Traditions and Transformations: Tourism, Heritage and Cult. Change .., Amman, Jordan, 04.-07.04.2009
Written by Joachim Willms [Managing Director]
News 2
Forthcoming International Conference: Traditions and Transformations: Tourism, Heritage and Cultural Change in the Middle East and North Africa Region
4 – 7 April 2009, Amman, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Tourism is a well established phenomenon across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region and despite political instabilities it demonstrates remarkable resilience. As well as being a major economic force and a key driver for development, tourism is also an important mechanism for social exchange and identity building at both the individual and regional/national levels. Over recent years the rate of tourism development has increased substantively. Multi-national investments in hotels, resort complexes and infrastructure, together with major heritage conservation projects are catalysing significant social changes (such as shifting patterns of labour migration and the testing of ‘traditional’ values and practices), environmental changes (at the aesthetic level and in terms of physical change), and political changes (re-orientation of alliances and new globalised relationships).
The aims of this major
international and multi-disciplinary conference are: To critically
explore the major issues facing the MENA region with regard to the
development of tourism and its relationships with heritage and culture;
To draw upon ideas, cases and best practice from international scholars
and help develop new understandings and research capacities regarding
the relationships between tourism, heritage and culture in the MENA
Region and; To provide a major networking opportunity for international
scholars, policy makers and professionals.
CALL FOR PAPERS
In
this major conference we seek to examine the phenomenon of tourism
across the Middle East and North Africa Region and its changing
relationships with heritage and culture. We wish to promote dialogue
across disciplinary boundaries and thus we welcome papers from the
following disciplines: anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art and
design history, cultural geography, cultural studies, ethnology and
folklore, history, heritage studies, landscape studies, linguistics,
museum studies, political science, sociology, tourism studies and
urban/spatial planning.
Key themes of interest to the conference include:
Histories, mobilities, and the symbolic / political economies of tourism
Tourism in the construction of places / spaces / nations
The role of archaeology in contemporary tourism
Structures / infrastructures of international tourism – building/ architecture/ design for tourism & tourists
Tourism and the role of the museum
The conservation of heritage for tourism
The practices and performances of ‘tradition’
Tourist art and art for tourists
Intangible heritage and its role in tourism
Rural and urban tourism practices
Conference Organisers: Centre
for Tourism and Cultural Change, Leeds Metropolitan University, United
Kingdom, and the Council for British Research in the Levant, Amman,
Jordan.
Please submit a 300 word abstract including
title and full contact details as an electronic file to Prof Mike
Robinson (
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
).
You may submit your abstract as soon as
possible but no later than 17th October 2008.
Tourism Conferences 
