Wednesday, February 8, 2012

NCA 2012 Abstract

Following up on yesterday's post, I've selected a name for my NCA 2012 paper, "Trade Your Trouble for a Bubble: Imagining the Enclavic Future at the 2010 Shanghai World's Fair." Here's the abstract:

Shanghai's 2010 world's fair epitomizes an enclavic rhetoric whose blurring of place, mobility, and communication provides a therapeutic response to the threats of public life. Transcending the Hausmannization of Victorian utopianism, though affirming an indisputably Chinese appeal to discipline, the Shanghai Expo's theme of "Better Life, Better City" advertises a vision of 21st century urbanism that departs from its predecessors in notable ways. Analyzing a constellation of texts, images, and responses concerning the SAIC-GM Pavilion (along with useful counterpoints found in pavilions hosted by Spain, Chile, and the United Kingdom), this paper introduces a theoretical revision of the omnitopian strategy of dislocation and, more importantly, considers the implications of Chinese urbanism that has learned much from Walt Disney.

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