[visionlist] Conference on the Culture and Science of Vision

[Constance Royden]

Call for Papers:

Sight Lines:
An American Studies Conference on the Culture and Science of Vision
New England American Studies Association, Annual Conference
September 23-24, 2005

American Antiquarian Society and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 
Worcester, Massachusetts

Speakers include:
Margaret S. Livingstone, Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical 
School. Author of  Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing (NY: Harry N. 
Abrams, 2002).
Alan Wallach, Ralph H. Wark Professor of Art and Art History and 
Professor of American Studies, The College of William and Mary.  Author 
of Exhibiting Contradiction: Essays on the Art Museum in the United 
States (Massachusetts, 1998).

This conference brings together new work in history, cultural studies, 
art and film studies, literary studies, and the growing field of 
science studies on the pivotal issue of vision.   Our goal is to gain a 
fuller picture of vision from start to finish*from the biology and 
neurobiology of how we see, to the cultural factors that frame what we 
see, and, finally, to the art, maps, and constructs that result from 
those views.

As an American Studies conference, we are also interested in views of 
America, and the fashioning of an American national and global view.   
What role does vision play in organizing American culture along lines 
of race and class?  How does a cultural, philosophical, and technical 
understanding of sight help us to understand representations of the 
seen and unseen in American history and culture?

Proposals are welcome for both panels and individual papers.  Proposals 
that draw upon the collections of the American Antiquarian Society will 
be of particular interest.  The program committee also seeks proposals 
for one hour “keyword sessions,” in which 5 panelists speak for 3-5 
minutes on one or a group of words pertinent to issues of vision.

Possible topics include:

ART
the Grand Tour
peep shows
Optical illusions and allusions
windows, architecture
cameras, camera obscura
vistas and views
photography, film
the collector’s eye
the shopper’s eye
Museums
Perspective
Ekphrasis

SCIENCE					
The science of the visual field 		
History of the science of vision 		
Blindness 					
The mechanics and theories of vision 	
Seeing Color; Color Blindness 		
Optical illusions 				
Invisibility, the Missed and Unseen

TECHNOLOGY
Maps
Lenses
Telescopes, telephotos
Surveying
Optics
Geography

POLITICS 					
Seeing Race; Race Blindness 			
The Queer Eye 				
The imperial look				
The view of the other  			
Speculation 				
The ethics of vision 				
Discovery	   				
Invisibility, the Missed, and Unseen   	
The cultural parameters of vision 		
The vision thing 			
Surveillance 				
Being and Seeing 				

Send c.v. and 1- to 2-page abstracts for all talks and presentations 
(plus a 1-page rationale for panels) to

Sarah Luria,
English Department,
College of the Holy Cross,
Worcester, MA 01610

  or email:
sluria at holycross.edu.

Submissions should be postmarked by March 15, 2005.

Sponsored by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute American Antiquarian 
Society