From philosophical musings on city-states to literature set in
modern day ghettos, the idea of
the city and one's place within it has always held a fascination. The
relationship of individuals
and communities to the "wilderness" - be it desert, forest, or jungle -
is often described as the
site of the abandoned origins and the outermost limits of urban
civilization. This conference
seeks to look more closely at individuals and cultures within these
structures, as well as cultural
mediation within and between the city and the jungle. Some of the
questions we seek to
answer are: How do humans, as both animals and philosophical beings,
culturally navigate the
urban jungle - as pioneers, flâneurs, naturalists, cyborgs? How do we
understand mobility and
movement within the urban jungle, be it physical, literary, cinematic,
or theoretical?
We invite readings of cultural objects that emerge from these
environments, or mediate
between "the urban" and "the jungle." We seek presentations that
explore the representation
of urban/jungles through multiple forms of media (i.e. literature,
film, the visual arts,
television, and theater) and through a variety of approaches (literary
or cultural studies,
historiography, sociology, ethnology, philosophy, and anthropology).
We encourage scholars working in all time periods to consider the
existence of the urban
jungle in all epochs, from the pre-modern divide between wilderness and
city-state in the Epic
of Gilgamesh to the jungle of 16th-century Paris to the implications of
current urban "Occupy"
movements.