XXI. Mesoamerika-Tagung
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Poster Mesoamerika-Tagung 2018 (small)

XXI. Mesoamerika-Tagung 2018

February 9 through 11, 2018

 

Dear colleagues,

it is our pleasure to invite you to the XXIst Mesoamerika-Tagung which will be held February 9 through 11, 2018, at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München.

The main theme for the XXIst Mesoamerika-Tagung will be

  • Engaging Environments: Knowledge, Practice, Ideology
  • Umwelthandeln: Wissen, Praxis, Ideologie
  • Actuación Ambiental: Saberes, Prácticas, Ideologías

For the main session we invite papers that explore the theme Engaging Environments in a broad sense. In Mesoamerica, ecological change precipitates in diverse ways — and even where there are no immediate climatic effects, the ripples of climate and sustainability discourses are omnipresent. A major factor in the cultural dynamics of the region are migration movements, both from rural into urban areas, as well as transnational migration, leading to transformations in the ways communities interact with their environments. Overall, the rural-urban divide is progressively being redefined and diminished, as rural communities take on more elements of urban infrastructure, communications and architecture, while small-scale agricultural practices are retained in city-scapes (huertos, small livestock). Another matter of interest is food systems and issues of food security, in conjunction with ideas about nutrition and the Good Life in general. Engaging environments involves complex ethical and religious interpretations (cf. Cosmovisión and notions of personhood), among a range of agents which need to be documented and understood. Resource use and land tenure require close ethnographic and historic inspection as one of the most openly conflictive fields of engaging environments. Not only land titles and use but also effects of overuse, soil deterioration, deforestation and the introduction of genetically modified crops are highly contested issues in Mesoamerica. All these aspects are widely reflected in the arts and media production in the area, another important field of research.

Our theme resonates with a growing research focus on human environment interactions at the LMU and specifically at the Institut für Ethnologie which cooperates with the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society.

In accordance with the decision taken at our previous meeting the conference languages will be English, Spanish and German — in case you wonder why this call arrives in your hands in English and not in German. Another innovation will be a review-and-acceptance-process for proposed papers.

Proposals for long (45 min) or short (10 min) papers adressing topics within the main theme of the conference as well as other current Mesoamericanist research from ethnographic, ethnohistorical and archaeological angles are due with their corresponding abstracts no later than December 10, 2017. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by December 22, 2017.


Please email to: mesoamerika-tagung@ethnologie.lmu.de

Call for Papers (download)