Please note: the conference organizers would welcome representation from the environmental history community. So if anyone is interested in participating, please contact Claire Campbell (claire.campbell@dal.ca).

The SSAC-SEAC is inviting proposals for sessions for the 2010 conference, Traditions of Ingenuity, which will be held in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, May 26-29.

The theme: Traditions of Ingenuity
What is the role of ingenuity within tradition? How can the need to preserve the best of a cultural heritage be reconciled with the desire to create new opportunities, even new traditions? And what sorts of ingenuity are engendered within the study of tradition itself, or within traditional modes of study?

The SSAC-SEAC 2010 Annual Conference invites members to consider the critical relationship between tradition and ingenuity, as embodied in the buildings and landscapes of Canada themselves; in their design and production; and in their reception, study and critical examination.

The Venue: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg offers a unique opportunity to hold the conference in a setting that embodies many of its key themes. A UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 1995, Lunenburg offers a compact and comprehensible townscape, an intact 18th-century colonial street plan, a fine collection of buildings from a broad span of time, and a vivid maritime setting. It also faces, on a daily basis, the many problems and opportunities of a heritage site in the 21st century.

Specific areas of consideration that might resonate with the Lunenburg situation include: the colonial townscape in Canada, and the relation between ideal models and the situation on the ground; the presence and persistence of regional and local character and traditions within imposed national and international models; the role of tourism in heritage, including the dilemmas of interpretation, romance and commoditization; heritage and heritagization (la question patrimoniale); questions of new building within traditional townscapes; and the role of innovation and adaptation within architectural study and conservation itself.