Sponsors (U of G):

Office of Research

Office of Student Affairs
  - Special Grants/Speakers Fund

College of Arts

Dr. Smaro Kamboureli, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Critical Studies in Canadian Literature

School of English and Theatre Studies (SETS)

SETS Visiting Speakers Committee

Department of Geography

Department of Psychology

College of Social and Applied Human Sciences

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Faculty of Graduate Studies

Thank you for making Guelph's first annual
Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference
interesting, engaging and fun!

A big thank you to all of the participants and panelists, including:

1. Christopher Morrison (PhD Religious Studies, University of Calgary)

2. Josephine Eric (Independent Researcher) and
Dr. John Corr (Post-doc TransCanada Institute, University of Guelph)

3. James Depew (PhD Theory and Criticism, The University of Western Ontario)

4. John Lundy (PhD Philosophy, University of Guelph)

5. Dr. Jakub Zdebik (Visiting Research Fellow, Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky
Institute for Studies in Canadian Art at Concordia University)

6. Karla McManus (M.A. Art History, Carleton University)

7. Sean Braune (M.A. English, University of Toronto)

8. Jessica Cimo (M.A. Graduate Centre for the Study of Drama, University of Toronto)

9. Jessica Elaine Reilly (M.A. Theory and Criticism, University of Western Ontario)
10. Karen Crawley (DCL Law, McGill University)

11. Mark Jull (PhD Theory and Criticism, University of Western Ontario)

12. Nahum Brown (Phd Philosophy, University of Guelph)

13. Jason Philips (PhD Department of English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University)

14. Averil Farrar (PhD Theory and Criticism, University of Western Ontario)

15. Justin Armstrong (PhD Anthropology, McMaster University)

16. Jared Babin (M.A. Philosophy, University of Guelph)

17. Betty Onyura (PhD Psychology, University of Guelph)

18. Sean Lovitt (M.A. English, Concordia University)

19. Michelle Damour (M.A. English, Acadia University)
20. Karen Nguyen (M.A. English, McMaster University)

21. Melissa Walker (PhD English, University of Guelph)

22. Danielle Lewis (M.A. Art History, Concordia University)

23. Sanja Dejanovic (PhD Political Science, York University)

24. Julian Haladyn (PhD Theory and Criticism, University of Western Ontario)

25. Scott Stoneman (PhD English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University)

26. Futsum Tesfatsion Abbay (DCL Law, McGill University)

27. Robert Zacharias (PhD English, University of Guelph)

28. Jean-Jacques Defert (PhD Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta)

29. Marilyn J. Boyle (M.A. English, York University)

Congratulations to our faculty Round Table, for inspiring a rousing discussion on democracy.

Thanks again to:

Richard Kuhn: Dept. of Geography, University of Guelph
Karen Houle: Dept. of Philosophy, University of Guelph
Judith McKenzie: Dept. of Political Science, University of Guelph
Michael Keefer: School of English and Theatre Studies, University of Guelph
Richard Walsh-Bowers: Dept. of Psychology, Sir Wilfred Laurier University

In addition we would like to thank Katherine McKittrick for presenting an interesting and challenging paper to kick off the conference; our sponsors (for sponsing); and Smaro Kamboureli, Jade Ferguson and Susan Brown for their support. We would also like to offer a special thank you to Michael Cobb for his engaging, original piece of psychogeography, his generosity and his support.

Keep checking this space for news of the publication of vetted, extended papers.

Psychogeography

Guy Debord defines psychogeography as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals."

As a way of negotiating the way place affects psyche, psychogeography holds particular resonance in the contemporary socio-political context. For example, globalization has widened the geographical environment, while in recent years there has been an increased rhetoric of defending the nation.

Given the current geo-political, critical and socio-economic environment, this interdisciplinary conference hopes to attract graduate students in Arts and Social Sciences who are interested in the ways space and subject, place and spectacle, negotiate with each other.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

- Affective (Dis)orders: The Resistance to Governmentalism
- Exposing the Everyday
- Constructions/Perceptions of the North
- Flâneurs: Walking in Cityscapes
- Patriotism and Civic Duties
- Gentrifications
- Writing on the Walls
- Borders, Passports and Travel
- Place Conditioning
- Migrant identities
- Racialized Geographies
- Internment Spectacles: State Control
- Nation and Emotion Post-September 11th
- Poe, Benjamin, Borges: Negotiating City Spaces
- Flux and Psychotic Geography
- Zoning
- Ekphrastic Orientations
- Urban Praxis/Rural Stasis
- Olympic Pride
- Intellectual Tourism
- Billboards and Commodified Consumers
- Dérive, Drift and Dadaism
- Invasions/Inversions
- Geo/Eco-Poetics

If you are interested or engaged by what you have read, please register to take part in the conference.

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIES:
The Terrain of
Spectacle and Affect

An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference

University of Guelph
November 7-8, 2008

psychgeo@uoguelph.ca