Bombay, Buenos Aires, London, and New York are focus of April
conference
How has urban life been transformed in the modern era? What defines a modern
city, and how does it function? From April 20 through April 22, Dartmouth will
host an international group of scholars for "Four Cities
in Modernity: Bombay, Buenos Aires, London, New York." The
conference, which is free and open to the public, will examine modernity as it
has formed and transformed urban life between the late-19th and the mid-20th
centuries in these four cities.
Top: Buenos Aires
Bottom: New York City (Photos by Mona Domosh)
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"This conference will examine not only different modernities in these
cities but also the flows among them—flows of people, culture, and
capital—which indicate that modernity is a diverse and an interactive process
of local and global dimensions," says Patricia McKee,
professor of English and a
conference organizer. McKee stresses the interdisciplinary nature of the
conference, which includes scholars from anthropology, architecture, film,
geography, literature, political history, sociology, and urban history.
The conference will consist of two keynote addresses and four panel
discussions, each focused on one of the four cities. The first address will be
given by David Harvey, distinguished professor of anthropology at CUNY Graduate
Center, on Thursday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in Moore B03. Arjun Appadurai, John
Dewey Professor in the Social Sciences at The New School, will deliver the
second address on Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in Moore B03. "These speakers
will generate debate by contesting ideas of modernity," says McKee. Panel
discussions will be held on Friday, April 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in
the Wren Room, Sanborn House, and on Saturday, April 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30
p.m. in Moore B03.
Top: Bombay (Photo by Patricia Pomierleau
Bottom: London (Photo from istockphoto.com)
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Examining different interpretations of modernity is a key goal of the
conference. "For those who understand modernity as a process that does not
necessarily radiate from northern societies, this conference offers an
exceptional opportunity to compare how the phenomenon unfolded in two northern
cities and two major cities in the south," says Marysa
Navarro, professor of history and of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean
Studies. Mona
Domosh, professor of geography, adds, "By uncovering
and comparing the interrelated processes and practices of urban modernity in
four sites, this conference promises to move beyond the divide between Western
and non-Western kinds of cities that has so often clouded our
understanding." Navarro and Domosh, also organizers of the conference,
will moderate the discussions on Buenos Aires and New York, respectively.
"Four Cities in Modernity" is funded by the Dickey Center for International
Understanding, the Rockefeller
Center for the Social Sciences, the Leslie Center for the Humanities, the
Associate Dean of the Humanities, and the Associate Dean of the Social
Sciences, the Department of Geography, the Rosenthal Fund in History, and the
Master of Arts in Liberal
Studies Program (MALS). For further information, call 646-3378 or visit www.dartmouth.edu/~lhc/events/2006/four-cities.html.
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