IASTE 2006
Tenth Conference of the International Association of the Study of Traditional Environments
December 15-18, 2006
Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand

This conference will explore the complex ways in which the idea of tradition has been destabilized by globalization, particularly as manifested in “hyper-traditions.” We use the term “hyper” to refer to social and cultural realms, created and maintained through contemporary technologies of communication, transportation, and information transfer, that have radically transformed notions of time and space, forever changing the meanings of distance and immediacy. As one form of current time-space altering media, the hyper-real entails simulation: in this realm, the simulation is a map that precedes the territory to which it refers, a map that effectively creates the territory and becomes the reality itself. In this way, perhaps as a response to the perceived “end of tradition” or “loss of heritage” (seen by some as inevitable by-products of globalization), hyper-traditions emerge in part as references to histories that did not happen, or practices de-linked from the cultures and locations from which they are assumed to have originated. This IASTE conference focuses on how these practices transform our understanding of tradition; how they shape the experiences and processes of tourism, migration, urbanization, and cultural change; and what liberatory prospects they may offer. Scholars and practitioners from architecture, architectural history, art history, anthropology, archaeology, folklore, geography, history, planning, sociology, urban studies, and related areas will present papers related to the following three themes: From Simulated Space to “Real” Traditions and Vice Versa, Hyper-Traditions in “Real” Places; and Identity, Heritage, and Migration.