Symposium: History, Memory and Green Imaginaries

This symposium invites reflection on the ways in which history and memory inform and shape contemporary green imaginaries. It brings together cultural theorists, historians, cultural geographers, educators and policy actors.

Programme:

9.15 – 9.45       Registration

9.45 – 10.00     Welcome to the Centre
                         Graham Dawson, Centre Director

10.00 – 11.15    Keynote: ‘The problem of the past'                         
                         Alastair Bonnett, Professor of Social Geography, Newcastle University.

11.15 – 11.30    Short break

11.30 – 13.00    Roundtable: ‘Austerity and sustainability’
The Home Front and ‘austerity Britain’ are significant points of reference in current debates about sustainability. What kinds of possibilities and limitations follow from the use of historical resources in public debate about environmental issues?

Tim Cooper, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Exeter.
Victoria Johnson, Head of Climate Change and Energy, New Economics Foundation.
James Piers Taylor, British Film Institute Documentation Editor and permaculture educator.

13.00 – 14.00    Lunch (provided)

14.00 – 15.30    Panel: ‘Ecological history’
How can historical research inform environmental thinking? Three historians discuss this question in relation to their research and other practices.

Vinita Damodaran, Senior Lecturer in South Asian History, University of Sussex.
Erin Gill, environmental journalist and historian.
Karin Jaschke, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, University of Brighton.

15.30 – 15.45     Tea/coffee (provided)
15.45 – 17.00     Closing remarks: ‘Culture is natural: biosemiotics, recycling, and the
                           evolutionary structurations of biological and cultural change’
                           Wendy Wheeler, Professor of English Literature and Cultural Inquiry,
                           London Metropolitan University.

Registration:
This event is open to all. Please register in advance by following the link below. The registration fee is £35, or £25 for students/unaffiliated delegates, including lunch and refreshments. The deadline for registration is 23rd November 2012. Enquiries: Cheryl Roberts / cr16@brighton.ac.uk

Book a place for this event

Venue:
M2, Grand Parade Building, 68-72 Grand Parade, Brighton BN2 0JY.
The Grand Parade building is located in the centre of Brighton, almost opposite the Royal Pavilion, and about 10 minutes’ walk from Brighton station. Directions to room M2 will be clearly signposted from the main entrance / reception.