Presentation

The Saint-Dié-des-Vosges International Festival of Geography (FIG) which was dedicated this year to the Landscape under all its facets and to Turkey has been an outstanding success, despite a rather grim weather. Our 23rd Festival is dead, Long Live the 24th FIG which will be held with, as central theme, “China, a World Power”. From October 3rd to 6th 2013

Answering in 1885 to the emblematic French Prime Minister and Education Minister Jules Ferry, Geographer Elysée Reclus held the view that “The Chinese are not a negligible entity”. More that a century later, his assertion undoubtedly remains up to date. Not only because the Chinese people is the largest in the world with an around 1.4 billion population, but also because China, after being dismembered in various concessions by colonial powers during the “Century of Shame” ,and the traumas of the 50's, 60's and 70's under the Maoist regime, has now turned back to being a World Power. Some even go as far as talking of China-America as being the dominant partners of this 21st Century. But is it really so? Besides, what is a “Power” and what is a “World Power”?

China is, at the same time, so far away, and so near... After its first quarter of a Century, the Festival had to focus on this vast country with a multi millenarian civilization which has broken into the 21st Century. This topic is so wide that, this year, our topic and the guest country of the coming FIG will be the same.

In order to focus the proposals which will be submitted to us, we would like to point out a few tracks, which will be screened and regrouped in the FIG's traditional “itineraries” by our Steering Committee:

• The Chinese area and its exceptional depth
• A country with an ancient civilisation accessing modernity
• The most populated country in the world: from the countryside to mega cities
• China's surrounding areas
• Regional disparities and territorial inequalities
• China's environmental problems
• Is China the world workshop?
• Chinese power and innovation
• Is there a Chinese cosmopolitanism? 

Submission guidelines

We thus wish to invite all of you to suggest one or several topics you would like to talk about, excluding the Round Tables, which are put in shape directly through our Steering Committee. These proposals could take different shapes; like:

One or two 1 hour conferences which, if they are selected, could be doubled up by a “Café Géograhique”, also 1 hour long, a school activity (a 1 hour intervention in a primary or secondary school under the invitation of colleagues from these schools in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges) or a “decentralized conference” in the vicinity of the city.

• The presentation of a newly released book linked with our topic of the year, with Geography or with our guest country (30 to 35minutes).
• A commentated food tasting within our Food Fair (1 hour) which could be supplemented by one of the afore mentioned activities.
• A scientific poster (only one by entitled lab or research unit).
• A presentation in our (by example, GIS application) within the Geomatics Salon.

The rules of the game are simple: we have to be at the same time scientifically sharp and well understood by the largest audience possible. Remember that the FIG welcome an over 50,000 audience within an extended weekend. Our Scientific Directors – with the support of an extended Steering Committee – retain the right to choose, among the very many offers made, those which will enable us to give our final program the right balance between the different themes and origins of our speakers. In order to give the right balance to each of our “itineraries”, our Scientific Directors also retain the right to call on scientists and professionals selected under the guidance of our Steering Committee.

We would appreciate if you could spread these informations as widely as possible and we expect your proposals

no later than January 30th 2013.

This or these proposal(s) should take the shape of:

• A one page document which could be circulated within our different programs. This proposal should be made through a form you can download from the FIG (Saint-Dié-des-Vosges) website. We wish to stress that, if there are several authors, only the first one will be taken care of by the FIG.
• If your proposal is accepted in our final program (released by the end of May), we reserve the right to ask you for your complete text, notably in order to be released on our official website.
• If you use Power Point, please send us your documents one month ahead of time.
• Please let us know all your technical requirements together with your proposal. They will be vetted by our Technical Team.
• Reminder: The Cafés Géographiques and the books presentations must not, in any case, duplicate with your conference. And no technical equipment will be provided for them.

The funding of your expenses will depend on the fulfilling of these conditions.

Your proposals will have to be sent to our Scientific Secretariat at the following address:

Ms. Joëlle LATTEMANN – ADFIG – PO Box 275 – 88107 Saint-Dié-des-Vosges –

tel: 33-29421672. Email address jlattemann@ville-saintdie.fr

Scientific Directors

Bertrand LEMARTINEL and Philippe PELLETIER

Université de Perpignan Via Domitia and Université de Lyon 2