Hosting a RaAM conference or specialised seminar

The first RaAM conference was held at the University of York, UK in 1996, organised by Lynne Cameron (University of Leeds) and Graham Low (University of York). This was a fairly small conference, supported by the British Association for Applied Linguistics and Cambridge University Press, which gathered a number of researchers who shared an interest in metaphor and other aspects of figurative language as it affects humans, and consequently a commitment to studying real language data, including the ‘noise’ so often neglected in the work of metaphor scholars of a more theoretical bent. Among those who spoke at this first conference was Ray Gibbs (University of California at Santa Cruz), whose work since the early 1980’s informs RaAM’s commitment to applied metaphor research.

RaAM conferences have been held in Copenhagen, Denmark (organised by Anders Engström in 1997), Tilburg in the Netherlands (organised by Gerard Steen in 1999), Manouba in Tunisia (organised by Zouhair Maalej in 2001) and Paris, France (organised by Marie-Dominique Gineste in 2003), and all have featured three or four keynote lectures by leading metaphor scholars. In 2006, RaAM returned to the UK (Leeds) with the sixth conference organised again by Graham Low and Lynne Cameron, together with Alice Deignan and Zazie Todd.  The 2008 conference  was held from 29-31 May 2008 at the University of Extremadura (Cáceres, Spain). The last conference was held at VU University (Amsterdam, Netherlands) from 30 June to 3 July 2010. Details on previous conference and specialised seminars/workshops can be found here. The next conference will be held at Lancaster University (UK), 4-7 July 2012.

The themes of the RaAM conferences have all reflected the commitment of its organisers to  the application of metaphor research to ‘real world’ issues, but it was not until RaAM 6 (whose theme was ‘Metaphor in the Real World’) that the RaAM organisation was created. One of the aims of this organisation is to ensure that future RaAM conferences maintain not only the spirit of previous events but also their quality.

To this end, the RaAM Executive Committee invites proposals to host conferences or specialised seminars. In order for the Committee to be able to judge the suitability of the proposals, local organisers are asked to read the guidelines for prospective hosts and complete the appropriate questionnaire (see below). The Executive Committee of the RaAM organisation, and more especially the Conference Secretary,  will be pleased to answer any questions you have relating to this event, and to provide the support and guidance needed by local organisers hoping to host the conference/seminar.

Downloads:

1. •Guidelines for prospective hosts of conferences or specialised seminars
   

2. •Questionnaire for RaAM conference hosts
   

3. •Questionnaire for RaAM specialised seminar hosts