too, by  
> inequities of power. Consequently, transnational imaginaries are  
> sites of contention as well as recognition. This conference shall  
> take a closer look at both the politics of place and the circulation  
> of spatial knowledge in transnational context, in order to raise new  
> questions about the broader claims of transnational spatial  
> discourses today.
>
>
> Friday, May 8, 2009, Royce Hall 306
>
> 9:15 am
> Welcome, Royce Hall 306
> Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih, co-directors, UCLA Mellon  
> Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities
>
> 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
> THE VISUAL, THE MOBILE, AND THE TRANSNATIONAL: ARCHITECTURES OF  
> SPATIAL THOUGHT
> Moderator: Liz Constable, (University of California, Davis)
>
> Greg Cohen, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow (UCLA)
> "City of the Planalto: The Filmic Brasília and the Nature of Late- 
> Modern Spatiality"
>
> Travis Workman, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
> "Bilingual Writer as Architect: Intensive Space and Lyricism in Yi  
> Sang's Poetry"
>
> Tom Conley, (Harvard University)
> "Space in Transit: On Geographies of Film Noir"
>
> 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
> Lunch Break
>
> 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
> NETWORKS, AND SPATIAL REGIMES: EMBEDDED POWER AND PERFORMANCE  
> INTERVENTION
> Moderator: Shanna Lorenz, (Occidental College)
>
> Marcela Fuentes, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
> "From Site-specific to Locative Arts: Placing Artistic Gestures in  
> Transnational Context"
>
> Sarah Valentine, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
> "Shifting Borders in End-of-the-Soviet-Era Film"
>
> Dorita Hannah, Professor of Spatial Design (Massey University)
> "Black Wi(n)dow: Architectural Performativity and Spatial Cruelty"
>
> 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm
> Coffee Break
>
> 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm: Keynote Speech, Royce Hall 314
> Edward Soja, (UCLA)
> "Struggles Over Geography: On the Spatial Turn in the Human Sciences"
> Introduction: Greg Cohen, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
>
> Saturday, May 9, Royce Hall 306
>
> 9:30 am to 12:00 pm - PANEL ONE: RACING RELIGION IN (POST)NATIONAL  
> SPACES
> Moderator, Sondra Hale, (UCLA)
>
> Fatima El-Tayeb, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
> "Cosmopolitanism and the Construction of Muslim Identity in  
> 'Postsecular' Europe"
>
> Sze wei Ang, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
> "Narritivizing Monotheism"
>
> Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, (Emory University)
>  "Identity and Self-Determination: Authority is in the Eyes of the  
> Beholder"
>
> 12:00 pm -1:30 pm
> Lunch break
>
> 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
> GENDERED MODERNITY IN A TRANSNATIONAL ARAB WORLD
> Moderator: Karina Eileraas, (UCLA)
>
> Maya Boutaghou, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
> "Translation in Desired Transnational Spaces: Mayy Ziyada in Cairo"
>
> Sonali Pahwa, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
> "Gendering Space in Transnational Media: Women's Talk Shows on Arab  
> Satellite Television."
>
> Ronald Judy, (University of Pittsburgh)
> "Imagining an Arabization of Global English-language Literary Theory"
>
> 4:00 pm
> Closing Reception
>
> Free and open to the public
> Seating limited to first come, first served
> All-day parking ($9) available at the parking kiosk on Sunset Blvd.  
> and Westwood Plaza.