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Apologies for cross-posting&#160;Wageningen University, Inholland University for Applied Sciences and The |Netherlands Liberation Day Committee would like to draw your attention to the following international congress:Peace Conference 2012: conflict, cultural heritage and regional developmentwww.peaceconference.org&#60;http://www.peaceconference.org&#62;The Liberation Day Committee 1945, as a member of the European Network of Places of Peace, and  Wageningen University and Research Centre and Inholland University of Applied Sciences are pleased to announce the first edition of the Peace Conference about conflict, cultural heritage and regional development.The Peace Conference 2012 will take place on November 7-9 2012 in Wageningen, The Netherlands, known as the 'City of Liberation' and 'The City of Life Sciences', and will last three days. Subjects that will be covered are: peace, tourism, cultural heritage, dark tourism, battlefield tourism, commemoration, commercialization, guilty landscape, culture of peace and regional development and sustainable development.Confirmed speakers: Claudio Minca (Wageningen University and Research Centre) and Philip Stone (University of Central Lancashire)Registration for the Peace Conference 2012 is open. Early bird prices are available now. For more information see our website: www.peaceconference.org&#60;http://www.peaceconference.org&#62;Call for AbstractsThe Liberation Day Committee 1945 Wageningen (as member of the European Network of Places of Peace), Wageningen University and Inholland University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands, are organizing an international conference about peace, cultural heritage and regional development.Conflicts sometimes lead to violent encounters that result in casualties and damage to infrastructure, housing and the environment. Often, traumatic experiences brought about by these become the subject of commemorations that contribute to places linked to them gaining material and/or symbolic significance within the country or regionally. This is particularly true when residents and policymakers implement initiatives to embrace them as part of collective memory, pedagogy and/or as local heritage attractions. Every year many thousands, sometimes millions of people visit places like Ypres, Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Choeung Ek and Gettysburg. Wageningen, marked as the City of Liberation, also attracts more than 100.000 visitors annually as part of national commemoration and liberation festivals in the Netherlands.This conference seeks to further our understanding of the perceptions, processes and problems related to some of these places transformed into key sites for memory, education and consumption, or even commodification.Following a multidisciplinary approach during the conference social, political, economical and developmental aspects will be taken into account as well as other issues associated with the establishment of the memory sites.It also explores how such sites may be developed as ‘peace institutions’ that aim to encourage the prevention of future conflicts. We welcome case studies drawn from the Netherlands as well as from other international contexts.Relevant topics may include (but not be limited to):-       Connections between memory, commemoration and identity;-       Historical geographies and genealogies of places of war and peace;-       Politics of trauma sites as heritage/tourism attractions;-       Visitor patterns at, and perspectives of, places of war and peace;-       Social, economic and political impacts of places of war and peace;-       Educational potential of trauma sites, and related problems;-       Visitor management at places of war and peace-       Trauma sites as peace museums and institutions; etc.The scientific committee is currently accepting submissions. Paper presentations on all issues related to these topics are welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.Date of conference: November (7), 8 and 9, 2012Location:  Wageningen, The NetherlandsDeadline for Submissions October 10, 2012.GuidelinesAbstracts of papers, in the range of 400 to 500 words, should be sent to info@peaceconference.org&#60;mailto:info@peaceconference.org&#62;. Only submissions written in sound English will be considered.A short biography should also be included, containing relevant information about the author's academic background and previous publications.The journalTo be announced later.More Information www.peaceconference.org&#60;http://www.peaceconference.org&#62;Tags: peace, conflict, cultural heritage, commemoration, regional development, sustainable development, dark tourism, battlefield tourism, environment, governance, anthropology, sociology.