Calls for papers for conferences taking place in June 2024

Towards Digital Justice: Transcultural Perspectives on Digital Inequality.
Oxford Brookes University, UK. 7 June 2024.
Deadline for proposal submissions: 31 March 2024.

Name of organization: University of Wolverhampton, UK
Contact email: s.groes@wlv.ac.uk

An international hybrid conference sponsored by the Daiwa Foundation UK
Location: Oxford Brookes University, UK 

Contributions by Peter Boxall (Oxford), Sebastian Groes (Wolverhampton), Alex Goody (Oxford Brookes), Professor Megumi Kato (Tsuru University, Japan), Professor Ria Taketomi (Kindai University, Japan), and Dr Jerrine Tan (City of Hong Kong University, Hong Kong – TBC)  

Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian novel Klara and the Sun (2021) tells the story of an A.I.-powered “artificial friend” who serves as a companion to a young girl, Josie, a privileged but ill child “lifted” in order to secure the best opportunities whilst resentful masses are left behind. Ishiguro’s novel extrapolates the economic and socio-cultural divisions that haunt our present moment to understand how digital and AI technology engenders and exacerbates old and new socio-economic and cultural inequities, including access to education and medical healthcare.

Digital technology contains biases that have worsened already unequal distributions of wealth and access to resources, which has a detrimental effect on social cohesion and individual (virtual) identities. The Japanese Society 5.0 vision of a sustainable and inclusive society driven by data and digital technology has not become a reality. Across the world historically disadvantaged groups, from farmers in developing countries to lower-income students in neglected, postindustrial zones who have had restricted access to technology and resources face a double hurdle–first, gaining access to said technology, and next, navigating the use of technologies which were not developed to cater to their specific needs. Algorithms already have various biases coded into them that continue to reward historically privileged groups. 

This conference invites intersectional and transcultural perspectives on how digital inequality presents new challenges to our world. We hope to explore key cultural products (including literature, film, video games), socio-political movements, and relevant critical material ((eco)feminism, anarchy, co-futurisms, and queer theory) that define our moment to map and reflect on the expanding gulf between digital ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. 

The goal of the conference is to reimagine our relationship to technology and create pathways that lead to a fairer future in the digital age. 

Topics to be explored include but are not limited to:

  • Digital production, ecological footprint and e-waste dumps 
  • Race, ethnicity and technology
  • Digital technologies and the nonhuman/more-than-human
  • Class, place and the digital poverty
  • The Covid pandemic and its aftermath
  • Education and access
  • Ageing and digital technologies
  • Ethics 
  • Disability and neurodivergence

Conference organisers:

  • Prof Alex Goody (Oxford Brookes University, UK) and
  • Prof Sebastian Groes (Wolverhampton, UK)

For more information, please contact:

  • Prof Sebastian Groes (s.groes@wlv.ac.uk) and
  • Prof Alex Goody (agoody@brookes.ac.uk)

(Posted 7 January 2024)

Women and Crime Fiction – Workshop.
University of Zurich, 7-8 June 2024.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 May 2024.

The workshop is organised by

  • Dr. Alan Mattli and
  • Dr. Olivia Tjon-A-Meeuw

Ever since the genre established itself in the Anglophone world in the mid-nineteenth century, crime fiction and discussions of crime fiction have tended to underemphasize the role women play in it, unless they are victims or femme fatales. Yet women, as authors, major characters, and audience members, have been a part of the genre since the very beginning. Indeed, it has been about a century since one could have feasibly considered crime and detective fiction (written or otherwise) as a “male-dominated genre,” and scholarship has followed suit: from Kathleen Gregory Klein’s The Woman Detective to Sally R. Munt’s Murder by the Book?, from Priscilla L. Walton and Manina Jones’ Detective Agency to Gill Plain’s Twentieth Century Crime Fiction – the study of femininity and crime fiction has proved to be extremely fertile ground for analysis and debate.

Quite often, however, these studies and debates remain within clearly defined historical boundaries, with the result that the female detectives and authors of the nineteenth century only rarely come into scholarly contact with their peers from the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction,” the femmes fatales of the hardboiled mode, the feminist sleuths of the 1970s and 1980s, or the multimedial third- and fourth-wave-feminist contributions produced since the turn of the millennium. Additionally, the investigation of the contents of genre fiction are rarely combined with a study of female recipients. 

Studies have shown that women seem to be the main audience for true-crime books (Vicary and Fraley 82). This interest holds true across various media; true crime is the most popular podcast subject in the US (Stocking et al.) and the audience for these highly popular podcasts consists mostly of women (Stocking et al., Greer 154–155). Women are also active as producers of such fare. For example, the genre-defining podcast Serial, hosted, written, and produced by Sarah Koenig, became the first podcast to win a Peabody Award in 2015. Further examples include the podcasts Drunk Women Solving Crime or My Favorite Murder, both hosted by women.

This workshop seeks to counteract the prevailing scholarly compartmentalisation and to bridge the aforementioned historical and disciplinary gaps by convening scholars to present and discuss their work on femininity and crime literature, film, television, videogaming, podcasting, fan fiction, etc., from any historical period. Not only does this approach serve to facilitate a more holistic approach to the long and varied history of crime fiction; it also allows for interdisciplinary and diachronic takes on the topic, bringing together perspectives from different branches of the humanities and social sciences.

Keynote speaker 

Dr. Kerstin-Anja Münderlein (Otto-Friedrich Universität Bamberg)

We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers in English covering texts from all kinds of media (literature, film, television, podcasting, videogaming, etc.), discussing topics such as:

  • Female characters and stereotypes in crime fiction
  • The femme fatale
  • Women as audience for crime fiction
  • Women as producers of crime fiction
  • Intersectional approaches to issues of race, class, and nationality
  • The rise of female-led podcasts
  • The (physical) female voice of podcasts
  • The fetishisation of the female victim
  • Historical comparisons, from the 19th century to the 21st
  • The ethics of true-crime fiction
  • The reception of crime fiction by female authors
  • Gender-bending in fan fiction
  • etc.

Please send your 250-300-word abstracts to alan.mattli@es.uzh.ch and olivia.tjon-a-meeuw@es.uzh.ch in a PDF file. Please also send a separate bionote of about 100 words. The deadline for abstracts is May 1st, 2024. 

Further details in the original CFP inserted below.

Women-and-Crime-Fiction_CfP_ESSEDownload

(Posted 5 April 2024)

Thirteenth Biennial MESEA Conference: Moving Cultures, Moving Ethnicities.
University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Campus, Joensuu. 12-14 June 2024.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 15 November 2023.

Event organised by

The Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas (MESEA)

Presentation of the event

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

  • John McLeod (University of Leeds)
  • Anna-Leena Toivanen (University of Eastern Finland)
  • Atlantic Studies Lecture: Tobias Skowronek (THGA)

Those of us who are “world”-travelers have the distinct experience of being different in different “worlds” and of having the capacity to remember other “worlds” and ourselves in them. (Maria Lugones, “Playfulness, ‘World’-Travelling, and Loving Perception” (1987).)

We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture. (Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing (2016).)

The MESEA 2024 conference invites contributions that address the diverse layers, definitions, and ‘pathways’ of mobility, including the mobility of people from one place to another, crossings and intersections of cultures, and the formation of hybrid cultural forms. At the same time, mobility, border-crossings, and migration move people emotionally, either directly or through a wide range of cultural representations, and generate various emotional responses ranging from joy and relief to fear, loss and frustration. Affecting both those who travel, those who stay, and those encountered when journeying, such experiences are personal and collective, local and global, theoretical and empirical, and reveal the perplexing nature of mobility, whether this is voluntarily or involuntarily ventured.

This conference aims to look into the pluriform contact zones that form with regard to global mobility, and to further explore the ways migration affects experience in diverse ethnic and postcolonial contexts. We seek to examine questions such as:

  • How does mobility from the perspective of affect and lived experience shed light on the variety of modes and genres of (post-)migrant experiences? 
  • How are the experiences of displacement, forced migration, and other conditions of unfreedom represented in narrative?
  • How are narratives of mobility and migration formed and articulated historically?
  • To what degree do narratives of mobility contribute to the formation of transnational and translocal communities, and which narratives in various affective registers circulate within them?
  • In what ways are individual and collective memories of mobility (re)framed emotionally, for instance through expressions of melancholy, dissociation, grief, or vulnerability? 
  • How is the crossing of cultural borders and transculturation articulated in world literature, film, and performance art?
  • What kind of emergent and/or alternative cultural practices are connected with mobility? How do they challenge dominant notions of identity and belonging?

The 2024 MESEA Conference seeks to explore the diversity of the phenomenon in the nexus of culture, history, borders, and geopolitics. Potential paper and panel submissions can address but are not limited to topics such as follows:

  • nostalgia and narratives of return
  • narratives of forced migration, human trafficking, deportation, and transportation
  • trauma, displacement, and emplacement
  • Gothic journeys and uncanny spaces
  • tragedy, comedy, melodrama, and other genres of migration narratives
  • mourning, melancholia, and migration
  • activism, solidarity, consciousness raising
  • autobiography and memory
  • transforming and hybridizing cultural practices and texts
  • cosmopolitanisms
  • climate migration/mobility
  • home(-making) in migration
  • border communities
  • rebordering and debordering
  • gendered perspectives on mobility
  • the ethics and economics of migration
  • migration as an opportunity

Abstracts should be submitted to our website at https://mesea.org/ between August 15 and November 15, 2023. Submitters will receive notification of acceptance by January 10, 2024.

The conference will be arranged as an onsite conference at UEF Joensuu Campus.

Preference will be given to complete panel proposals with an inter/transdisciplinary and/or transnational focus. Panels may not include more than 2 participants from the same institution. Presenters are expected to be members of the association in 2024.

Previous MESEA Conferences have led to high quality publications (https://mesea.org/publications/). As in previous years, MESEA will award at least one Young Scholars Excellence Award.

MESEA wishes you heartily welcome to a further exciting event!

Timeline 

Submitters will receive notification of acceptance by January 10, 2024.

Website

Joensuu 2024

Contact details

Program Director

Jopi Nyman, PhD DSocSc
Professor of English
School of Humanities
University of Eastern Finland
P. O. Box 111
FI- 80101 Joensuu
FINLAND
Email: jopi.nyman@uef.fi

CFP

MESEA-Conference-CFP_June-2024Download

(Posted 26 June 2023)

Norwegian Forum for English for Academic Purposes (NFEAP) 2024 summer conference / EAP and Hybridity.
OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. 13-14 June 2024.
Deadline for proposal submissions: 15 March 2024.

Organiser: Section for Research Support, University Library, OsloMet / NFEAP Organising Committee

Presentation

The word hybridity has lately become associated with the idea of a hybrid classroom – one where some learners are physically present, and some are present online. But this is not the only way to think about hybridity in EAP – hybridity might also refer to hybrid genres, or hybrid modes. Hybridity might mean the (unexpected?) combination of different teaching practices, wherever they take place. How do students respond to hybrid forms or hybrid teaching situations? What kinds of hybrid text do students and researchers produce – and how, and why?

NFEAP this year is a place to think about different kinds of hybridity – and their different affordances, challenges, ways of thinking, opportunities for creativity. 

We invite proposals that explore hybridity in connection with EAP concepts; EAP training methods, principles, practices and research; needs analysis, syllabus and materials design, teaching strategies and methodological issues; group/interdisciplinary teaching; critical EAP; e-learning and technology; academic identities; academic literacies; any other relevant topics.

Proposals can be submitted through the NFEAP webpage.

Plenary Speakers: 

  • Douglas Eyman, George Mason University, USA
  • John Ødemark, University of Oslo, Norway

Website address 

https://uni.oslomet.no/nfeap

Contact details

tmuir@oslomet.no

Read more in the original CFP below.

NFEAP-2024-cfpDownload

(Posted 7 March 2024)

Re-Reading British and Irish Landscapes in the 21st Century: Nature, Networks, Identities – An International Workshop.
University of Mannheim (Germany), 14-15 June 2024.
Extend the deadline for submissions: 20 November 2023.

This conference takes its cue from the fact that various topical tendencies and events have refuelled interest in landscapes and the countryside in recent years, be it the climate crisis, the crisis of national identity in the context of the Brexit debate or reconsiderations of Britain’s colonial past. It aims at exploring the multi-layered interest in British and Irish landscapes in the 21st century, as writers and researchers alike critically engage with the ideologically charged notion of the countryside by re-reading and reconfiguring popular tropes.

While the aesthetic of the so-called ‘green and pleasant land’ is still booming in the nostalgic discourse on England, there seems to be a return (or update?) to the pastoral theme in non-fictional agricultural narratives, such as James Rebanks’ English Pastoral: An Inheritance (2020), as well as in fiction, such as Daisy Hildyard’s Emergency (2022), which are both concerned among other things with the effects of a globalised (agricultural) industry. Ecological and ecocritical viewpoints on environmental change as well as the relationship between humans and more-than-human nature also determine contemporary nature writing; Robert Macfarlane’s Underland: A Deep Time Journey (2019) and Dara McAnulty’s Diary of a Young Naturalist (2020) are cases in point. In this context, the hidden structures of roots and fungi and other networks of communication and connection are currently attracting great interest, as for instance in Janice Pariat’s Everything the Light Touches (2022). Global structures are as much involved in the pastoral setting in these examples as regional identities.

Critics have conceptualised different ways of framing this renewed focus on landscapes and the countryside, particularly, but not exclusively related to the notion of the pastoral. Deborah Lilley identifies a ‘new pastoral’ (The New Pastoral in Contemporary British Writing, 2020) in a whole range of contemporary writers responding to the environmental pollution and climate crisis of the present. Besides, anti- or counter-pastoral traditions, such as those described by Raymond Williams in The Country and the City (1973) as a critique of economic conditions, also appear revived. In a 2015 article, Robert Macfarlane documents the flip side of the idealised English countryside in the form of a widespread aesthetic of the “eerie countryside” (https://www.theguardian.com/books /2015/apr/10/eeriness-english-countryside-robert-macfarlane), a concept equally central to novels such as Sarah Moss’ Ghost Wall (2018) and music albums such as PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake (2011). 

On the part of postcolonial and Black British literature, which is usually associated with the big city, writers have critically examined the English idyll for some time (V.S. Naipaul’s 1987 novel The Enigma of Arrival being the most obvious example), but this trend has recently increased in pace with novels such as Natasha Brown’s Assembly (2021), which negotiates the country manor as the seat of the legacy of colonial power structures, or the group of writers in Alinah Azadeh’s “We See You Now” project, which comes together on the iconic south coast of England and places it in new contexts to reveal the imperial and global networks in which the supposedly insular English landscape is enmeshed (https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/culture-heritage/we-see-you-now/). This reconsidera-tion of Britain’s colonial past is also at stake in critical projects such as Lucienne Loh’s The Postcolonial Country in Contemporary Literature (2013) or Corinne Fowler’s work on the ‘colonial countryside’ in Green Unpleasant Land (2020).

In light of these trends, we invite proposals for papers (20 minutes) on the following subjects among others:

  • rural economies and global networks
  • the colonial countryside (Fowler)
  • the ‘postcolonial countryside’ and “rural networks of empire” (Loh)
  • ‘eerie countrysides’ (Macfarlane), ‘haunted’ or Gothic landscapes
  • landscapes and the countryside in crime fiction and folk horror
  • ecological and ecocritical perspectives
  • the pastoral tradition and new pastorals: ‘black pastoral’ (Grene), ‘dark pastoral’ (Sullivan), ‘post-pastoral’ (Gifford), and others
  • regional landscapes and identities including the North-South divide and beyond as well as Ireland
  • landscape and national identities / Englishness / Britishness / Irishness
  • rural radicals: enclosure, activism, and the commons
  • rural poverty, rural ‘Others’ (e.g., the traveller community), and the issue of class

Proposals may cover a variety of genres (non-fiction, fiction, poetry, popular music, and film) and should focus on contemporary examples. Please email your proposal to both Prof. Dr. Caroline Lusin (c.lusin@uni-mannheim.de) and Sina Schuhmaier (sina.nathalie.schuhmaier@uni-mannheim.de) by 20 November 2023.

CFP

CFP_Re-reading-landscapes_extendedDownload

(Posted 11 July 2023. Updated 3 November 2023)

Space and Time In Literature And The Arts – AICED-25 – The 25th Annual International Conference Of The English Department, Literature And Cultural Studies Section.
University of Bucharest, Romania. 14-16 June 2024.
Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2024.

Venue: University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, 7-13 Pitar Moș St., Bucharest, Romania.

Organisers:

  • Dr Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru (coordinator) 
  • Dr Alexandra Bacalu 
  • Dr Alina Bottez 
  • Dr Eliana Ionoaia 
  • Dr Dragoș Manea 
  • Dr Andrei Nae 
  • Dr Andreea Paris-Popa 
  • Dr Oana-Alis Zaharia

Plenary Keynote Speakers:

  • Christopher Herzog, Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg
  • Dragoș Ivana, University of Bucharest 
  • John Thieme, University of East Anglia

Panel Stream Keynote Speakers: 

  • Letitia Guran, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
  • Nicolas Tredell, University of Sussex

The subject matter of inexhaustible debates and, most importantly, disputes between philosophers and scholars from diverse backgrounds, space and time have been perceived, despite their infinite or limited dimension, as inextricably connected categories underlying the existence of matter and various processes unfolding in the universe, on the one hand, and the human existence in all its aspects, on the other. Whether normatively or symbolically represented by disciplines such as physics and mathematics or employed as (visual) narrative modes by literature and the arts, space and time have been scrutinized not only as conventional abstractions, but also as concepts that can be expanded or reconfigured. From Einstein’s theory of relativity, which stands solid proof of the latter perspective, to Paul Ricoeur’s view of the narrative set in a temporal frame, it has become evident today that both categories can no longer be interpreted separately, a perspective also endorsed by Mikhail Bakhtin’s “chronotope”, a concept referring to both spatial and temporal relationships that are expressed in literature.

Now more than ever, in a world in which science and technology have shrunk spatial distances and bridged temporal gaps, this topic could not come at a more timely moment. Our conference seeks to explore questions related, but not limited, to:

  • the history of human life in space and time, with particular emphasis on the impact of past, present and future events upon individuals;
  • space and time in relation to memory, trauma, personal and collective identity;
  • space and time as visible or hidden layers of meaning, belonging, dis-/re-location, exilic/nomadic/(post)colonial identities, etc.
  • philosophical interpretations of space and time – ontological and epistemological approaches;
  • the relationship between space/time and literature and the arts in various cultural and historical periods;
  • the relationship between science and literature: time machine and time travel tropes;
  • unshackling time-honoured dichotomies: the literary discourse/narrative as temporal vs. the visual narrative as spatial;
  • space and time as producers of meaning and identity;
  • allegorizing space and time (utopias, dystopias, eutopias, si-fi fiction and movies, painting, etc.)
  • heterotopias in literature;
  • urban humanities: new policies and practices for configuring the urban/rural dyad (post-metropolitan identity, gender, race, etc.);
  • the reenactment of sacred time (rituals, holy days, processions, etc.);
  • historical monuments and their role in preserving temporal and spatial identity;
  • deconstructing linear time and normative space; or, alternative temporalities: the impact of the Anthropocene, climate change, exploitation of resources, eco-critical activism, inclusion of marginal groups, queering the space, etc.;
  • alternative cultural geographies and temporalities;
  • reconfigurations of space in architecture and their evolution in time;
  • recapturing and retrieving lost time and space;
  • reinventing the past in literature, cinematography or psychology;
  • resurrecting past cultures, civilisations and customs through archaeological and anthropological endeavours;
  • stage space and time: stage direction, scenography, light design, costume design and choreography;
  • time and space in the process of adaptation;
  • spatiality, trompe-l’oeil, and mirage in visual arts;
  • the global village – a shortcut in time and space;
  • private space vs. public space and their perception in time.

As of this year, our conference will also offer a number of thematic panel streams that will allow participants to group around their main fields of research and for which potential participants are asked to send their proposals both to the conference email address (listed below) and to the panel stream organizer: 

  • Expectation, Nostalgia and Regret in Literary and Artistic Space/Time (panel stream keynote speaker and organiser: Nicolas Tredell, University of Sussex, nicolastredell@hotmail.com). 
  • Fluid Temporalities and Identities in Indian Ocean Spaces (panel stream organiser: Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, University of Bucharest, sabina.draga.alexandru@lls.unibuc.ro).
  • Space and Time in Romanian / Romanian American Culture, sponsored by the Romanian Romanian Studies Association of America (panel stream keynote speaker and organiser Studies Association of America (panel stream keynote speaker and organiser: Letiția Guran, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, lguran@email.unc.edulguran@email.unc.edu).
  • Time and Space in Early Modern Culture (panel stream organiser: Alina Bottez, University of Bucharest, alina.bottez@lls.unibuc.ro). 

Panel proposals on any other topics connected to the conference theme are welcome. Potential panel organizers are welcome to submit full panel proposals to the conference email listed below. 

A round table organized by Alina Bottez, University of Bucharest (alina.bottez@lls.unibuc.ro) will be held in memoriam Professor emeritus Adrian Nicolescu: 

  • The British Space across the Ages in Literature and the Arts. People who are interested in contributing short academic papers on this topic or evocations of Professor Nicolescu are welcome to contact her directly. 

Conference presentations should be in English and will be allocated 20 minutes each, plus 10 minutes for discussion. Prospective participants are invited to submit abstracts of up to 200 words. Proposals should be in .doc or .docx format and should also include (within the same document): name and institutional affiliation, a short bio note (no more than 100 words), 5 keywords and the participant’s e-mail address. Proposals for full panels and round tables (to be organised by the participants) will also be considered. Please submit all proposals to our email address: conf.eng.litcult@lls.unibuc.ro.

Website address 

Contact details

conf.eng.litcult@lls.unibuc.ro 

Read more in the original CFP below.

CFP-AICED-Space-and-Time-2024Download

(Posted 14 April 2024)

Katherine Mansfield: Spaces, Places, Traces (Annual Katherine Mansfield Society Conference).
IADT Dún Laoghaire, Dublin. 14-16 June 2024.
Deadline for proposal submissions: Extended deadline: 30 April 2024.

Organisers

  • Dr Jenny McDonnell (IADT); Dr Janka Kaščáková,
  • Dr Erika Baldt,
  • Dr Anna Kwiatkowska (Katherine Mansfield Society)

Presentation
The Annual Katherine Mansfield Society Conference 2024 will take place in the Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT) Dún Laoghaire, Dublin and will focus on the themes of Spaces, Places, Traces in relation to Mansfield’s writing. The coastal suburb of Dún Laoghaire has a long history as a point of departure and arrival for travellers to and from Dublin (including James Joyce). It bears traces of Ireland’s complex colonial history, and offers a unique setting in which to reconsider the spaces and places that Mansfield navigated and the routes that she traced throughout her writing life. The final day of the conference will include some Bloomsday events.

Abstracts of 200 words for 20-minute papers, together with a 50-word bio-sketch, should be sent to the conference organisers at: kmdublin2024@gmail.com.

Contact details
kmdublin2024@gmail.com

Read more in the original CFP below.

Updated-CFP-KM-Dublin-conferenceDownload

(Posted 3 April 2024)

The Postmillennial Sensibility in Anglophone Literatures, Cultures and Media III.
Košice, Slovakia. 20 – 22 June 2024.
Extended submission deadline: 30 April 2024.

Conference organized by the Department of British and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, and the Slovak Association for the Study of English.

Plenary speakers:

Special guest speaker:

Prof. Dr. Raoul Eshelman, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, GERMANY
Web profile: https://www.slavistik.uni-muenchen.de/personen/ehemalige_mitarbeiterinnen/eshelman/index.html

The rising pressure of environmental problems on the postmillennial globalised world has fuelled the rapid developments in transdisciplinary revisions and transformations of anthropocentric perspectives. Contemporary studies of environmental approaches to literary, cultural, and media texts are rooted primarily in the discipline of ecocriticism with its focus on the relations between social identities contexts and ‘life’s largest relevant context, the biosphere’ (Garrard 2004). By casting a critical light on the excessive postmodernist concern with language and its claims about ‘the end of nature’ (Volkmann et al. 2010), ecocriticism opens up possibilities for examining representations of nature, environmental issues and post-Cartesian concepts of identity, such as the ‘ecological self’ (Naess 1985), the ‘dialogical self’ (Hermans, H.J.M, & Hermans-Konopka 2010) or ‘posthuman subjectivity’(Braidotti 2013) through new, postmillennial theoretical frameworks of metamodernism, performatism, cosmodernism, transmodernism, or hypermodernism. Metamodernist revivals of romantic sensibilities (Vermeleun and Akker, 2010 ) create a basis for explorations of the ongoing influence of the Romantic imagination on the formation of ecological consciousness (Bate 1991; Buell 1996); cosmodernism relates the efforts to overcome environmental problems with the creation of ‘an ecology of relations, that is, another way of thinking about being in the world’ (Moraru 2011); transmodernism points to the emergence, since the 1980s, of a “planetary,” “postpatriarchal” and “postsecular” cultural shift (Ateljevic 213, 203) aimed at “reenchanting” the world, whose perception and analysis require the establishment of horizontal dialogues among different traditions of thought, as opposed to universalism (Dussel 1994, 2008; Grosfoguel 2008) and hypermodernism (Lipovetsky 2005) creates the potential to explore the devastating ecological effects of excessive consumption patterns.

The conference aims to create a suitable forum for discussions about the fruitful intersections among new aesthetic trends, environmental sensibilities, and post-Cartesian identity representations in contemporary literary, cultural, and media texts. 

Possible topics include but are not limited to 

  • environmental aspects of food representation in culture, literature, and media
  • food practices, ecology, and identity in culture, literature, and media
  • philosophy, consumerism, and human food behaviour in culture, literature, and media
  • food, anthropology, and cultural ecology in culture, literature, and media
  • culinary practices and communication in culture, literature, and media  
  • social ecology of food, consumer behaviour, and climate change in culture, literature, and media 
  • environment, ecology, and cultural heritage in culture, literature, and media
  • ecological identity in local and global contexts in postmillennial culture, literature, and media
  • environmental issues and the revival of the Romantic imagination in postmillennial nature writing 
  • the pastoral, anti-pastoral, and post-pastoral in contemporary environmental aesthetics
  • environmental crisis in postmillennial dystopian narratives
  • ethnic literature and environmental ethics
  • ethnicity/indigeneity/transnationalism/eco-cosmopolitanism/globalisation and environmentalism intersections in contemporary literary and media narratives
  • environmental problems and social justice
  • ‘empathizing imagination’ (Malamud 2003) in literary and media representations of the non-human
  • ecofeminism and environmental aesthetics in contemporary women’s fiction

We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers relating to the Conference’s main topic. Submissions will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis.

The conference also aims to provide a platform for PhD students to present their work in progress related to the conference’s main topic. 

PhD students are invited to submit proposals for ten-minute presentations of their doctoral thesis projects that should include the main topic and issues, defended hypothesis, and the main methodological framework of their doctoral research. Accepted projects will be presented during a special Doctoral Seminar that will provide an opportunity for students to exchange ideas with their fellow students and receive feedback from senior scholars. 

Abstract submission:

Abstracts of papers (500 words max.) clearly defining the topic and the objectives pursued in the paper should be submitted by e-mail as WORD attachments to: 
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soňa Šnircová ( postmil.sensibility.3@gmail.com ) by 30 April 2024.

Deadlines:

  • Submission of abstracts: 31 March 2024
  • Notification of acceptance: 15 April 2024
  • Registration begins on 16 April 2024

Read more in the original CFP below.

2nd-CFP-The-Postmillennial-Sensibility-Conference-2024-KosiceDownload

(Posted 8 March 2024. Updated 10 April 2024)

A Passage to India – Centenary Revaluations.
University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland), 24-26 June 2024.
Deadline for abstract submission has been extended to 31 October 2023.

Organisers

  • University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
  • University of Warsaw
  • International E. M. Forster Society

Presentation

A Passage to India, the last novel of E. M. Forster published in his lifetime appeared on the market in June 1924. It confirmed Forster’s position as one of the most eminent novelists of his time and started his international career with Czech and Russian translations both in 1926. The novel has since been adapted four times for the radio, three times for the stage, once for TV, and, most memorably, once for the big screen by David Lean. It has been the subject of academic scrutiny for almost a century, various scholars applying a variety of theoretical approaches to the text. The purpose of our meeting is to reassess the century which has passed since the publication – looking at A Passage to India from all possible angles, within all possible context, debating over its past importance and influence, and trying to foresee the role it may play in the future.

Our aims, however, are somewhat broader than this. We do not want a too detailed project to deter you from joining us in Olsztyn. A Passage to India is central to our meeting this year but we do not want the novel to overshadow other aspects of Forster’s life and work completely. Our conference is intended as a celebration of E. M. Forster and an opportunity for all Forsterians to come together. Consequently, we are interested in all possible aspects of Forster’s oeuvre and life, as perceived by various theories, methodologies, and schools. Do not hesitate to contact us with your proposals, no matter how far-fetched they may seem as long as the proposed studies update and enrich the scholarly discourse on the life and work of Forster.

The conference will take place in Olsztyn (an old city in north-west of Poland) in the new campus of the University of Warmia and Mazury on the banks of the picturesque Kortowo lake. Olsztyn is served by the Olsztyn-Mazury airport but you may choose to fly to Warsaw which is less the  3 hours away on the train.

We do understand that long-distance travel is still subject to a variety of restraints while academic financial resources are limited. Consequently, the conference will be organised in a hybrid way – the proceedings will also be available online in real time and they will be recorded and posted online. However, please, note that those presenting their papers must attend the conference in person. If you cannot join us in Olsztyn, please, select pre-recorded presentation.

The Academic Committee

  • Prof. Santanu Das (All Souls College, University of Oxford, UK)
  • Prof. Ewa Kujawska-Lis (University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland)
  • Prof. Claire Monk (De Montfort University Leicester, UK)
  • Prof. David Scourfield (Maynooth University, Ireland)
  • Prof. Harish Trivedi (University of Delhi, India)
  • Prof. Tania Zulli (Roma Tre University, Italy)
  • Dr Maaz Bin Bilal (O. P. Jindal Global University, India)

Submission Guidelines and Acceptance Policy

Proposals should consist of a maximum 200 word abstract and a short biographical note including your academic affiliation (if available) and contact details. They should be sent to the following address conference.iemfs@gmail.com . Proposals are welcome until 31 October 2023 – the authors of the accepted papers will be notified of the acceptance within three weeks. Please, indicate how you would like to present your work choosing from the options below. However, note that the Organising Committee may offer a different form of presentation such as a poster/lightning talk instead of a paper.

  • Presentation forms:
    • Paper (15 to 20 mins – a presentation of a single paper by one or more authors).
    • Lightning talk (5 mins – a short paper for a focused presentation). We especially encourage young scholars to present their on-going research projects in this form.
    • Poster (for poster sessions). Posters can present research results or research in progress. We especially encourage young scholars to present their projects in this form.
    • Pre-recorded audiovisual presentation available a month in advance on our website – with a general discussion during the conference. It is possible to combine pre-recorded presentation with a poster or a lighting talk.

Publication

A preferably Open Access publication is planned – details will be presented during conference. All forms of participation in the conference are eligible for submission of papers to the conference proceedings.

(Posted 14 July 2023. Updated 6 October 2023)

44th Conference APEAA | Doctoral Symposium.
University of Lisbon, 24-26 June 2024.
Deadline for proposal submissions: 7 April 2024.

Organiser(s): University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies 

Presentation

The year 2024 holds great historical importance, as it marks a series of memorable events both in Portugal and worldwide. One of these is the 50th commemoration of the 1974 Carnation Revolution. This insurgent movement constituted a crucial moment in history, bringing an end to Europe’s longest-lasting pro-Fascist regime, the Estado Novo, and a conclusion to the Portuguese Colonial War in Africa. The revolution also triggered fundamental political, social, and cultural changes, ushering in reforms in education and academia, notably in the field of English Studies in Portugal. The year 1994 was likewise a pivotal one in South African history, as it saw its first all-race election and the historic inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the nation’s first black president.

Nevertheless, we must also remember other tragic anniversaries such as the outbreak of the WWI in 1914, the deadliest combat in human history that led to a collapse of the European empires. All these events not only altered the course of history, but also influenced the narratives and themes in Anglophone literature and arts, reflecting the profound impact of warfare and colonialism on creative expressions and the freedom of peoples. Today, conflict once more assails Europe with the Ukrainian War, and the world watches in horror the thousands of instantaneous deaths occurring in the Hamas-Israel conflict. Contemporary antagonisms unfold also in manners made possible by new transitions: the digital age, or the social media proliferation that gradually replaced traditional news channels.

Other transitions in our contemporary world tread the thin line between escalating geopolitical friction and the freedom of individuals and certain groups to express themselves or even to survive: the forced and strained mobility of war and climate refugees is a testimony to this, bearing also on contemporary fictions and on how we tell the stories of our entanglements among ourselves and with other species and elements. Gender and other identity markers are also transitioning swiftly, causing both adaptation and resistance, namely in the spheres of academic education and research. Even human intelligence is transitioning to machines, which some place alongside “more-than-human” beings.

Keynote Speakers

  • Alexandra Assis Rosa (University of Lisbon)
  • K. Allison Hammer (Southern Illinois University) 
  • Simon Swift (University of Geneva)

Website address: http://apeaa.pt

Contact details: Apeaa2024@letras.ulisboa.pt

Read more in the original CFP below.

2024-APEAA-Conference-CfPDownload

(Posted 2 March 2024)

Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language in educational settings: Issues and specificities: ARDAA Conference 2024.
Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris. 26, 27 & 28 June 2024.
Deadline for submissions: 10 September 2023.

The starting point for the conference, “Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language in Education Settings: Issues and specificities”, will be the study of language and education policies around the world so as to position EFL teaching and learning in France. This particular interest arises because of a competition between two hegemonies: the teaching of French as a foreign language and the teaching of English as a foreign language. This rivalry has resulted in the development of teaching practices and traditions in France that were not fully oriented towards the specificity of English. It is therefore necessary to clarify the meaning of “English didactics” as well as its place in the world. 

First, the notion of “English didactics” makes one think of English Learning/Teaching for the purposes of communication, in the context of the academic discipline, English and Anglophone studies. One of the goals of this conference is to establish what we mean when we say “English” today, since the word could refer to English as a second language, English as a foreign language, English as an academic language, English for specific purposes, or English as a lingua franca. 

One must also consider the difference between teaching English and teaching through English (intensive courses, CLIL programs, the internationalization of certain degree programs, etc.). This discipline could be interpreted as belonging to the field of the didactics of languages and cultures (Galisson & Puren, 1999; Galisson, 2002), a discipline centered around observation, analysis, interpretation and intervention in the interconnected environments, practices and processes involved in teaching and learning. 

One may also consider English didactics as a unique branch within the field of language didactics, that can be divided into several sub-fields: linguistics (Bailly, 1998), history (Puren, 1988), praxeology (Galisson & Puren, 1999; Bailly, 1998; Narcy-Combes, 2005), among others. It may also fall within the field of the didactics of plurilingualism (Huver & Macaire, 2021; Candelier, 2008; Moore, 2006; Macaire et al., 2003), which focuses on the language 

user’s linguistic and communicative repertoire when exchanging with the “other,” as well as on the intercultural dimension in which the native speaker is not the only point of reference. English didactics therefore appears as a complex domain, requiring further reflection. To summarize, this conference aims to understand and define the peculiarities of English didactics and its place in today’s globalized world. 

This conference will be an opportunity to analyze the epistemology of the field, in relation to its historical evolution and other types of didactics (French and other foreign languages, plurilingualism). Also, it will offer a chance to study common objects of research (the most salient, those which require further development, and those which have become obsolete), the teaching-learning environments including tools and resources (pedagogical practices, classroom contexts, etc.), and lastly, methodological questions and the relationship between research, fieldwork, and training. 

Participants are invited to submit proposals on 4 areas: 

Topic 1 – Epistemology 

The first subtheme will allow us to establish a new epistemological anchor. 

How do the didactics of English today relate to the didactics of French as a foreign language, the didactics of languages, the didactics of languages-cultures, the didactics of plurilingualism, etc.? What are their foundations? How have they evolved since it became a field of research? This subtheme calls for a genealogical approach that will allow us to complete the history of English didactics up to the present day, taking into account how its role has evolved in educational settings (Sarré & Whyte, 2016; Tardieu, 2021, 2023). Here, we are referring to the predominance of English over other languages in France and Europe as a whole. How is this 

“hegemony” dealt with in the world, in terms of language policy? This approach will also attempt to situate English didactics in relation to other didactics and the other research disciplines that contribute to didactics (linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, cognitive sciences, neurosciences, etc.) and/or teaching (linguistics, literature, civilization, translatology). Reflections could also focus on the geographical evolution of the discipline, potentially in parallel with the historical evolution (France, Great Britain, USA, Europe, Asia, world…) or its evolution in institutions (primary, secondary, higher education). 

The contributions within this subtheme will help clarify the position of English didactics in the global landscape. 

Topic 2 – Objects of Research and contexts for teaching-learning 

Presenters could talk about the focus of their current research: foreign/second language learning, LANSOD (LANguages for Specialists of Other Disciplines), English for Specific Purposes (translation, literature, grammar, history, etc.), English for Academic Purposes, Specialized English, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Inclusive & Special Needs Education, etc. These topics can be applied to different contexts: primary and secondary school, higher education, continuing education, teacher training and professional development. Different course setups, in formal and less formal learning contexts, can be studied: in-person, blended learning, flipped classrooms (Alsowat, 2016), distance learning, synchronous and asynchronous learning. This subtheme is meant to give a full view of current research in English didactics. It will show the most salient and frequently studied research objects, including those which have been abandoned and those which require further attention. For example, it will include contributions about evaluations and certifications, autonomous learning, oral interactions in class, corpus-based learning, the use of online translators, remote tutoring, the use of technology, e-tandems (Jauregi & Melchor-Couto, 2017), the use of plurilingualism (Gabillon, 2022), and the link between formal and informal learning (Sockett, 2016; Toffoli & Sockett, 2015).Research presented as part of this subtheme will help to establish a more stable definition of English didactics and its signature research foci (specific objects, common points with language didactics, etc.), while also offering a critical look at its issues and limitations. 

Topic 3 – Teaching aids, resources, tools, and educational materials 

Research under this subtheme will cover teaching aids, resources, and pedagogical tools that result in reflective practices. Within a course, different tools are utilized: note sheets, logbooks, learner diaries, games (serious games, video games, board games, simulations, children’s games, etc.). They pertain to different fields: children’s literature, the arts, drama, the professional world, the world of culture, academia, etc. What is the function of these educational tools? How are they used: in their original state or modified, transformed, and adapted? Do they facilitate English learning or add to reflections in this field? Can the use of these educational materials be guided by specific theories in teaching? 

Presenters can reflect on various types of resources and how teaching aids are selected in relation to concepts such as authenticity, creativity, or engagement. They could also consider their own use of teaching/learning materials to facilitate task completion, solve problems, or develop language skills, and question their relevance to the needs and interests of the learners. Lastly, presenters may also focus on the advantages and disadvantages of using a variety of resources. 

Essentially, presentations within this subtheme will encourage the sharing of teaching practices and experimenting with new concepts and approaches in English didactics. 

Topic 4 – Theory, methodological questions, and training reflective teachers 

Research in English didactics is backed by linguistic theories and learning theories. These theories could be explained, along with the pedagogies they inspire. 

Those presenting under this subtheme could discuss specific methodological practices within often restricted research contexts. Different approaches could be presented: comprehensive or experimental research, action-research and development, research and creation, etc. Researchers in English didactics are often faced with institutional and ethical obstacles: difficulties obtaining authorization to observe classrooms, a lack of means, personal data protection, data management plans, etc. Meanwhile, English didactics training courses are being offered to students in universities via teacher preparation and continuing education, professional development, research training and research-based training (Wright, 2010). 

Presentations could focus on research methodology and field research, with a focus on the “practitioner-researcher” perspective (Narcy-Combes, 2005): experiential, participatory, and collaborative approaches; the creation of corpora; data collection procedures; analyzing qualitative, quantitative, and mixed data; data processing tools, etc. 

Discussions will allow us to situate English Didactics in terms of its contributions to society. 

Submission guidelines (Oral presentations or Posters) 

  • Languages: English (preferred) and French (in order to facilitate the participation of our international colleagues, communications in French should be accompanied by slides in English) 
  • Format: 300-word abstracts (excluding bibliographical references) 
  • Deadline: 10 September 2023 
  • Notification of acceptance: 15 December 2023 
  • Abstract submission: https://ardaa2024.sciencesconf.org/ => “Submission” 

Anonymization: make sure you leave no trace of your identity anywhere in your abstract (may it be in your text or in your files, if applicable) 

A special session for POSTERS will be organised. PhD students (in the process or having completed) are strongly encouraged to participate. A prize will be given to the poster receiving the most votes. 

Registration fees: 

  • ARDAA members & partners: €40 until 30 March 2024 (early-bird), then €50 until 1st June 2024 (standard fees) 
  • Other participants: €80 until 30 March 2024 (early-bird), then €100 until 1st June 2024 (standard fees) 

Registrations will open in January 2024.

Conference site: https://ardaa2024.sciencesconf.org/ 

CFP (in French and English)

ARDAA-2024-Appel-a-communications-CFPDownload

(Posted 6 July 2023)

Intertextual Stevenson.
Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), 27-29 June 2024.
Deadline for proposals: 30 November 2023.

Event organised by Lena Linne & Burkhard Niederhoff 

In “A College Magazine”, Robert Louis Stevenson famously described his literary apprentice ship as an exercise in imitation: “I have thus played the sedulous ape to Hazlitt, to Lamb, to  Wordsworth, to Sir Thomas Browne, to Defoe, to Hawthorne, to Baudelaire, and to Obermann.”  The works that were eventually published are hardly less indebted to previous texts than his  earlier attempts at literary pastiche. “No doubt the parrot once belonged to Robinson Crusoe.  No doubt the skeleton is conveyed from Poe”, Stevenson admits in “My First Book”, an essay  on the genesis and the sources of Treasure Island. Some critics have used these self-depre cating comments, in particular the “sedulous ape”, to support their claim that Stevenson was  a derivative writer lacking in originality. Others, by contrast, have praised him as a precursor  of postmodernism who was aware of, and brilliantly exploited, the inevitable intertextuality of  all writing.  

Many of the papers given at this conference will explore the way Stevenson used, adopted  and responded to texts by other writers, and the way other writers used, adopted and re sponded to texts by him. The term text will be interpreted broadly and papers on film, graphic  novels etc. will be welcome. We also invite comparative papers that engage with analogues or  parallels rather than sources and influences, situating Stevenson’s works within a genre or  within their nineteenth-century context (e.g. “Stevenson and Wilkie Collins as Writers of Sen sation Novels”). Moreover, there is room for theoretical investigations that take their cue from  essays such as “A College Magazine” or “My First Book” and analyse Stevenson’s ideas about  the genesis and structure of literary texts. Finally, we will welcome papers that engage with the  multiple texts that often lurk behind what is considered a single text; those who are interested  in editing Stevenson’s writings could compare different layers or versions of a text and the editorial problems resulting from them. Further creative interpretations of the conference theme  are possible and welcome.  Proposals (200-300 words) for twenty-minute papers are warmly invited and should be sent to  one of the organisers by November 30, 2023 (lena.linne@rub.de, burkhard.nieder hoff@rub.de). If you have any questions, please contact the organisers.

CFP

Intertextual-Stevenson_Call-for-PapersDownload

(Posted 27 April 2023)

Captivating Criminality 11: Hybridisation and Generic Experiments in Crime Narratives.
Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Eger, Hungary. 27-29th June 2024.
Extended deadline for submission of proposals: 29th February 2024.

Event organised by

  • International Crime Fiction Association, in association with Eszterházy Károly Catholic University and the Hungarian Society for the Study of English
  • Prof. Fiona Peters, Dr. Renáta Zsámba, Dr. Angelika Reichmann

Keynotes

  • Mariaconcetta Costantini. Professor of English Literature at G. d’Annunzio University, Pescara, Italy
  • Ruth Heholt. Professor of English Literature at Falmouth University, Falmouth, England
  • Tamás Bényei. Professor of English Literature at University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

Presentation of the event

Building upon and developing ideas and themes from the previous ten successful conferences, Hybridisation and Generic Experiments in Crime Narratives will examine the ways in which crime fiction as a genre has developed by interacting with other genres and forms of literature over the past two hundred years. Recognizing that crime fiction is an umbrella term that incorporates various sub-forms, many of which have just recently appeared, this conference is dedicated to exploring the genre’s flexibility in applying various narrative strategies and generic features to address local, national, cultural and global phenomena. The topic of the conference stems from and rejects traditional views on the genre of crime fiction as static and, due to its formulaic nature, exempt from sophistication or significance. Instead of Tzvetan Todorov’s suggestion in his influential 1966 essay that the relationship between the individual text and the genre is one of embodiment or adherence to rules and conventions, the conference draws on recent academic criticism of crime fiction foregrounding the “mobility of genre”, which, as the editors of The Routledge Companion to Crime Fiction (2020) remark, highlights “the experimental and transgressive aspects of crime fiction and in particular locates the dynamism of the genre in a constant tension between the affirmation and negation of genre norms” (17). Papers presented at Captivating Criminality 11 will thus inquire into the innovative nature of crime fiction, which not only engages in the deconstruction of the ‘law of the genre’ – to speak with Derrida, a delimiting and norm-setting principle (1980) – but also in the production of hybrid narratives. The increase in genre hybridity has proved that the field is in constant flux and the combination of respective features and forms calls for a revision of the dialectics between ‘literature’ and ‘genre fiction’, on the one hand, and of crime fiction as a rule-bending rather than rule-bound genre on the other hand.

Papers presented at Captivating Criminality 11 will examine the crossing of forms and themes to shed light on the literary journey crime fiction as a genre has covered since its recognition as a popular form of literature. Speakers are invited to explore the volatility of crime fiction with special regard to hybridisation and generic experiments that reflect genre evolution as well as the fragility of canonical forms, deconstruct the separation of high and popular forms of literature and enable the genre to appropriate cultural, regional or national differences. Abstracts dealing with the wide-ranging generic and medial varieties of crime narratives are welcome, as well as papers adopting a range of theoretical, sociological and historical approaches.

The programme will also include:

  • Roundtable discussion Hungarian Crime Fiction Then and Now
  • PhD and Early Career Research Symposium 
    Both on 26th June 2024)

Timeline 

  • Notification of acceptance: February 2024
  • Early bird registration: 15th April 2024
  • Registration closes on 15th May 2024

Website

https://uni-eszterhazy.hu/captivating-criminality-11/m/home

Contact details

captivatingcriminality11@uni-eszterhazy.hu 

Abstract submission at https://uni-eszterhazy.hu/f/cc11-abstract-submission 

Further details in the attached CFP.

CFP

Captivating-Criminality-cfpDownload

(Posted 14 October 2023. Updated 7 February 2024)