CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A Classical Greek poet once mused that the city is "the teacher of man."
Whether or not they agree with that, several dozen modern scholars of the city will gather at the University of Illinois to consider Simonides and their own ideas about
cities new and old, real and imagined.
The conference, "Producing Cities/Consuming Cities," will be held March 29-April 1. It is the third annual conference sponsored by the UIs Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. Registration is not required, but it is recommended. There is no fee for registration. The conference is open to the public.
Topics will run the gamut, from sex in the city to science fiction, apartment life to life in a border town. Speakers and their topics include Samuel Delany, English, State University of New York-Buffalo, "Images of City and Psyche in the Life of a Gay Poet: Problems Biographizing Hart Crane"; Sharon Marcus, English, University of California-Berkeley, "Have a Nice Day: The City as Joke"; Edward Soja, architecture, University of California-Los Angeles, "Putting Cities First: Urban Extensions of the Spatial Turn"; and Christine Stansell, history, Princeton University, "On the Town: Sexual Play in Modern Cities."
Several UI scholars who are IPRH fellows also will present papers on various aspects of their yearlong considerations of cities.
An exhibit at the UI Krannert Art Museum titled "City Images: Selected Prints and Photographs of Twentieth Century American Urban Life" is running now through April 22 in conjunction with the conference.
For more information or to register, contact Christine Catanzarite, IPRH associate director, at catanzar@illinois.edu.