UGAT 32nd Annual Conference Call for Papers

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the 32nd Annual UGAT Conference with the theme "Kalikhasan in Flux: Indigenous People's Creativity in a Changing Natural Environment." The conference will be held on October 21-23, 2010 at the National Museum.

Please see attached the Call for Papers.

We are looking forward to seeing you again on October 2010.

Sincerely,

Eufracio Abaya
(Executive Director)

Rosa Cordillera Castillo
(Program Chair)

UGAT 32nd Annual Conference Call for Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

UGNAYANG PANG-AGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT)
Anthropological Association of the Philippines

32nd Annual Conference
KALIKHASAN in Flux:
Indigenous Peoples’ Creativity and the Changing Natural Environment
National Museum
October 2010

Kalikhasan is a coined word that blends likha (creation) with kalikasan (natural environment). It marks out the inseparability of creative practice in the natural environment as well as the natural environment in creative practice. It means that human creativity articulates culture as a dynamic process in which “new meanings, new practices, new significances and experiences are continually created” (Williams 1973), and that the entanglement of culture with the current environmental crisis (e.g., climate change, land conversions, extractive practices of mining, and logging) partly but profoundly sustains such process.

The Ugnayang Pang-Agham Tao (UGAT, Inc.), envisions a regional conference revolving around the theme, “Kalikhasan in Flux: indigenous peoples’ creativity in a changing natural environment.” In particular, the conference hopes to generate issues and debates revolving around the:

• effects of environmental crisis on indigenous ecological knowledge systems and practices.

• role played by indigenous peoples’ (IP) creative practices in understanding environmental crisis and its effects on social life.

• current programs and projects addressing the impact of environmental crisis on the systems of cultural production of IPs in Asia and the Pacific.

Indigenous peoples, contemporary artists, cultural workers, academics, and representatives from governmental and non-governmental organizations are enjoined to submit paper/poster/ panel proposals tackling any of the following topical areas:

• ritual life and environmental crisis
• art practice and environmental crisis
- “tangible” (weaving, pottery, metal craft, wood carving, etc.)
- “intangible” (oral tradition, music, dance, etc.)
• politicization of culture and environmental crisis
- mobilization against extractive practices affecting the IP’s ancestral domain and its ramifications in IP’s cultural creativity
- indigenous and non-indigenous artists and environmental advocacy
• crafting communication strategies in environmental and IP rights advocacy
• the impact of changing land use patterns on indigenous culture (e.g. displacement due to land conversion and extractive industries)
• the relevance and efficacy of national, regional, and global instruments addressing environmental crisis, specifically those affecting IPs.

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Please note that:

1. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words (this should be strictly observed).
2. Authors must indicate the topic area their paper/poster/panel may fall under.
3. Submissions should include the author’s name, institutional affiliation and contact information (mailing address, telephone no., mobile phone no., e-mail address). For students, please indicate your intent to join the Student Paper Competition.
4. Abstracts should be sent to aghamtao@ugat.com.ph by 15 JULY 2010.
5. Papers authored by students will be automatically entered in the student paper competition. The winning paper will be considered for publication in the Aghamtao, the official journal of the Anthropological Association of the Philippines.
6. For other inquiries, please contact UGAT at 0918-6989445 or at aghamtao@ugat.org.ph or go to www.ugat.org.ph



Eufracio Abaya
Conference Convenor

Rosa Cordillera Castillo
Program Chair