BAA Conference 2012

CULTURES OF MOBILITY

Thursday, 5 July - Saturday, 7 July 2012

To navigate the immense distances of the American continent - on horseback or railroad, by steamship, car, or airplane - has always been a challenge and need for Americans. Hence, mobility has been crucial for both the personal experience of the individual and the thriving of the nation as a whole.

 

The conference conjoins cultural geographers, political scientists, historians, literary critics, economists and social scientists to take a closer look at mobility in an American context (and beyond).

 

As with previous annual meetings of the BAA, speakers will investigate aspects of American mobility from a decidedly transatlantic perspective. In the panel discussion representatives from academia, private industry and urban planning discuss the growing need for mobility and the associated challenges for society.  
 

No conference fee - please register for participation.

Downloads

Detailed Conference Program (1.07MB)
Biographical Information and Abstracts (224KB)

 

Conference Program

Thursday, 5 July 2012

19.00 Conference Opening

• Welcome by Klaus Benesch, Director Bavarian American Academy
• Welcome by Christina Sharkey, Foreign Commercial Service Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate General Munich
• Welcome by Christoph Parchmann, Bavarian Ministry of Sciences, Research, and the Arts
• Keynote Address by John D. Kasarda, Director Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, USA: The Rise of the Aerotropolis

 

Friday, 6 July 2012

9.30 Panel I: Logistics and Freight Mobility
 

Chair: Barbara Hahn, University of Wuerzburg

 

• Peter Hall, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, CA
  "Resolving" Spatial and Scalar Mismatches in North American Freight Logistics

• Barbara Lenz, German Aerospace Center - DLR, Berlin
  Mobility, Information and Travel Behavior
  
  

11.00 Coffee Break
 
11.30 Panel II: The Wings of Democracy - Mobility in Times of Airtravel
 
Chair: Volker Depkat, University of Regensburg

 

• David Courtwright, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, USA
  Airworld: The History, Culture, and Prospects of American Aviation

• Anke Ortlepp, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
  (Post-)Modern Architectures: American Airports and the Limits of Mobility

13.00 Lunch Break

15.00 Panel III:  Mobility and the Arts
 
Chair: Klaus Benesch, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

 

• Ted Bishop, University of Alberta, Edmonton, CA
  University of Alberta, Edmonton, CA

• François Specq, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon
  Thoreau's Geographies of (Im)mobilities

 

18.00 Panel Discussion in German: Mobilität / Immobilität - Wege in die Zukunft
Venue: at BMW Lenbachplatz
 
Moderation: Klaus Benesch, LMU Munich

• Thomas Hamacher, Planung und Design von E-mobility Lösungen, Technical University Munich
• Armin Nassehi, Kultur- und Wissenschaftssoziologe, LMU Munich
• Manuel Sattig, BMW Group, Kommunikations-Manager project i

 

 

Saturday, 7 July 2012

09.30 Panel IV: Social Mobility

Chair: Stefan Schirm, University of Bochum

 

• Magdalena Nowicka, LMU Munich
  Life-Trajectories of Poles in the UK: Deskilling in a Transnational Perspective

• Ludger Pries, University of Bochum
  Cross-Border Mobility and Transnational Social Spaces - the Example of Mexico-US-Migration

11.00 Coffee Break

 

11.30 Panel V: Cultural Mobility
 
Chair: Heike Paul, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

  

• Phillip Vannini, Royal Roads University, Victoria, CA
  Cultures of Mobility on Canada's West Coast

• Alexandra Ganser, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
  Reading Multiple Mobilities: Chuck Palahniuk's Fugitives and Refugees

13.00 End of Conference   

 

 

The following organizations support the conference

 

 

TUM - Technical University Munich