Call for Proposals: Toward Sustainable Foodscapes and Landscapes

Posted by on October 08, 2012

Call for Participation
Due Date February 1, 2013

Joint annual meetings of the
Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (AFHVS)
Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS)
Society for Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN)

Toward Sustainable Foodscapes and Landscapes
June 19 to 22, 2013
Hosted by Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
http://afhvs.org/meetings/next-meeting/

Conference theme:

The concepts of “foodscapes” and “landscapes” invite us to consider the broader conditions, connections and consequences of food and agricultural issues. Food is more than a simple problem of consumer behavior, just as land use involves more than farmer or policy decisions. Foodscape and landscape perspectives situate the producing, distributing, acquiring and eating of food within a richer and more complex understanding of social, cultural, economic and political processes.

As well, foodscape and landscape perspectives take serious account of the context and significance of the ecological systems in which food and agriculture are embedded. Instead of being removed from or in opposition to pressing concerns such as climate change and water availability, food and agriculture are deeply entangled in many of the most critical environmental and ethical issues of our time. Charting, analyzing and interrogating sustainable pathways through this complex terrain are important work for academics, practitioners, activists, policymakers and citizens. This year’s conference will engage these concepts of foodscapes and landscapes with the aim of creating a lively, generative space for people of diverse disciplines and dispositions to explore and advance thinking and practice related to agriculture and food.

Submissions are strongly encouraged in the following three formats:

Lightning talk* (five minutes maximum, similar to Pecha Kucha, Ignite, talk20, etc.; these sessions will be videostreamed live online!)

Posters (eligible for awards, including a student category)

Pre-organized sessions (panels, roundtables, workshops, etc.)

*5 minute presentations, particularly when they include 15-20 highly visual slides, may be more effective in generating interest in your full paper than longer presentations, because they are dynamic, force a tight focus, and are likely to draw larger audiences than a conventional session. See:
http://www.speakerconfessions.com/2009/06/how-to-give-a-great-ignite-talk/

Submissions are also accepted for 15 minute conventional paper presentations to be grouped with 2 to 3 other papers by members of the program committee. Note there is a possibility that these submissions will be placed in Saturday morning sessions.

We strongly encourage practitioners, activists, government staff, and those with other practical knowledges of food and agricultural systems to participate, in addition to academics. We ask submitters formulating panels, roundtables and workshops to consider including participants whose orientation goes beyond the narrowly academic.

We especially encourage submissions that speak directly to the theme, but also welcome submissions on all aspects of food, nutrition, and agriculture, including those related to:

* Art, Media, & Literary Analyses
* Change & Development
* Culture & Cultural Geography
* Environment & Climate Change
* Agroecology & Conservation
* Ethics & Philosophy
* Food Safety & Risk
* Gender & Ethnicity
* Globalization
* History
* Inequality, Access, Security & Justice
* Knowledge
* Local Food Systems
* Pedagogy,
* Politics, Policies & Governance in National & Global Contexts
* Research Methods
* Practices & Issues
* Social Action & Social Movements
* Sustainability
* Science & Technologies

Please note: Due to strong increases in the number of abstract submissions for this conference in recent years, in 2013, only one submission per person as lead author or submitter will be accepted (in any format).

Abstracts should be submitted online via EasyChair (signing up for an account required)
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=afhvsasfs2013
and include the following information:

* Submitter’s name, e-mail address and organizational affiliation, and if applicable, those of co-authors
* For organized sessions: names, e-mails and affiliations for moderator, panelists and/or roundtable participants

* Title
* Abstract (150 words or less). For panels, please include an abstract for the panel as a whole, and an individual abstract for each individual paper.
* Category of submission (e.g. 5 min. lightning talk; poster; pre-organized session— specify in the abstract whether a panel, roundtable or workshop; 15 min. conventional paper presentation)
* Keywords (3 or more)

Full papers may be submitted in pdf format, but this is not required.

Applicants will be notified of acceptance on March 1, 2013 via email.