[URBANTH-L] CFP: Traditions and Transformations: Tourism, Heritage and Cultural Change in the Middle East and North Africa Region

[Angela Jancius]

***Apologies for cross-posting***

Dear List member

Just a reminder that there is still time to submit an abstract for the 
forthcoming conference:

Traditions and Transformations:
Tourism, Heritage and Cultural Change in the Middle East and North Africa 
Region

In April (4-7) 2009, the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change in 
partnership with the Council for British Research in the Levant (the CBRL is 
an overseas Institute of the British Academy) will hold a major 
international conference to explore the changing relationships between 
tourism, culture and heritage across the Middle East and North Africa 
Region. Delegates from across the Middle East and the North Africa Region, 
together with scholars from the rest of the world will assemble to discuss 
the critical relationships between tourism, heritage and culture.

The Conference is being hosted by the Greater Municipality of Amman in 
Jordan and will be held in the King Hussein Cultural Centre in the heart of 
the vibrant downtown area of Jordan's Capital City. We are delighted that 
the patron of the Conference will be Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya Bint 
Al Hassan.

The aims of this inter-disciplinary conference are: To critically explore 
the major issues facing the MENA region with regard to the development of 
tourism and its relationships with heritage and culture; To draw upon ideas, 
cases and best practice from international scholars and help develop new 
understandings and research capacities regarding the relationships between 
tourism, heritage and culture in the MENA Region and; To provide a major 
networking opportunity for international scholars, policy makers and 
professionals.

The conference will feature over 150 international academics, policy makers 
and practitioners and will feature keynote addresses from Dr Taleb Rifai, 
Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, 
Professor Nezar Alsayyad, Director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at 
University California Berkeley, and Dr Seteney Shami, Programme Director of 
the Middle East and the North Africa region at the Social Science Research 
Council.


The conference seeks to promote dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and 
welcomes papers from all disciplines. Key themes of interest to the 
conference include:

. Histories, mobilities, and the symbolic / political economies of tourism;

. Tourism in the construction of places / spaces / nations;

. The role of archaeology in contemporary tourism;

. Structures / infrastructures of International tourism - 
building/architecture/ design for tourism & tourists;

. Tourism and the role of the museum;

. The conservation of heritage for tourism;

. The practices and performances of 'tradition';

. Tourist art and art for tourists;

. Intangible heritage and its role in tourism;

. Rural and urban tourism practices.


Members of the Conference Scientific Committee include: Dr Khaled Adham, 
(United Arab Emirates University), Dr Rami Daher (German Jordanian 
University), Professor Bill Finlayson (Council for British Research in the 
Levant), Dr Habib Saidi (University of Laval) and Dr Lina Tahan (Leeds 
Metropolitan University).

If you wish to submit a 300 word abstract as an electronic file (including 
title and full contact details) please do so no later than 17th October 2008 
to ctcc at leedsmet.ac.uk

To participate in this conference or to learn more please contact: 
ctcc at leedsmet.ac.uk or visit www.tourism-culture.com or www.cbrl.org