CALL FOR PAPERS: Law, Culture and Modern Vehicles, 1820-1960, 26-28 February 2019, University of Turku (DEADLINE: 19 December 2018)

(Source: University of Turku)

We learned of a conference on vehicles, law and culture in the modernizing world. Here the call: 

CFP: Conference

“Law, Culture and Modern Vehicles, 1820-1960”

26-28 February 2019,

Faculty of Law, University of Turku, Finland

The technological revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries gave impetus to the development of vehicles based on engines and steam. Steamboats and trains altered permanently global transport systems that until then had mostly relied on wind and animal power. Even if the velocipede required human pedalling power, it was also considered one of the technological wonders of modernity, the era of machines. As such, it heralded the coming of the automobile some decades later, while the following step was to conquer the heavens.

The technological advances in transport titillated the imagination of progressives and stimulated artists, but also inspired awe. The speed and noise of the new vehicles and the risks caused by the novel technology challenged the traditional legal systems. These could require introducing innovations into traditional fields of law. On the other hand, law could be linked to conservative ideologies and act as a factor of stability.

This conference explores many facets of vehicles, law and culture in the modernizing world. We invite twenty-minute papers on various aspects of these phenomena, e.g.:

• how modern vehicles were perceived as threats/inspiration by groups or individuals in society
• how modern vehicles influenced (legal) culture or (legal) culture vehicles 
• how risks caused by machine-driven vehicles could be minimized
• who were the influential individuals behind the vehicles/norms
• how vehicles were represented in popular culture
• how vehicle-related risks and accidents were presented in popular culture or the media
• law as tool for progressive/conservative ideologies vis-à-vis the new transport technology.

Confirmed keynote lectures will be given by Doctor Tiina Männistö-Funk (Chalmers University of Technology) and Professor Miloš Vec (University of Vienna).

Proposal Submissions and Further Information: 

For more information about the conference or to submit a proposal (about 200 words), please contact Professor Mia Korpiola (mia.korpiola[at]utu.fi, Faculty of Law, University of Turku). Participants are expected to cover their own travel expenses and lodging. The deadline for submitting paper proposals is 19 December 2018. Please feel free to share and circulate this CFP.