会议时间：2015年3月21—23日
会议地点：土耳其•埃斯基谢希尔市RIXOS酒店会议厅
演讲嘉宾：Alfred J. Andrea，美国佛蒙特大学荣誉教授

演讲摘要：Vermont, a small state in New England, a region that constitutes the six-state northeastern corner of the United States of America, is noted for its tree-covered hills and mountains, from which derives its name, an Anglicized version of the French Verd Mont--Green Mountain. Today approximately 82 percent of the state is covered by conifers and deciduous trees, making it one of the most densely forested areas in the USA. The most famous of its trees is the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), noted for its sap, from which is produced sweet maple syrup each Spring, and its hard wood, which is prized by wood crafters near and far. Although one immediately thinks of the sugar maple as the archetypal Vermont tree (and this is especially so in Autumn when its blazing red leaves enliven hillsides and valleys), it is only one of many native trees that provide an apparently ever-growing number of Vermont crafters and artists with the hard and soft woods that serve as the media from which they create wooden products that are both utilitarian and works of fine art.

In this presentation, I will look at a representative sample of Vermont’s wood crafters and artists, including its creators of one-of-a-kind furniture, as a way of illustrating that the stereotype of the USA as a plastic-ridden society that has lost touch with its wood-artisan heritage just does not hold true when one considers this little forest-rich state. Significantly, this involvement in wood crafting cuts across all lines that we use to demarcate groups and individuals. At any craft fair, one can find wood artisans ranging in age from late teens to late 80s and, as a cohort, representing a broad spectrum of educational and social backgrounds. Wood culture knows only the boundary of craftsmanship.

As a footnote that cannot be developed in the short time allotted me, I should note that I could equally demonstrate flourishing wood-artisan cultures in each of the other forty-nine states of the United States, even though many of them might not be as densely forested as Vermont.

　　Alfred J. Andrea先生是美国福蒙特大学荣誉教授，中世纪世界史博士，曾任世界历史协会主席。世界历史协会由来自包括中国的36个国家的专家学者组成，致力于研究跨越单一文化、宗教和政治影响的大历史。Alfred J. Andrea先生的研究方向和教学重点为公元前200年至公元1500年间非洲—欧亚板块的跨文化接触和交流，其中以宗教尤为关注。Alfred J. Andrea先生曾著书11部，并发表多篇文章，他与James H. Overfield合著的世界历史教科书《The Human Record: Sources of Global History》被用于全美及其他地区的大学历史教育。