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The Fl&#226;neur Abroad : international and historical perspectives on an urban archetypeA conference co-organised by the Nottingham Institute for Research in Visual Culture, and the Urban Culture Network at the University of NottinghamFriday 6 - Saturday 7 July 2012CALL FOR PAPERSRationaleThe fl&#226;neur &#8211; the leisurely but vigilant urban stroller - is well-known as a quintessential nineteenth-century Parisian archetype, and has attracted a distiguished array of champions and historians &#8211; from Balzac and Baudelaire to Walter Benjamin. However, although recent writing on the subject (The Fl&#226;neur, ed. Keith Tester, and The Invisible Fl&#226;neuse. Gender, Public Space, and Visual Culture in Nineteenth-Century Paris (2006), ed. Tom MacDonough &#38; Aruna D&#8217;Souza) have certainly been eclectic in their scope, there has been little sustained attention given to the adaptation of the phenomenon outside Paris, let alone outside France and indeed Europe, whether in the form of modern sequels, contemporary echoes, as well as historic antecedents.The fl&#226;neur as self-contained but all-seeing city-dweller has been seen as an icon of modernity, tyrant of the empowered male gaze, and anguished urbanite in retreat from the inhospitable environment of the city and its threatening crowds. Within Paris its meanings evolved from early nineteenth-century versions, including alienated consumers and voracious voyeurs, to more second-order types of pedestrian observer, as in the case of self-indulgent touristic fantasies. Yet the allure of the fl&#226;neur&#8217;s persona has led to its translation far beyond Parisian boulevards and arcades. This conference aims to map some of the fl&#226;neur&#8217;s travels and transpositions. In doing so, it may be possible to clarify how far the fl&#226;neur is dependent on Paris as a milieu. And in historical terms, is it in fact a variant form of older, more inclusive patterns of walking, viewing and writing the city? Can we find models and antecedents for pedestrian spectators in earlier ages and locations? When modern fl&#226;neurs step out in foreign cities, how much of a Parisian ethos clings to them? How limiting is the fl&#226;neur&#8217;s gaze and mind set? This might also apply to Parisians (or adopted Parisians) travelling abroad, or francophile pedestrians.The fl&#226;neur&#8217;s afterlife has been versatile and vigorous. In addition to the well-established genre of novels of the city, new media of photography, film and TV have successively adopted the peripatetic as a mode of vision. When the modern fl&#226;neur has migrated into other media, how has this reinforced or reinvented the motif?The conference is intended to be interdisciplinary, bringing together scholars from art history, history, literary studies, film, history of photography, music, historical and cultural geography. Research students are encouraged to offer work in progress papers.The keynote to the conference is geographical and temporal diversity; however, papers related to the following topics would be welcome:Pedestrian spectators in the metropolis: Berlin, Madrid, Naples, St Petersburg, New York, Los Angeles&#8230; Papers on Asian and African sites are especially welcome - Cairo, Damascus, Istanbul, Beijing, Tokyo&#8230;    The artist as fl&#226;neur / fl&#226;nerie as art    Musical forms of expression which invoke fl&#226;neurie, and related forms of living in the city.    The mobile spectator as critic, iconoclast    The fl&#226;neur as role model for Situationism    Idlers, fl&#226;neurs, observers, spectators in journalism    Fl&#226;nerie as d&#233;rive / d&#233;rive as fl&#226;nerie     Last but not least, variants on or revisions of the stereotype of the fl&#226;neur in Paris (at any period).ProposalsPlease send proposals (c.250 words) by December 30th 2011 to:Richard Wrigley, Department of Art History, School of Humanities, University Park, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RDrichard.wrigley@nottingham.ac.ukLes communications seront s&#233;lectionn&#233;es au cours du mois de janvier. L'organisateur du colloque est Richard Wrigley.