CFP: Water - Russia - Culture

[Jane Costlow]

Dear colleagues,

Please feel free to distribute this broadly.

 *Call for Papers*

*for a book on Water-Russia-Culture*

*Eds. Arja Rosenholm, Jane Costlow, Maria Litovskaya*



We are seeking scholarly articles for an anthology that will focus on the
cultural history of water in Russia. The aim of the book is to highlight
the multiplicity of meanings, dimensions and values given to water in
various times and spaces in Russian society. Water may be understood both
as a geographical and physical element, and as a cognitive and cultural
construction. The book project will examine meanings of water, and how
water, as an essential life-vitalizing element, plays a conceptual role in
cultural orientation; it will further address how cultural practices
intersect with environmental concerns. Based on inter- and
multidisciplinary studies, we hope to include studies of language,
literature and culture (popular culture, folklore, and anthropology),
history, aspects of water technology, and environmental studies. Aiming at
a broad understanding of symbols, metaphors and the imagery of water within
Russian culture, the project hopes to reflect on how technological
infrastructure is part of the social imagination. We are looking for a
broad array of source material, along with insightful and innovative
approaches to their consideration at the intersection of cultural and
environmental concerns.



Questions which might be addressed include:

·      What values, beliefs, fears, and attitudes toward water are attested
in Russian culture?

·      What are the stories told about water, and how is water represented
in Russian literature, historical documents, and the visual arts, and how
do those representations influence ways of dealing with water?

·      What are the changes connected to the meanings, values, and the
images given to water and its textual and visual representations in time
and space?

·      What are the cultural implications of technical innovations for
attitudes toward water?

·      What is the cultural role of water in times of transformations (e.g.
from the pre-modern to the modern and to post-modern)?



The book project is part of the interdisciplinary research project “Water
as Social and Cultural Space: Changing Values and Representations” included
in the Research Programme on the Sustainable Governance of Aquatic
Resources (AKVA) of the Academy of Finland (2012-2016).



Interested authors should submit an article proposal of no more than two
pages, outlining key questions and the material to be addressed. Please
submit the abstract as a Word file, along with a short CV (including
affiliation, and contact details) by March 30, 2013. Contributors can
expect confirmation of their papers’ acceptance by the April 30, 2013.



The editors:

Arja Rosenholm (arja.rosenholm at uta.fi)

Jane Costlow (jcostlow at bates.edu)

Maria Litovskaya (marialiter at gmail.com)




-- 
Jane Costlow
Professor of Environmental Studies
Bates College
Lewiston, Maine 04240

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