Call for Papers:
VAF 2009 Annual Meeting in Butte, Montana

Deadline: October 1, 2008.

The Vernacular Architecture Forum (http://www.vafweb.org) invites paper proposals for its Annual Meeting in Butte, Montana, Wednesday, June 10 through Saturday, June 13, 2009. The conference theme is “Mining Metropolis: An Island in a Stockgrower’s Paradise.”

Papers may address vernacular and everyday buildings, sites, or cultural landscapes worldwide. Submissions are encouraged to explore topics related to the conference theme, such as industrial boomtowns in the American West, mining landscapes, cultural landscapes and architecture of farming, cattle ranching and livestock breeding, and company towns. Also encouraged are proposals for complete sessions, roundtable discussions, and any innovative means that facilitate scholarly discourse. VAF encourages paper and session proposals from graduate and undergraduate students and young professionals.

Proposals may be for a twenty-minute paper, or for a ten-minute “work in progress/notes from the field” presentation. Papers should be theoretical or analytical in nature, rather than descriptive. Presenter’s Fellowships are available to students and young professionals. For more information on Presenter’s Fellowships see http://www.vafweb.org/awards/presenter.html

Proposals must be one-page, fewer than 400 words and include paper title, author’s name and email address. Please state clearly the argument of the paper and explain the methodology and content. Attach a one-page CV to your proposal submission.

Accepted papers must be submitted in full to the session chairs by April 10, 2009. Presenters must deliver their papers in person and be VAF members at the time of the conference. In order to insure that those whose papers have been accepted actually attend the conference, all speakers who have not registered by April 10, 2009 will have their paper withdrawn.

Electronic submissions in Word format are preferred. Please send email proposals to senA@uwm.edu, or hard copies to:

Arijit Sen
VAF c/o School of Architecture and Urban Planning
PO Box 413,
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413

For information about the Butte VAF Meeting, contact Maire O'Neill at maireo@montana.edu or Rolene Schliesman at rschliesman@mt.gov.