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Informal Session: Spatial Orientation Although this was an informal session, six papers and abstracts
were pre-circulated. Some were quite preliminary; others were at
advanced stages of preparation. Because of the weather and other
contingencies, only three of the six authors could be present for
the Alexandria session, but two additional papers were presented
in absentia by the co-organizers. A total of 13 people attended the
session and took part in the discussion. Among the themes explored
were: use of language as a roadmap to spatial cognition; the relationship
between space and time; spatial orientation as a component of navigation;
the contrast between orientation on the basis of abstract cultural
models and physical experience of movement through space (whether
the contrast is genuine); spatial orientation in land-based as opposed
to maritime settings; and the role of spatial orientation across
the range of cultural performances from highly ritual to relatively
informal cultural actions. Several of those present, plus a number
of contributors who could not be in Alexandria, expressed interest
in writing papers for a Working Session at the 2011 meeting in Hawai’i.
We welcome new participants. Anyone interested in joining us in 2011
should contact one of the organizers. Alex Mawyer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lake Forest College, 555 N. Sheridan Rd., Lake Forest, Illinois 60045, USA; tel. 847-735-5239; <mawyer@lakeforest.edu> Richard Feinberg, Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent OH 44242 USA; tel. 330-672-2722; <rfeinber@kent.edu> |
