Calls for papers – Conferences taking place in April 2018

Poetry and Sound in Expanded Translation: Poetry in Expanded Translation III
Bangor University, Wales, UK, 4-6 April 2018
Deadline for abstracts: 2 January 2018

Keynote speakers:
Caroline Bergvall, artist, writer and performer
Lawrence Venuti, translation theorist, Professor at Temple University

Performance:
Andrew Lewis, composer, Professor at Bangor University

Conference organisers:
Dr Jeff Hilson (Roehampton University) and Dr Zoë Skoulding (Bangor University).

This international and interdisciplinary conference will consider the role of sound in poetry translation, and in related areas of performance and creative practice. How helpful is a musical vocabulary in discussion of the sound of a poem in translation? Conversely, what is meant by describing music as a language? Can the relationship between poet and translator be compared with that of composer and performer? Such parallels will be used to explore poetry in bilingual, multilingual and cross-artform contexts. Examining new and emerging interfaces between poetry, sound and translation, this conference will bring together poets, musicians, critics and translators.

Translation, considered as a distinct articulation of knowledge rather than a means to a communicative end, demands particular forms of listening. Noise, in the sense of the opening up of multiple channels, is closely linked to the creative multilingual space that emerges in the act of translation, but the carrying over of translation also implies a boundary between the clean channels of different languages. Traditional concepts of translation are often based on proverbial constructs that operate through rhythm and pun, such as ‘traduttore traditore’, while the statement attributed to Robert Frost, ‘poetry is what is lost in translation’, takes for granted his view of poetry as ‘the sound of sense,’ that is, a shared sense of the cadences of the English language. Language is sensed differently, however, when it is not assumed as shared ground. What new relationships between languages are possible within the scope of poetic practice and its intersections with translation and performance?

Underlying these issues is an interest in how poetry travels internationally on the ear, creating links and legacies that connect poetry across languages, for example the influence of early twentieth-century Dada performances on contemporary sound poetry. In a time of isolationist politics, this conference will ask how such cross-currents might help us to engage with the multiple linguistic communities of contemporary Europe and beyond.

This conference is the third and final event of the AHRC Network Poetry in Expanded Translation. Confirmed speakers include Jennifer K. Dick (Université de Haute Alsace), Chris McCabe (National Poetry Library), Vahni Capildeo (Douglas Caster Cultural Fellow, Leeds University), Vincent Broqua (Université Paris 8), Lily Robert-Foley (Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier), Carole Birkan-Berz (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris 3), Alys Conran (Bangor University), Nia Davies (Poetry Wales), Tim Atkins (Roehampton University), Philip Terry (University of Essex), Simon Smith (University of Kent).

Proposals for critical or practice-based papers of 20 minutes are invited. They may deal with one or more of the following questions or any theme related to the conference:

  • the role of sound when poetry is performed in bilingual and multilingual contexts
  • sound in the practice of poetry translation
  • the relation between translation and the ecological dimensions of listening
  • the political questions raised by a cross-border ethics of listening
  • ways in which a considerations of noise might open up new ways of listening to other languages
  • the relationship between sound poetry and translation
  • the role of translation in revealing different ways in which the poem ‘listens’
  • the kinds of listening and translation at work in a poetry reading
  • the relationship between poetry and song lyrics
  • approaches to poetry performance that might enable or articulate new relationships between languages
  • collaboration between poets and musicians or sound artists as intercultural dialogue

Please send abstracts of 250 words to z.skoulding@bangor.ac.uk and j.hilson@roehampton.ac.uk by January 2nd 2018.

(posted 29 September 2017)

‘with shut eyes, but acute mental vision’: Dream and Literary Creation in Women’s Writings in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Clermont-Ferrand, France, 5-7 April 2018
New exended deadline for proposals: 31 October 2017

Université Clermont-Auvergne – CELIS

In June 1816, in a house on the shores of Lake Geneva, a young girl of barely 19 had a dream which would turn out to be the source of one of the greatest contemporary myths of modern times. This pivotal dream has remained prominent thanks to the preface that Mary Shelley wrote for the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, in which she describes a vivid, integrally visionary experience: “I saw – with shut eyes, but acute mental vision, – I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together […].” In a lesser-known dream, a year earlier, Shelley brings her premature, unnamed first-born back to life: “Dreamt that my little baby came to life again; that it had only been cold, and that we rubbed it before the fire, and it lived. Awake and find no baby” (19th March 1815).

Dreams in Frankenstein are at the heart of the writing process but they also constitute the diegetic substance of the narrative. Victor’s nightmare, which follows the opening of the Creature’s “dull yellow eye” (Volume I, chapter 4), is difficult to overlook in any critical consideration of the importance of dreams in the novel. To mark the bicentenary of Frankenstein’s publication in 1818, this conference will re-examine the previously-recognised oneiric facets of the novel and develop fresh perspectives on dreams and dreaming in Mary Shelley’s fiction. Proposals with a special focus on those three dreams, as well as on other works by Mary Shelley in which dreams are often premonitory (Valperga, Matilda, “The Dream” for example), are particularly welcome. Discussion may also extend to analyses of day-dreaming which Mary Shelley also refers to in her preface when she distinguishes between her youthful fancies, “all [her] own”, and her fiction, destined to be read by others.

In addition, the oneiric character of Frankenstein is particularly relevant in any reappraisal of the textuality of dreams and their link to women’s creativity and creation as a whole. Accounts of real dreams in diaries and letters may interrogate the paradox of the invasion of Self by a radically Other force (“My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me”, wrote Mary Shelley), when the passive dreamer turns into a waking creative subject. Ontological alterity may be considered as being located at the core of such processes. Is there a specifically female understanding or expression of this encounter with the Other within? Literary dreams, whose putative oneiric nature needs further clarification, oscillate between narrative dexterity and the expression of possibly subconscious scenarios. How significant is a character’s dream? Is it radically inconsistent and heterogeneous? We therefore also invite papers on these, and other, connections between dream and fiction in novels written by Shelley and other female novelists.

Thus, the central issue of authorial intention in novels (or in poetry or plays if relevant), published from the end of the 17th century to the late 19th century, is the line of enquiry which this conference hopes to pursue. How is Mary Shelley’s creative outlook and experience mirrored in the writing of her contemporaries’ (Frances Burney’s or Ann Radcliffe’s for example), or in that of female authors who came before or after her (Jane Barker and the Brontë sisters for example)? Approaches developed by Margaret Anne Doody (“Deserts, Ruins and Troubled Waters: Female Dreams in Fiction and the Development of the Gothic Novel”, 1977), Ronald Thomas (Dreams of Authority, 1990, on the Gothic and nineteenth-century novels) or Julia Epstein on Burney (The Iron Pen, 1989) may be particularly pertinent here.

Papers may be given in English (preferably) or in French.
Please send your proposals to Isabelle Hervouet-Farrar and Anne Rouhette at dreamconference2018@gmail.com before 31st October 2017 new extended deadline)

Scientific committee:
Caroline Bertonèche, Université de Grenoble
Lilla Maria Crisafulli, University of Bologna
Isabelle Hervouet-Farrar, Université Clermont-Auvergne
Anne Rouhette, Université Clermont-Auvergne
Victor Sage, University of East Anglia
Jean Viviès, Université d’Aix-Marseille

(posted 23 March 2017, updated 3 October 2017)

History & Memory: Fifth International Conference on Humanities
Beja, Tunisia, 5-7 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 30 November 2017

Organized by the Department of English at the Institut Supérieur des Langues Appliquées et
d’Informatique de Béja (ISLAIB) in Tunisia in partnership with Birmingham-Southern
College (BSC) in Alabama.
Venue: Higher Institute of Applied Languages and Computer Science of Beja, Tunisia

Texts act like receptacles for an ever present remembered past, or what the French philosopher Paul
Ricoeur calls “the present representation of an absent thing” (7).1 They might embody an efficient
remedy to forgetting but could also become a vivid testimony for exorcised traumas, and “it is on this
level and from this viewpoint that we can legitimately speak of wounded, even of sick memory”
(Ricoeur, 69). According to Ricoeur, “the work of mourning is the cost of the work of remembering,
but the work of remembering is the benefit of the work of mourning” (72). Thus remembering brings
back a bitter past but might heal revived memories. As to history, it is always in tension between
memory and forgetting; it relies on memory and prevents from forgetting. But it is also questionable
because it depends on its source and its context and sways between hiding and revealing.
During this conference the debate will focus on Ricoeur’s phenomenology of memory, epistemology
of history, and hermeneutics of forgetting. A special emphasis will be laid on the dissension between
individual and collective institutional memory.
Topics will pivot around the relationship between history, memory and social justice in different
academic fields such as history, political science, sociology, cultural studies, human rights, media
studies, gender studies, anthropology, linguistics, literature, psychology, and pedagogy. Materials
covered are historical documents, novels, short stories, poems, plays, autobiographies, biographies,
texts, paintings, films, museums, national archives, etc.
1 Ricoeur, Paul. Memory, History, Forgetting. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004.
We welcome proposals focusing on, but not restricted to, the following topics:
Language and Linguistics
Text as memory
Socio/psychoanalysis of a text
Cognitive load theory,
Learning: memory& forgetting
Teaching history
Bilingual memory
Role of memory in second language and foreign language acquisition
Linguistic memory
Language and memory
Memory and engaged learning
Cultural Studies
The historical and the political
History of ideas
Tunisian history and tradition
Cultural studies and historical approaches
Individual and collective memory
Socio-cultural dimension of memory
History in the digital age
Digital memory and the archive
Collective memory and history
Cities and the architecture of memory
social justice and human rights
Literary Studies
Theories of memory
Intentional fallacy
Deconstruction
Historiography
Trauma and traumatic memory
Film and memory
Historical movies
Art and memory
Art history
Memory, history, forgetting in novels, plays, and poems
Literature for the reconstruction of history

Submission Details:
The reviewers will welcome abstracts of 300 words (maximum) and at least 3 key words for 15-
minute presentations in English, French and Arabic, addressing aspects of the above-cited areas or
other concerns pertinent to the topic of this conference.
All submitted proposals will be unanimously peer-reviewed by two external reviewers.
The abstract and the author’s personal information sheet must be submitted together in two separate
files. The abstract file must contain no reference that may identify the author. The second file must
include the author’s contact information, institutional affiliation, and a short biography (100 words
max).
Once an abstract is accepted, the author is required to submit the full draft to the panel respondent no
later than February 1st, 2018.
Send your abstracts to: islaibconf2018@yahoo.com
Important Dates
Submission of abstracts: November 30th, 2017
Notification of acceptance: December 15th, 2017
Submission of articles: February 1st, 2018

Conference Fees:

Registration with accommodation (April 6th and 7th in Tabarka):
Tunisian Teachers or researchers, TND 150
Foreign Teachers orresearchers, 300 US Dollars

Registration ithout accommodation
Tunisian Teachers or researchers, TND 80
Foreign Teachers orresearchers, 100 US Dollars

(posted 54 September 2017)

Singularity and Solidarity: Literature, Arts and Society in the British Isles, 19th-20th-21st Centuries
Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France, 6-7 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 15 January 2018

A Conference organised by EMMA (Études Montpelliéraines du Monde Anglophone) and CAS (Cultures Anglo-Saxonnes)

Venue: Site Saint Charles

The ongoing negotiations on the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union seem to provide an illustration of the contrary tendencies that the notions of singularity and solidarity may be understood to represent: isolationism vs unity, exceptionalism vs shared destiny, divergence vs convergence, etc. Such contrary tendencies do not only play out at the level of the nation-states and of the international order, but also within the societies and cultures of the British Isles: individual vs collective dynamics, minority vs majority aspirations, etc. – these are some of the terms in which the debates on austerity policies, on the future of the welfare state and on Scottish independence, among others, have been framed. Indeed, one may want to use discourse analysis to examine the prevalence of such terms and notions, or of close terms and notions, and how they have been articulated into coherent discourses.
At first sight, singularity and solidarity may therefore seem to be polar opposites. However, one should be wary of being drawn, for epistemological purposes, into blankly accepting radical alternatives between individual and collective, or between agency and structure. The combination of the notions of singularity and solidarity is also as an invitation to discuss the processes by which what is experienced or perceived initially as individual or singular interests may be reframed as collective interests or matters of solidarity. Such processes may be top-down, as is often the case in public policy-making (how does the collective or general interest come to be defined?), or they may be more bottom-up, when one looks at the dynamics of social movements (how are individual grievances transformed into collective claims? how may social movements based on distinct experiences converge politically?). Such processes are worth analysing, as are the terms in which they are debated. Indeed, the general character of language categories poses a challenge to any translation of individual or singular experiences into larger narratives. In broader terms, combining the notions of singularity and solidarity raises the question of how accounts of oneself and collective histories may fit together.
The concepts of singularity and solidarity evince a form of emotional, social, political or ethical relationship to the other that may be apprehended in terms of difference from the other, care for the other or else care for oneself, a relationship between the self and a group that engages with ethics and politics. In British literature and arts, does attention to singular, invisible beings open the way to ‘narrative democracy’ (Rancière)? While they apparently negate all possibility of a radical autonomy for the subject and favour a relative or ‘mutual’ form of autonomy, do British literature and arts contribute to the rise of a form of interdependence based on attention to singularities in their concrete, vibrant dimensions and
that could translate into a praxis?
The aim of the conference is to explore the two concepts and the relations they entertain in the British arts, literature and society of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The theoretical framework will be provided by phenomenology, ethics or history, political science, sociology or other fields; transdisciplinary approaches will be welcome.
The following topics can be addressed (but the list is not exhaustive):

  • Community
  • The individual vs the collective;
  • Agency vs structure;
  • Minor vs major;
  • The ascendance of abstraction;
  • Intimacy, self-narrative, collective history;
  • Collaboration, negotiation, exchanges;
  • Politics

(posted 21 September 2017)

Samuel Beckett: Literature and Translation
Faculty of Letters, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain, 12-13 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 30 September 2017

Samuel Beckett’s importance for both Irish and Universal literature is unquestionable. He has actually reached the level of cultural icon in recent years. Beckett’s international recognition was established with Waiting for Godot (1953), a work originally written in French which he immediately rendered into English, a pattern he would repeatedly use all through the rest of his life. In fact, he translated into French most of the works he wrote in English, becoming the most important 20th-century bilingual writer. Bilingualism in Beckett could be said to have reached aesthetic status: when Beckett seemed to “fail again” without being able to advance any more, bilingualism offered him the possibility to progress. As a matter of fact, writing in another language seemed the only possible way to further develop for a type of literature that was self locked up. As a result of this process, by the end of his life, as Sinead Mooney points out, Beckett had created an unstable and complex canon in which, from the end of World War II onwards, the difference between original and translation becomes more difficult to ascertain. Beckett was conscious of the enormous importance bilingualism and self-translation had in his literary production and he is known to have helped many translators of his works, showing a keen interest in the way in which his novels and plays were translated into other languages.

However, despite the international recognition provided by the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature, unfortunately his works still remain somewhat unknown in Spain. The aim of this conference is to analyse Beckett’s presence in the Spanish cultural life during the last sixty years with special attention to the Spanish renditions of his works. Although almost all his novels, dramatic works and prose and poetic texts have been translated into Spanish, the quality of those versions greatly varies. Apart from that, many of Beckett’s emblematic texts are now out of print and others are found in very limited editions. This conference intends to provide a forum for debate about the translations of Beckett’s works into Spanish, so that the conclusions of the studies presented here may contribute to future research and to promote a better reception of his works.

For the International Conference “Samuel Beckett: Literature and Translation”, interdisciplinary proposals, either in Spanish, French or English, on the following topics (but not exclusively) are welcome:

  • Samuel Beckett and bilingualism in his works
  • Translations of Samuel Beckett’s works into Spanish and other peninsular languages: An analysis of particular cases and state of the art
  • Samuel Beckett’s reception in Spain
  • Censorship of Samuel Beckett’s works in Spain
  • Beckett and self-translation into English and French
  • Critical trends in the interpretation of Samuel Beckett’s works
  • Samuel Beckett’s philosophical thought
  • Beckett’s exploration of other artistic forms
  • An analysis of Samuel Beckett’s works

Proposals should be sent by e-mail to the following address: samuel_beckett@unex.es, before 30th September 2017, and should include:

  • Title
  • Participant’s name, institutional affiliation and e-mail address
  • 200-300-word abstract

The Scientific Committee will evaluate the proposals and a final decision will be notified during November, 2017 in order to proceed with the process of registration.

Plenary Speakers:
Alan Graham (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Nadia Louar (University of Wisconsin, USA)
José Francisco Fernández (Universidad de Almería)

Organized by
-Universidad de Extremadura, Cáceres. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.
-Proyecto I+D FFI2016-76477-P (MINECO y AEI/FEDER)

Conference Chair:
Bernardo Santano Moreno (Universidad de Extremadura)

Organizing Committee:
Carolina Amador Moreno (Universidad de Extremadura)
Lourdes Carriedo López (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
Nuria Fernández Quesada (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)
José Francisco Fernández Sánchez (Universidad de Almería)
María Carmen Galván Malagón (Universidad de Extremadura)
María Carmen Galván Malagón (Universidad de Extremadura)
Luis Girón Echevarría (Universidad de Extremadura)
Noelia Plaza Fernández (Universidad de Extremadura)
Olvido Soria Pequeno (Universidad de Extremadura)
Diana Villanueva Romero (Universidad de Extremadura)

Scientific Committee:
Antonio Andrés Ballesteros González (UNED)
María José Carrera de la Red (Universidad de Valladolid)
Lourdes Carriedo López (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
Nuria Fernández Quesada (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)
Alan Friedman (University of Texas at Austin)
José Ángel García Landa (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Karine Germoni (Université Paris-Sorbonne)
María Jesús López Sánchez-Vizcaíno (Universidad de Córdoba)
François Noudelmann (Université Paris 8)
Bernardo Santano Moreno (Universidad de Extremadura)
Pascale Sardin (Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France)
Dirk Van Hulle (Universitet Anwerpen, Belgium)
Feargal Whelan (UCD, Ireland)

(posted 1 June 2017)

Re-Imagining the Limits of the Human
University of Rzeszów, Poland, April 12-13, 2018
Deadline for proposals: January 15, 2018

The 2nd International Conference on Postcolonial Theory and Practice in the 21st century.

Keynote speakers: Julia Fiedorczuk (University of Warsaw), Dorota Kołodziejczyk (University of Wrocław), Mark Jackson (University of Bristol), John Thieme (University of East Anglia)

Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man is one of the most widely recognizable symbols of the anthropocentric humanism, which demonstrated an interest in the individual and in his body as a cosmografia del minor mondo. Indicating the perfection of human beings, this form of iconography also suggested their completeness and thus autonomy which predestined them to be the masters of the larger world. Half a millennium later, theories of posthumanism have started to question this perspective on human beings, proposing a more porous and inclusive definition of man. As the idea of the central role of man in the world is challenged, people also acknowledge their co-determining relationship with the environment and technology, seeing themselves as part of a continuum of biological life on the one hand, and as technological beings by definition on the other.

At the same time, environmental studies focus on the opposite side of the human-environment relationship, studying ways in which human activity causes broadly understood environmental problems. Seen from this perspective, human beings are considered to constitute just one of the elements of a larger ecosystem and, as a result, their claim to a privileged position in the world – allowing for the pursuit of their goals based on unrestrained exploitation of the natural environment – is undermined.

The concerns of posthumanism and environmental studies could be seen as overlapping to some extent with those of postcolonial theory. The ideology of colonialism often appropriated the humanist ideal but limited it to the race of masters, justifying in this way their dominion. Actively dehumanizing subjugated peoples, the colonizing power placed them in the same category as the natural world which it held to be open for exploitation.

As postcolonial theory focuses on the way in which groups define themselves through strategies of inclusion and exclusion – including the ideal of humanism – it seems only natural that in a time of broader reflection upon the normative boundaries of the human and the role of people in the world, the field of interest of postcolonial theory should be extended to include (potential) forms of discrimination and exploitation that, until the present moment, have remained under the radar.

The aim of the upcoming interdisciplinary conference, organised by the Institute of English Studies, University of Rzeszów, is to provide a wide forum for a discussion of the ways in which postcolonial theory could become a part of a wider theoretical reflection concerned with the changing perception of the human. It will be a unique opportunity not only to examine how the understanding of what is human has changed in the twenty-first century, but also to explore the ways in which this change could affect the structures of power.

The conference organizers extend an invitation to scholars who are willing to explore the intersection between postcolonial theory, posthumanism and environmental studies. However, we are loath to limit our debates to these three areas of research only; equally welcome are academics representing a variety of other fields, including literary studies, philosophy, culture studies, history, science and technology studies, political science, animal studies etc., who would be willing to offer meaningful contributions to the discussion of the problems outlined above.

Suggested questions and topic areas:

  • technological essence of the human
  • conquering technologically created lands
  • extended mind: extended vulnerability?
  • human enhancement: leaving others behind?
  • digital natives: masters or slaves?
  • (The White) Social Media’s Burden
  • cyber racism
  • dominions of techno-science
  • colonizing life itself
  • ethics of hybridization
  • onto-ethical status of living beings
  • the human in the Anthropocene
  • environmental identity
  • human – slave – animal
  • animal rights
  • environmental responsibility
  • planetarity, eco- cosmopolitanism
  • the politics of natural disasters
  • environmental impact of the modern war
  • challenging the nature-culture binary
  • literary and artistic representations of the above topics

Participants are invited to submit proposals for 20-minute presentations. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted by January 15, 2018, pasted into the registration form provided on the webpage www.lhconference.ur.edu.pl . All proposals will be reviewed by the organizing committee. Participants will be notified of acceptance by February 15, 2018.

Full versions of the articles intended for publication should be submitted to postkolonialna.ur@gmail.com by January 31, 2018. Papers accepted for publication will appear in a reviewed volume published either by Peter Lang within Studies in the English Language and Anglophone Literature and Culture series or by Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego (the publishing house of the University of Rzeszów) .

Conference fee (covering refreshments, lunches, conference dinner, participation certificate and publication expenses) is 425 PLN or €100 (€90 conference fee plus €10 for bank transfer fees). It should be paid by bank transfer to the University of Rzeszów account (account number provided upon acceptance) by February 28, 2018.

Conference webpage: http://www.lhconference.ur.edu.pl

Organising Committee: dr hab. Elżbieta Rokosz-Piejko, dr Patrycja Austin, dr Sławomir Kozioł, dr Małgorzata Martynuska, mgr Donald Trinder

Conference Secretary: mgr Paula Wieczorek

Contact: postkolonialna.ur@gmail.com

(posted 27 November 2017)

Dissonance, eclecticism and the blurring of genres in the modern and contemporary culture of the English-speaking worl
University of Reims-Champagne Ardenne (URCA), France, 13 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 15 November 2017

A one-day symposium organised by CIRLEP (EA4291)

Over the past twenty years, sociologists of culture, on both sides of the Atlantic and from different theoretical standpoints, have insisted on the fact that individuals’ engagement with culture, far from being confined to a restricted number of elitist, distinctive, “snobbish” practices, actually span a broad range of registers, ranging from “low” to “high” and from “legitimate” to “illegitimate” culture. Peterson, Di Maggio, Holt, Lahire, Glevare, Coulangeon have thus all written about what they call either eclecticism, omnivorousness, or dissonance. A lot of individuals, belonging to various, diverse social groups, have been observed to practice – alternatively or conjointly – forms of culture which are categorized either as legitimate or popular. The collapse of the hierarchy between high, legitimate culture, and low, mass culture, as well as the dissociation of cultural hierarchy and the dominance of a given social class has even been said to be one of the defining features of contemporary society, and indeed of the postmodern condition itself.
Because of the dilution of traditional forms of legitimacy, cultural legitimacy has assumed various forms and guises. Among cultural and intellectual elites, it has thus become more important to be seen to like different or differentiated cultural objects than to limit oneself to the sole range of ‘legitimate’ objects. ‘Omnivorousness’, a term coined by sociologist Richard A. Peterson, is now opposed to intellectual ‘snobbishness’. More broadly, culture is now understood as a means to conform or to differentiate oneself: from other social and age groups, but also from one’s own social peers and even sometimes from oneself, as Lahire explains when he speaks of ‘dissonant’ practices. All cultural genres (from comic strips to pop/rock/rap music or television programmes) have now acquired a definite cultural legitimacy and can thus be invested with affective or intellectual value, giving rise to the creation of new hierarchies within the boundaries of one genre and to new forms of distinction among individuals.
The aim of this one-day symposium is to open the investigation of these concepts pioneered in the sociology of culture to other fields, notably those (cultural studies, literature, history) which have traditionally been linked to specific cultural areas (the English-speaking world, for instance) and which are more receptive to the combination of various theoretical standpoints than sociology. Does the notion of the blurring of genres help to define a comprehensive theory of culture?
Papers can focus either on the point of view of consumers, producers or cultural products. Proposals are welcome in the three following topic strands:
– The evolution of cultural tastes and practices in the English-speaking world, taking into consideration the new concepts defined by sociologists, as described above, but also the rise of new practices, particularly those based on the use of digital technology and social networks. Analysis may thus bear on ultracontemporary practices, in particular the role of digital technology in the evolution and transformation of cultural practices. But historical approaches are also welcome: do eclecticism and cultural dissonance have a long history or are they necessarily restricted to hyper-contemporary practices? Is there a ‘long history’ of eclecticism and cultural dissonance or is it a purely contemporaneous phenomenon? Comparative approaches aiming at measuring precisely the ground-breaking role of Anglo- American culture in the process of eroding cultural hierarchies are also welcome.
– Dissonance as seen from the point of view of the creators: is it a recent phenomenon or on the contrary is it a natural part of any creative act? To what extent do artists and creators participate in the blurring of the frontiers between “high” and “low”, “legitimate” and “illegitimate” culture? Examples may be drawn from the fields of literature, the arts, cinema and music. Possible topics may include authors who write both for adults and children, or experiment with “illegitimate” forms such as romance, detective novels, erotic fiction, or write scripts for Hollywood, television, or Broadway; musicians who move from “classical” to “popular” music; film-makers who shoot both for the big screen or for television; visual artists who mix painting, sculpture and comics strips or digital technology.
– The third strand is more self-reflexive and involves the practices of the intellectual elite, to which academics and researchers belong: in what ways do the ‘omnivorous’ habits of that group exert an influence over the blurring of genres and enable the transition of certain cultural objects from the category of the illegitimate to that of the legitimate? How does this process operate? To what extent have researchers, critics and academics become ‘omnivorous’? What effect does this process have over cultural objects and their reception? Isn’t it the case that a certain kind of hierarchy is reinstated between the said objects, based on standards of taste that, rather than being erased, might simply be displaced? What part does teaching play in those evolutions? Does the wish to adapt to the students’ cultural practices shift the boundaries of the various fields of study? Are educational methods not often a step ahead of academic research?

Proposals, no longer than 400 words, must be sent to sylvie.mikowski@univ-reims.fr, or to yann.philippe@univ-reims.fr, before November 15, 2017.

(posted 1 August 2017)

M. Forster: Nature, Culture, Queer!
University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany, 13-14 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 1 December 2017

A conference organized by
University of Education Ludwigsburg
University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
University of Warsaw
International E. M. Forster Society

Hosted by the University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany

The œuvre of E. M. Forster is undoubtedly based on contrast: nature vs. culture, nature vs. queer, and/or culture vs. queer. However, there seems to be many instances when the oppositions dissolve in the triad of nature, culture and queerness. Nature sometimes functions as a connection between culture and life, and the life tends to be quite specific, queer. Sometimes still it is queerness (of the sex or of the mind) that links nature with culture. In turn, culture may be responsible for bringing nature and queerness together. The proposed conference shall shed more light on the relation of the triad nature, culture, and queerness in relation to the life and works of E. M. Forster.

Various aspects of the connections in question have been the object of many scholarly discussions. There are the queer(ing) biographies of Moffat and Piggford. Studies on Howards End have seen Forster’s childhood home Rooksnest and its environs as a place of nostalgia for the allegedly pastoral English past. “The Machine Stops” has been read as a warning about the on-going estrangement of mind and body, human and fellow human, and human and nature. Discussions of the Italian novels and A Passage to India deal with the Mediterranean landscape, the Oriental, the cultural and the geo-social other. However, there seems to be a lack of research that either connects all three elements of the mentioned triad or actualizes and enhances the research done in the past.

This is why we are pleased to announce the conference “E. M. Forster: Nature, Culture, Queer!” to be held on 13 and 14 April 2018. The conference is hosted by the University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany in collaboration with the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, the University of Warsaw, and the International E. M. Forster Society. We welcome submissions of papers, lightning talks, and posters for peer-review evaluation. Topics include, but they are certainly not limited to:

  • Environmental Determinism: What are the relations between a given region and the characters portrayed in Forster’s fiction?
  • The Green and Pleasant Land: Where and how in Forster’s œuvre does he evoke the idea of the pastoral English past?
  • Social Systems as Ecosystems: Do Forster’s texts model social networks as ecological systems that then might provide a fertile ground for specific ways of an inter-individual interaction?
  • Teaching Forster: environmental awareness, inter-culturality and sexual diversity
  • Dystopian Landscapes: Both “Little Imber” and “The Machine Stops” portray destroyed ecosystems in which the queer subject is the only solution in a desperate situation. To what extent are queer subjects constituted as normal or natural individuals in Forster?
  • Queering Ecosystems / Queer Natural Order
  • Nature vs. current social systems

Our conference is intended as a celebration of E. M. Forster and an opportunity for all Forsterians to come together. Consequently, we do not want a too detailed project to deter you from joining us in Ludwigsburg. In short, we are looking forward to proposals of papers which deal with Forster and nature, Forster and culture, and Forster and queer from all possible scholarly approaches as long as the proposed works update and enrich the scholarly discourse on the life and work of E. M. Forster.

Submission Guidelines and Acceptance Policy

  • 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.
    • Poster (for poster sessions). Posters can present research results or research in progress. We especially encourage young scholars to present their projects.
  • Proposals (a 200 word abstract, summary, a short biographical note, and your institutional affiliations (if applicable)) are submitted via our on-line form at http://society.emforster.de/ or https://is.gd/emforster18
  • Abstracts due: 1 December 2017. The review process will take into consideration the differences between paper, lightning talk and poster.
  • Acceptances sent out: 20 December 2017.
  • Proposers must attend the conference.
  • The conference fee is 100 € (for PhD students 75 €). The fee will cover lunch and coffee-breaks, a guided city tour incl. a visit to the Blooming Baroque at Ludwigsburg Palace.
  • We will provide basic technological needs such as Internet, projectors, power cords, sound systems, and cables.
  • Abstracts, papers, lightning talks, posters, and audiovisual documentation will be published. For more information, contact Dr Heiko Zimmermann at emforster18@society.emforster.de
  • All further details will be available from the website of the Society: http://society.emforster.de/ludwigsburg2018
  • Facebook users may also consider joining the group of our Society at https://www.facebook.com/groups/448009452056029/ to get the latest updates.
  • If you would like to join the Society, please, go to: http://society.emforster.de/members
  • Twitter hashtag: #emforster18

We are looking forward to meeting you in Ludwigsburg!

The Organisers
Dr Heiko Zimmermann, University of Education Ludwigsburg
Dr Anna Kwiatkowska, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
Prof. Krzysztof Fordoński, University of Warsa

(posted 10 October 2017)

The Condition of Contradiction
Saint Louis University, Madrid Campus, Spain, 13-14 April 2018
Extended Deadline for Submissions: Thursday 25 January

The advent of neoliberalism after the 1970s in “core” western economies has unleashed a relatively deregulated and more palpably globalized economy. The results have been convulsive in the socio-economic concomitants and contradictions that have followed. They include: intensified, bare-knuckled class striation alongside tendencies toward intensified tolerance and mixing; finance that moves more readily across borders than (many) flesh-and-blood people; cosmopolitanism alongside re-invigorated identity essentialism; and places and identities stuck between global forces and renewed assertions of localism. And all of it subject to 24-hour globalized, new media display. In this confusing milieu, where billionaires preach faux populism, all that is solid melts into air and all that is holy is profaned. Moreover, the knowledge industries (universities, news media) have been gob smacked by internal and external pressures that enable bizarre versions of “postmodern” and anti-reality doctrines to gain currency.

While many features of the landscape look bleak, the prevalence of seams in the system and fissures within prevailing ideology suggest that today’s contradiction may be tomorrow’s consensus. The conference will attempt to sort out and tentatively make sense of the current condition of deeply inscribed contradiction through interdisciplinary dialogue. Scholars of communication and mass media, political science, literature, sociology, philosophy, ethnography, global studies—anyone with interdisciplinary interests and bona fides—are invited to join in.

Topics of interest:

  • Capitalism & Culture
  • Media Representations of Contradiction: Film, TV, Music
  • Protest Politics
  • Contradictions in New Media: Theory and Practice
  • Class Politics
  • Activism & Quests for Social Justice
  • College Strife: Higher Education in the 21st century
  • Journalism: Its Defenders and Impersonators

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Justin Lewis, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

Application Process to Present: Please send an application in the form of a Word document to the conference Scientific Committee at the conference email address (below). The document should include (1a) your name, (1b) affiliation, and (1c) title; and (2a) the title of your paper, (2b) a 150-250 word abstract, and (2c) 3-5 keywords.

Conference Email Address:  madrid.conference.2018@gmail.com

Abstract Due Date: Thursday 25 January 2018 at 14:00 / 2 PM (Madrid, Spain local time)

Conference Web Page: https://conditionofcontradictionmadrid.wordpress.com

(posted 19 January 2018)

12th International IDEA Conference: Studies in English
Akdeniz University, Turkey, 18-20 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 30 November 2017

The Conference will be jointly hosted by
Akdeniz University’s Department of English Language & Literature
and
English Language & Literature Research Association of Turkey (IDEA).

The Conference will address topics from the fields of

  • English Literature
  • British and Cultural Comparative Studies
  • Translation Studies
  • Linguistics and ELT

Abstracts for proposed papers (maximum 250 words and 5-6 keywords) should be submitted to: idea2018@akdeniz.edu.tr
Please include your name, affiliation, email address and a brief biography.
Deadline for proposals is November 30, 2017

For enquiries, please contact Asst. Prof. Dr. Orkun Kocabıyık, orkunkocabiyik@gmail.com     Akdeniz University, Faculty of Letters, Department of English Language and Literature, Konyaalti, Antalya/Turkey

http://idea2018.akdeniz.edu.tr

(posted 19 July 2017)

The Fleeting Nature of Short Forms
University of Angers, France, 18-20 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 21 January 2018

Organizers: Karima Thomas, Cécile Meynard

The concept of brevity is, of course, not necessarily synonymous with shortness, and the question of the relationship between short forms and time deserves more critical attention. In the concept of fleetingness, time is seemingly unhinged. Between the unchangeable time of the maxim[1], the immediateness of the aphorism[2], the instantaneity of the fleeting image that, once retransmitted, “erases the trace of time”[3], the ephemeral time of performances (land-art, photos posted on Instagram, news briefs, news flashes…), precise time that shrinks, and/or extends into duration (diaries, Facebook posts, tweets, poetry collections), the fragmented time of television series proposing a story through a series of “micro-narratives” or the repetitive temporality of story loops, the concept of fleetingness creates a new dynamic in the short form. We propose to examine the poetics of fleetingness or even its ethics. We could consider, for example, photographic shots stolen by paparazzi or taken during natural catastrophes, or even demonstration banners or websites that overflow with maxims for our modern times. The diversity of these practices leads us to examine the strengths as well as the weaknesses of short forms: their effectiveness and moral relevance as well as the question of sustainability or long term conservation.

Perhaps the idea of fleetingness might also reveal the danger inherent to short forms, that of the unfinished, the risk of irrelevance or nonsense, or even of incomplete reception. It might also generate in short forms the force of shock, as laconic, lapidary bursts could serve as proof of semantic and semiotic effectiveness, and also as a promise of sustainability and conservation.

The notions of brevity and fleetingness could also be studied in association with the following:

1. Interconnected concepts
The immediate, instantaneous, ephemeral
Intensity, violence: explosion, shock, impact
Tone and style: laconic, lapidary, dry, brusque, aggressive; changes in style brought about by changes in form (email, twitter…)
Mysticism: revelation; myths and the sacred
Creation and its energies: dazzling, overflowing
Fragmentation, the relationship between the complete and the incomplete, the inexpressible
Possible contradictions: finesse vs. coarseness, concentration vs. reduction, density vs lightness, the ephemeral vs. the sustainable

2. Artistic Forms
Performances, land-art, street-art, bandes dessinées, comic strips, flashmobs, photography…
Literary short forms: Flash-fiction, nano-fiction, embedded stories, anecdotes, poetry…
Scenic and audiovisual short forms: theatre, cliff-hangers, television micro-narratives …

3. Practices, receptions and uses: zapping, “teasers,” concentration/selection (abstracts, extracts, summaries), stylisation, synthesis, modes of knowledge and comprehension of the world, culture, of reality through short forms (pedagogical, therapeutic, and scientific uses), caricature, stereotype, etc.

4. Forms of expression, of communication and information: manifestoes, slogans, posters, news briefs, media reports, promotional speeches, trailers …

In order to better understand the complex and multiform concept of the “short form” through the prism of temporality, we hope to have a wide-ranging interdisciplinary approach in areas as varied as literature, history, philosophy, information sciences, linguistics, didactics, sociology, medicine, psychology, the arts, performance, the economics of creative practice, etc.

Proposals for papers in English or in French (350-500 words) should be sent to Karima Thomas (karima.thomas@univ-angers.fr) and Cécile Meynard (cecile.meynard@univ-angers.fr), along with a brief CV by 21 January 2018. The scientific committee will examine proposals and send notice of acceptance by 25 January at the latest.

[1]Roland Barthes, « Réflexion ou sentence et Maxime », Degré Zéro de l’Ecriture, Seuil 1972, p. 45
[2] Alain Montandon, Les formes brèves, Hachette, 1992, p.70.
[3] Alain Gauthier, « Le temps c’est l’image », Quaderni N°16, 1991-1992, p.46.

(posted 2 January 2018)</p

TAML2: Tense, Aspect and Modality in L2
Leiden University, the Netherlands, 19-21 April 2018
Updated deadline for proposals: 29 September 2018

Venue:Van Wijkplaats 4
2311 BX Leiden

Conference website: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2017/06/call-for-papers-taml2

The Conference will start on the afternoon of 19th April 2018 and close on the afternoon of 21st April and is hosted by Leiden University Center for Linguistics, Leiden University, The Netherlands. This conference discusses Tense, Aspect and Modality in L2, with an emphasis on (a) aspectual representations in L2; (b) pedagogical applications of TAML2 research findings; (c); futurity and modality and  (d) theory building.

You are cordially invited to submit abstracts for papers and posters on any domain and subdomain of temporality in SLA research.

Information about the fees*
Regular rate: € 75,-
Student rate: € 40,-
Special rate LUCL/LLRC members: € 30,-
the participation fee includes  the conference dinner, lunch and coffee and tea

Plenary speakers
Dr. Ll. Comajoan, University of Vic, Spain
Dr. L. Domínguez, University of Southampton, UK
Prof. Dr. R. Salaberry, Rice University, USA
Dr. K. Schmitz, University of Wuppertal, Germany
Prof. Dr. H. Verkuyl, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

Key dates
Note: the abstract submission date has been rescheduled.
31th August 2017: the renewed abstract submission deadline is 29th September 2017
30th November 2017: notification of acceptance
1st December 2017: registration starts
20th March 2018: registration closes
19th -20th – 21st April 2018: conference

Paper submission policy
Paper and poster proposals should not have been previously published. More than one abstract per author can be submitted. All submissions will be reviewed anonymously by the scientific committee and evaluated in terms of rigour, clarity and significance of the contribution, as well as its relevance to research on L2 temporality. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words (excluding title and optional references). Proceedings will follow.

Submission guidelines
This year we are using the EasyAbs system to automate our workflow. To submit an abstract, click on the following link.

You can change any information about your paper before the abstract submission deadline on 29th September  2017. Before this date, please check that your abstract is complete and that it has also been uploaded in PDF format. For any submission-related questions please email

We look forward to receiving your submission.

(posted 9 September 2017)

Language Sustainability in a Changing World: 16th Conference on British and American Studies
Brașov, Romania, 20-21 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 7 April 2018

Plenary speaker: Professor Anna Mauranen, Research Diretor, Universit of Helsinki: “I have to disagree a little bit…” Metadiscourse in academic speaking

Presentations or workshops (20 minutes) are invited in the following areas:

  • Language Studies
  • Contat Linguistics
  • Comparative Linguistics
  • Language Acquisition
  • Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Sociolinguistics
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Linguistics
  • Language Teaching and Language Learning
  • Translation and Interpretation Studies
  • Lexicography and Terminology
  • Corpus Linguistics

The conference fee of 250 RON will be paid upon arrival, and covers conference pack, refreshments, and lunch.

Please use the online registration from available at http://old.unitbv.ro/anglistica/contact.html to register and to submit your paper proposals (title of your paper and abstract of maximum 200 words by the 7th of April 2018.

For additional information (accommodation and transport options) please visit the site of the Conference at http://old.unitbv.ro/anglistica or contact us at anglisticabrasov@gmail.com

(posted 26 March 2018)

The Word of the Law: V International Seminar on English and ESP Lexicology and Lexicography
University of Alicante, Spain,  26-27 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 1st February 2018

The Lexicology of Languages for Specific Purposes Research Group (LexEsp) is pleased to announce its “V International Seminar on English and ESP Lexicology and Lexicography: The Words of the Law”, to be held at the University of Alicante (Spain) on April 26-27, 2018.

The organising committee encourages the submission of individual abstracts focused on the following areas:

  • Specialized Legal Lexis/Lexicology
  • Specialized Legal Dictionaries
  • Bilingual Legal Lexicography
  • Corpora and Legal Lexicology
  • Gender and Legal Language
  • Word-Formation Processes in Legal English
  • Legal Terminology and Terminography
  • Legal Phraseology and Collocation
  • Teaching and Learning Legal Vocabulary
  • Legal Language and the Media
  • Legal Terminology and Translation in Institutional Settings
  • Vocabulary and phraseology in the courtroom

Abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted by Thursday, February 1st, 2018 (extended deadline). All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed. Abstracts should be submitted using EasyChair: https://easychair.org/cfp/LexESP2018.
The outcome of the review process will be notified by February 15th, 2018.

Keynote speakers

  • Łucja Biel (University of Warsaw)
  • Gianluca Pontrandolfo (Università di Trieste)

Scientific committee

  • Vijay Bhatia (ESP Communication Services)
  • Łucja Biel (University of Warsaw)
  • Maurizio Gotti (Università di Bergamo)
  • Shaeda Isani (Université de Grenoble)
  • Esther Monzó (Universitat Jaume I)
  • Juan Miguel Ortega (Universidad de Alicante)
  • Gianluca Pontrandolfo (Università di Trieste)
  • Isabelle Richard (Université de Nantes)
  • Juliette Scott (University of London)
  • Dieter Stein (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
  • Girolamo Tessuto (Università di Campania)

Deadlines:

  • Abstract submission: February 1st, 2018. (extended deadline).
  • Notification of acceptance: February 15th 2018.

Fees:

  • Contributors: €80, Deadline: March 15th 2018
  • Attendees: €30, Deadline: April 23rd 2018
  • Students (with proof of student status): €10, Deadline: April 23rd 2018

(posted 13 January 2018)

39th APEAA Meeting
University of Évora, Portugal: 26-28 April 2018

Venue: Department of Linguistics and Literatures, University of Évora

The University of Évora, through its Department of Linguistics and Literatures (DLL), is pleased to announce the 39th Conference of the Portuguese Association for Anglo-American Studies, which will take place in Évora, between 26 and 28 April 2018. It is now opening a call for papers and panels in a range of subjects in Anglo-American studies.

We look forward to receiving paper and panel proposals in the academic areas which are currently part of Anglo-American Studies, including (but not restricted to): Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Post-colonial Studies, Performance, Film and Theatre studies, Gender and Sexuality studies, Translation Studies, Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Language teaching and methodology, Multilingualism. Proposals for panels, put together around a common theme or research domain, are particularly welcome. We also welcome papers and panels on other Anglophone studies, such as Canadian, Irish, Scottish, etc.

If you are interested in any of the following thematic panels, we invite you to send your proposals mentioning the panel you would like to be included in:

  • The Contemporary Short Story in English: Exploring new boundaries(coord. Ana Raquel Fernandes, U. Europeia, and Teresa Casal, FLUL)
  • Dark Side Stories in American Arts, Literature and Culture(coord Maria Antónia Lima, UÉ, Margarida Vale de Gato, FLUL, and Teresa Botelho, UNova)
  • Pain, Loss and Trauma in Literature and Arts(coord. Carla Castro, UÉ)
  • Life Writing: Discourse, Identity, Representation(coord. Ana Clara Birrento and Olga Gonçalves, UÉ)
  • English in the 21st century: current approaches to English as an international lingua franca(coord. Luís Guerra, UÉ, Lili Cavalheiro, FLUL, Ricardo Pereira, IPLeiria)
  • Politics, sex, violence and other ordinary stuff in Contemporary British and American Drama(coord. Rui Pina Coelho, FLUL, Christine Zurbach, UÉ, and José Alberto Ferreira, UÉ)
  • Airplanes take off against the wind: study routes in Visual Arts in confluence with other knowledge areas(coord. Sandra Leandro, UÉ; Maria do Rosário Lupi Bello, UA)
  • Make sense of living together:new perspectives in Anglo-American Philosophy (coord. Olivier Feron and Teresa Santos, UÉ)
  • Dialects in fiction: representations of non-standard English in (translated) literature and film(coord. Rita Queiroz de Barros, FLUL / CEAUL, and Alexandra Assis Rosa, FLUL / CEAUL)
  • From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter(coord. Isabel Caldeira ,UC, and Maria José Canelo, CES)
  • Frankensteinand Northanger Abbey: setting the rules of the (post)modern Gothic? (coord. Ana Daniela Coelho and José Duarte, CEAUL, FLUL)
  • The Horror of the Human Mind: Perverseness and Power Structures(coord. Junior Researchers in Anglo-American Studies, UP)
  • What is the Meaning of this?!: Dismantling Traditional Discourse(coord. Junior Researchers in Anglo-American Studies, UP)
  • Peoples in Diaspora: from Realism to Self-Examination( coord. Zuzanna Sanches, CEAUL / UL)
  • Jazz Stories in Music, Literature and other Arts(coord. Eduardo Lopes, UÉ, and Paulo Gaspar, ESML-IPL)

A selection of papers will be published.

Some anniversaries celebrated in 2018 may provide the foundations for panels and individual papers:

The 200th birth anniversaries of Emily Brontë and Frederick Douglass; the 100th birth anniversary of Nelson Mandela; the 100thanniversaries of the end of World War I; the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. An important literary anniversary occurs in 2018: the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818).  

Book Presentations: APEAA members are also invited to present their own recently published academic books and/or translations (2016-2018). Please contact the organizing committee.

For more information see Conference site: http://www.apeaa.uevora.pt/ 

Organizing Committee: Maria Antónia Lima, Ana Clara Birrento, Luís Guerra, Carla Ferreira de Castro, Olga Gonçalves, Cristina Santos, Ana Alexandra Silva
Scientific Committee: Teresa Botelho, Maria Antónia Lima, Ana Clara Birrento, Luís  Guerra, Carla Ferreira de Castro, Olga Gonçalves

(posted 6 December 2018)

Migrant Narratives and the City
Budapest, Hungary, 27-28 April 2018
Deadline for proposals: 15 December 2017

International Conference organised by Central European University and the University of Debrecen

Keynote Speakers:
Carolyn Pedwell, University of Kent, UK
Dace Dzenovska, University of Oxford, UK

Roundtable Respondents:
Lisa Blackman, Goldsmith College, UK
Gábor Gyáni, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
Andrea Pető, Central European University, Hungary
Prem Kumar Rayaram, Central European University, Hungary
Further respondents TBA

Proposals are invited for an international conference on migrant narratives and the city in Western modernity to be held at Central European University, Budapest, co-organised with the Gender, Translocality and the City Research Group based at the Institute of English and American Studies, University of Debrecen. Papers exploring anthropological, sociological, historical, literary, filmic and theatrical accounts of migration and the refugee experience are welcomed. The conference aims to focus on the role of cities and public spaces, including the ways in which cities are restructured and reimagined as a result of migration; the affective dimension of the experience as well as the affects involved in reading/watching/listening to migrant and refugee narratives; the gendering of these narratives as well as the role gender plays in the life choices and integration of migrants.

We are particularly interested in comparative interpretations, such as narratives of refugees fleeing from war, genocide and oppressive political regimes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Apart from exploring the impact of trauma resulting from forced displacement, which has been analysed extensively in the past few decades, we aim to foreground the affective dimensions of place-making, for instance, as well as the function of art in overcoming and healing the experience. How are cities, often considered central to the imaginary of refugees, depicted in narratives of flight? How do these narratives figure differing and overlapping subjectivities in terms of race, class, gender and sexuality? What is the role of public spaces and performances in staging the experience of displacement? Do these narratives shed light on new aspects of intersectional discrimination?

We invite submission of abstracts for 20-minute talks. Papers on the following themes will be particularly welcomed:

  • Trauma and bibliotherapy in the urban environment
  • Art, “fugitive aesthetics” and the city
  • Migrant narratives and urban violence
  • Cities and the art of resistance
  • Queer migrant narratives and the city
  • Affective dimensions of place-making
  • Empathy and the city
  • The postmillennial metropolis and the “waning of affect”
  • Mobility and urbanity: the performative/affective agency of space
  • Historicization of migrant narratives
  • Fugitive, refugee, migrant, émigré(e)
  • Representations of ghettoization
  •  Vigilantism

Organizing committee:
Imola Bülgözdi (Institute of English and American Studies, UD)
Ágnes Györke (Institute of English and American Studies, UD)
Gender, Translocality and the City Research Group
Eszter Timár (Department of Gender Studies, CEU)

Please send abstracts of 300-350 words to migrantnarrativesconference@gmail.com before 15 December 2017. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us!

Conference website: Migrant Narratives and the City

(posted 9 November 2017)