7th Savannah Symposium: The Spirituality of Place

February 17-19, 2011, Savannah US

Throughout history spirituality has been a major force in shaping the built environment.  From ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats to European cathedrals, cities have served as centers of sacred practices and religion.  The connection between spirituality and place, however, has not been the exclusive preserve of religious institutions.  The co-mingling of sacred and secular realms in urban contexts often reflected the combined spiritual and temporal authority of priest kings, popes and monarchs and even facilitated the deification of mortal rulers, as with some Roman emperors.  With the increasing secularization of the modern world, concepts of spirituality have broadened and diversified, allowing purely secular situations to be perceived as spiritual and for the emergence of increasingly heterogeneous and personal concepts of spirituality to supplant traditional religion.

Savannah exemplifies the full range of meanings behind the concept of spirituality of place.  With Georgia conceived as a charitable colony providing a safe haven for continental European Protestants, Savannah played a fundamental role in the introduction of various religious groups to North America - Jews, Lutherans, Methodists, African Baptists.  The idealistic egalitarianism allowing for the acceptance of all religions (except Catholicism at first) instilled a spirit of peaceful co-existence and toleration of diversity throughout the city’s history that also included remaining Native Americans and African slaves.  The legacy of these different groups is understood through the rich histories of Savannah and urban fabric of the city.  In more recent times, Savannah and surrounding historical sites have become themselves “spiritual” places that serve those who seek a more secularized pilgrimage experience connected with their cultural and historical heritage.

It is with this in mind that the 7th biennial Savannah Symposium invites papers that explore the role of spirituality as it relates to the development and shaping of architectural and urban forms.  Paper sessions will focus on the broadest context of spirituality as a significant factor in the study of the built environment globally, nationally and locally. Of particular interest are essays that provide a critical evaluation of the relationship or co-existence of sacred and secular spirituality in regards to the constructed world.

Potential papers topics might include as their focus:

-      Spirituality and religion in the creation of urban forms
-      Places of contested religious identities
-      The appropriation of the sacred in secular architecture
-      Hallowed grounds:  the cultural geography of the spiritual
-      Heritage sites as places of spiritual pilgrimage
-      Competing Definitions of the concept of ‘Spiritual Space’
-      Spirituality verses Religion in Contemporary Architecture
-      Contesting Spirits:  Architecture and conflicting forms of spirituality
-      Temenos and Polis:  The Sacred City in the Secular City
-      The Cosmic House: Architecture as World Construction

Papers are invited from scholars and practitioners in, but not limited to, architecture, architectural history, urban history, planning, historic preservation, landscape design, art history, geography, archaeology, cultural history, sociology, political science and anthropology.

How to Participate: Send one-page abstracts (300 words maximum) and curriculum vitae to Thomas Gensheimer and Jeff Eley at (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) or c/o Department of Architectural History, Savannah College of Art and Design, P.O. Box 3146, Savannah, GA 31402-3146.  Electronic submissions are preferred.  For more information about the symposium (and past symposia), visit our website at http://www.scad.edu/savannahsymposium.

Deadline for submissions:  May 15, 2010.