The “urban” and the “rural” have been of scientific interest to human and social studies at regular intervals. The global market, knowledge economy and sustainable development – influential agents and watchwords of our times – are reshaping public as well as private, urban and rural spaces. The conceptual opposition between the “urban” and the “rural” has been considerably blurred with the emergence of urban sprawl, periurbanisation and rurbanisation phenomena. However, while scientific discourses proceed to a levelling out of the city/country dialectic, the opposition appears to persist in the collective imagination (conveyed by politicians, artists or local associations for instance).
To tackle this very complex trans- and interdisciplinary issue, the conference will focus on the discourses of – and the actual living in – these spaces. What are, for instance, the instruments that assess not only social relations but also relations to space and time (e.g. everyday practices of mobility) and that allow us to analyse and differentiate “being” and “doing” in environments traditionally considered “urban” and “rural”? This conference proposes to rethink the intricate urban-rural paradigm, regarding, on the one hand, diverse modes of appropriation (physical, visual, temporal) available to the resident, and, on the other hand, public and shared representations (as found in literature, the arts, political and scientific discourses).
The objective of the colloquium is to offer a genuine interdisciplinary exchange platform for current research projects, the main target audience being young researchers and doctoral students. Two grants of 200€ each, offered by the Fonds National de la Recherche, will thus be awarded by the scientific committee to the most pertinent proposals. Futhermore, there will be an opportunity to present and discuss posters of those researchers not giving a paper. The author of the most relevant poster may be invited – following the advice of the scientific committee – to contribute an article to the publication of the conference papers.The conference Representation and Practices of Living Spaces is organized by the association Humanités Associées, an association of young researchers in social and human sciences (www.humanites-associées.lu). It will take place from 4-5 December 2008 at the University of Luxembourg. The working language is English. Conferences may also be held in French, if accompanied by a powerpoint presentation in English.

Registration fees are 50€ for speakers, 20€ for professional participants and 10€ for student participants.

Abstracts of approx. 300 words, written in French or English, and a short CV should be sent before 1 October 2008 to the following e-mail address: conference@humanites-associees.lu

Organizational Committee:
Jeanne E. Glesener (Comparative Literature), Roberto Gomez (Linguistics), Sonja Kmec (History), Rachèle Raus (History), Tonia Raus (French Literature), An Schiltz (Anthropology), Christiane Weis (Sociology).

Scientific Commitee:
- Wilhelm Amann, researcher at the University of Luxembourg (German literature)
- Daniel Bodson, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain(Sociology)
- Thierry Bulot, lecturer at the University of Rennes 2 (Sociolinguistics)
- Geoffrey Caruso, assistant professor at the University of Luxembourg (Geography)
- Michel Pauly, professor at the University of Luxembourg (History)
- Alexandra Pontzen, professor at the Unversity of Liège (Modern Languages and Literature)
- Christophe Sohn, researcher at the Centre d'Etudes de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Economiques, Luxembourg (Geography)
- Christian Vandermotten, professor at the Free University Brussels(Geography).