The 2017 Great Plains Symposium will examine the topic, “Flat Places, Deep Identities: Mapping Nebraska and the Great Plains.” In part it will commemorate the publication of the Atlas of the Great Plains (2011) and anticipate the publication of the Atlas of Nebraska (2017).

Why are maps so fascinating? What do they tell us, what assumptions were necessary to construct them, how do they shape our knowledge? The symposium calls for a critical reexamination of maps and the mapping of our region, from earliest historical maps to present digital cartography and remote sensing, from Pawnee star charts to cadastral surveys.

This topic is also to be understood figuratively, inviting us to consider the myriad ways in which “maps,” “mapping,” and “place” shape all aspects of how we see and understand the Great Plains. Thus included in our topic are questions of how place and mapping are used in or influence identity and culture, economy and society, agricultural practices, natural resources, environmental issues, business strategy, art and creative expression, literature of place, social relationships, politics and social movements, “deep mapping,” and any other ways in which concepts of mapping and place are revealing and useful.We invite proposals on any of these topics for paper presentations, roundtable discussions, workshops, chain-reaction panels, lightning-round sessions, or other formats. Papers accepted for presentation at the “Flat Places, Deep Identities” symposium will be considered for publication in thematic issues of Great Plains Quarterly or Great Plains Research. Proposals must be received electronically using this form by Friday, October 14, 2016.

The symposium will be held in Lincoln on March 30-31, 2017. Download the 2017 abstract submission form at http://www.unl.edu/plains/2017-symposium