4 - 5 November 1999 , Groningen, The Netherlands
organized by the Rudolf Agricola Institute, University of Groningen
Given that the division between nature and culture is one of the fundamental traits of the modern Western world, it might look as if nature is only marginally important to the cultural sciences. Nevertheless, nature crops up time and time again in any type of research on human culture (in the broadest possible sense of that word) -- and not just as the opposite or counterpart of culture. On second thought, this should not surprise us. In the end, the borderline between nature and culture is a necessarily human, cultural, invention. It is drawn differently, apparently arbitrarily, in different scientific disciplines and cultural contexts. All these borderlines have one thing in common, however: they make 'nature', in a negative or positive sense, serve as a yardstick, as a criterion for evaluation and classification.
This observation has induced wide-spread endorsement of the idea that nature is itself to a large degree a cultural construction, and in that role a constitutive factor of the human representation of nature, of our diverging conceptions of nature. For this reason, the status of nature is a crucial focal point for reflection in each and every of the cultural sciences: is it (and in which sense) fact or fiction, real or a construction, autonomous or human-made, a mix of both, or yet something else? The significance of this kind of reflection is, in addition, evident in times in which environment, ecology and nature feature so prominently on political and social agendas. The two-day symposium aims at providing an interdisciplinary insight into nature as a cultural (re-)construction, and into its role in the social and cultural sciences both as an object of scientific inquiry and as a guiding force. In the various sessions, prominent representatives of a broad range of cultural sciences will address two areas of controversy. One is that of the relation between nature and other constructions: how do conceptions of nature emerge in the first place?; the other that of the relation between nature as a construction and as reality: how reliable or representative are conceptions of nature, how do they influence our behaviour?
Alongside this conference a preparatory course will be organized for Ph.D.-students (aio's / oio's).
10.00-10.30 Registration, Coffee
10.30-10.40 Opening of the conference
Subject: "The literary construction of nature"
10.40-11.30 Axel Goodbody (University of Bath, UK), 'Ecocriticism / Possibilities and perspectives from ecology-oriented literary critique'
11.30-12.15 Svend Erik Larsen (University of Aarhus, DK), 'Virtues and virtualities'
12.15-13.30 Lunch break
13.30-14.15 Hubert F. van den Berg (University of Groningen), 'The representation of nature as convention. On the role of genre denominations'
14.15-15.00 Bernhard F. Scholz (University of Groningen), 'Sumblime and beautiful nature in the geographical writings of Alexander von Humboldt'
15.00-15.30 Tea break
Subject: "Natura naturata v. natura naturans"
15.30-16.15 Frank Vera (Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries, The Hague) 'Doomed to reconstruct. Because we've made nature disappear as fact, we have condemned ourselves to fiction'
16.15-17.00 RobLeopold (independent philosopher), 'Nature between distance and participation'
20.00-21.30 Public lecture
20.00-21.31 Location: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5
Friday 5 November, Offerhauszaal
Subject: "Nature and nation"
9.30-10.15 Nina Witoszek (University of Oslo, Norway), 'Modernity and nature mythologies: the case of Germany and Scandinavia'
10.15-10.45 Coffee break
10.45-11.30 Henk van Zon (University of Groningen), 'Illusion and reality. Picturesque or realistic portrayal of Dutch landscapes by some nineteenth century painters'
11.30-13.30 Lunchbreak
13.30-14.15 Friedmar Apel (University of Paderborn, Germany), 'Sacral nature and nationalism in the Wandervogel movement and in Stefan Georg-Kreis.'
14.15-15.00 Wil M. Verhoeven (University of Groningen), 'Ecology as requiem: nature, nationhood, and history in Francis Parkman's "history of the American forest"'
15.00-15.30 Tea break
Subject: "Nature and sustainability"
15.30-16.15 Andrew Dobson (Keele University, UK), 'Nature: just a social construction?'
16.15-17.00 Maarten Hajer (University of Amsterdam), 'A frame in the fields. Analysing culture and identity in environmental politics'
17.00 Closure of the conference; reception.
Registration
Further information and registration (before Monday 25 October 1999) at the
following address: Drs. Marijke Wubbolts, Rudolf Agricola Instituut
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Postbus 716 9700 AS Groningen
e-mail: m.r.b.wubbolts@let.rug.nl tel: 050 3637336
The entrance fee for the entire conference is Dfl 120,- Entrance for one day only will cost Dfl 65,- Students and Ph.D. -students (aio's / oio's) pay no fee. Lunch, coffee and tea are included in the conference fee.
Location
Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen
Dates of the AIO course: 14 October, 28 October and 11 November, 14-17 pm
Organization
Dr. Marcel Wissenburg, Faculty of Philosophy (tel 024 361 1853)
Dr. Hubert van den Berg, Faculty of Arts (tel 050 363 5197)
Drs.Marijke Wubbolts, secretary / coordinator Agricola
Eva-Anne le Coultre, student assistant Faculty of Philosophy
in collaboration with the research group "Representation of nature" of the research school Rudolf Agricola.
This conference was made possible through the assistance of :
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Dutch Academy of Science) Rudolf Agricola Institute, University of Groningen Operatie Boomhut, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Managment and Fisheries Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen
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