The Vega Symposium

The Vega Day 20243

Date: Monday 22 April 2024, 09:00–12:00.

Venue: Beijersalen, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, KVA, Lilla Frescativägen 4 A, Stockholm (metro: Universitetet; bus stop: Universitetet norra)

Occupations and the Occupied: Agency, Expertise, and Patronage in Wartime and Postwar Historical Cartographies

The 2024 Vega Symposium honors Steven Seegel, Distinguished University Professor at University of Texas (UT) USA, who has been awarded SSAG’s Vega Medal 2024 for his scientific contributions to Human Geography.

Steven Seegel has made important contributions to the field of critical cartography and political geography and is recognized as one of the foremost experts on the study of cartography in and about Eastern and Central Europe, in particular Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Germany. In his recent book Map Man, Steven Seegel provides an insightful analysis of the development of geography as a discipline in Eastern and Central Europe. He shows in this book how the seemingly systematic ways offered by the young discipline of geography for mapping a complex and diverse borderland actually reflected, for better or worse, the various political preferences of the cartographers and/or the geopolitical interests of their rulers. The manner in which maps and cartography are political technologies of empire are themes in Seegel’s research.

The Symposium will focus on the theme Occupations and the Occupied: Agency, Expertise, and Patronage in Wartime and Postwar Historical Cartographies.

Programme

09:00 Opening of the Vega Symposium.
Dr. Madeleine Bonow, President SSAG and Chair of the symposium.

09:10 Introduction
Dr. Brian Kuns, Moderator of the symposium.

09:20 On the Historical Cartography of Ukraine and Maps in Times of War.
Professor Steven Seegel, University of Texas, (UT) Texas.

10:00 The Commission has Refused any Popular Consultation: Mapping the Austrian-Bohemian Border after WWI. PhD candidate.
Tess Megginson The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

10:20 Coffee

10:50 Genuine Inquiry and Human Agency under Occupation: Lessons from the History of Geographic and Cartographic Reasoning.
Dr. Peter Nekola Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois.

11:10 Academic cartography in Vienna 1939-1945: actors, funders and political context.
Dr. Petra Svatek Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, Vienna.

11:30 Discussion

12:00 Closing of the Symposium

Most Welcome!

Invitation 2024 (pdf)

The Vega Day 2023

Invitation 2023 (pdf)
Queen’s professor turns 40 years of playing with mud into prestigious Vega Medal; at CBC News

The Vega Day 2022

Movie from the Vega Symposium 2022
Poster 2022 (pdf)

The Vega Day 2021

Movie from the Vega Symposium 2021
Poster 2021 (pdf)

The Vega Day 2020

The 2020 Vega Symposium was cancelled due to the developments regarding the coronavirus and Covid-19.

Poster 2020 (pdf)

The Vega Day 2019

Poster 2019 (pdf)
Movie from the Vega Symposium 2019
Pictures from the Vega Day 2019
Professor Emily Martin receives SSAG’s Medal in Gold from the patron of the Society, His Majesty the King of Sweden (Swedish Royal Court)

The Vega Day 2018

Invitation 2018 (pdf)
Poster 2018 (pdf)
Movie from the Vega Symposium 2018
Pictures from the Vega Day 2018

The Vega Day 2017

Invitation 2017 (pdf)
Poster 2017 (pdf)
Movie from the Vega Day 2017
Pictures from the Vega Day 2017
Chinese scientist Yao Tandong receives 2017 Vega Medal in Stockholm (Xinhuanet, Xinhua News Agency)
Chinese scientist Yao Tandong receives 2017 Vega Medal in Stockholm (China Global Television Network, CGTN)
Kungen delade ut Vegamedaljen (Swedish Royal Court)

The Vega Day 2016

Invitation (pdf)
Movie from the Vega Day 2016
Movie of when His Majesty the King hands out SSAG’s medal in gold 2016
Pictures from the Vega Day 2016

The Vega Day 2015

Movie from the Vega Day 2015
Pictures from the Vega Day 2015