or   “Everything Old is New Again”

Academic Conference; 3-6 November, 2011 — Ottawa, Ontario

The Aesthetics of Renewal

America is attempting to remake itself; adapting old ideas and aesthetics for contemporary concerns. Critics of Barack Obama, for instance, have invoked libertarian traditions more common in the eighteenth century than the twentieth-first in reaction to his proposal to close Guantánamo Bay and establish public health care. Instead of experimenting with departures from diplomatic and laissez-faire traditions, thousands of ‘tea party’ members imagine themselves refashioning old ideas for present day politics, even as they belatedly adopt styles of mass political protest once associated with the ‘New Left’ in the 1960s.

Outside the political sphere, citizens are also embracing older ideas and aesthetics in popular culture. Shoulder pads, vinyl records, neon high-tops, and a bohemian chic reminiscent of Greenwich Village in the 1960s are amongst today’s top trends. Urban professionals, meanwhile, are buying condos in turn-of-the-century factories. Rezoned for mixed use, these buildings include studio space and artisanal shops, while open-air markets and community gardens are started nearby. Situated in all-but abandoned neighborhoods like Cass Corridor in midtown Detroit, these consumer experiments by ordinary citizens are reinventing cities in the image of vintage Americana.

Details

Location

Chateau Laurier
1 Rideau Street; Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada; K1N8S7

Time & Date

November 3 – 6

Reservations

Call the hotel toll free to register, at (866) 540-4410. Should you call, it is important to mention that you are attending CAAS when you book your room. Otherwise you will not receive the cheaper conference rate (and also–as any conference organizers out there know!–so the conference can meet its minimum booking numbers with the hotel).

Special conference room rates
(Available ONLY until October 15th)
Std Room: $169; With view: $209; Deluxe: $239

The Conference

This conference will critically examine these trends in order to ask: Exactly how pervasive are they? Are they unique to contemporary contexts? If so, why have such diverse forms of renewal captured Americans’ imaginations? Finally, to what extent is this affecting the country’s cultural, social, political, and economic spheres?

Plenary speakers for this conference are Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon, Anthony Stewart, Tom Perlmutter and Armand Ruffo.

For up-to-the-minute information, please bookmark this website or visit CAAS’s website www.american-studies.ca or email the organizers at cras@carleton.ca.