category: science and culture

MMLA 2013 - Session on Canadian Literature (New Deadline)

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:43:37 -0400

This permanent section invites papers on any aspect of Canadian Literature. Proposals related to the conference theme of "art and artifice," are encouraged, although this theme can be broadly construed. The new deadline for abstracts is June 28, 2013.

Eco-dystopias: Special Issue of Critical Survey- Completed articles by 1st September 2013

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:56:19 -0400

CFP: Special issue of Critical Survey on Eco-dystopias for publication in 2013.

Submissions are invited of completed articles for a special issue of the journal Critical Survey, devoted to representations of environmental dystopias in literature and the visual arts.
Recent discussions in the media have focused attention on the emergence of ‘cli-fi’ (climate fiction) as a sub-genre of science fiction. Works of cli-fi explore imaginary futures and places in which global environmental catastrophe, brought on by climate change, has come to pass. Writing in The Guardian in May 2013, the novelist Rodge Glass noted that “[w]hereas 10 or 20 years ago it would have been difficult to identify even a handful of books that fell under this banner, there is now a growing corpus of novels setting out to warn readers of possible environmental nightmares to come.” This crop of recent responses to climate change can, however, be mapped against a much more extensive body of dystopian imaginings that might broadly be termed ‘ecological’ rather than – or as well as -- ‘social’ or ‘political’. A great deal of dystopian writing and film-making since the 1950s has responded to the prevailing discourses of environmentalism.
This special issue invites critical essays that consider dystopian imaginative responses (in fiction, poetry, film, or the visual arts) to environmental anxiety, not necessarily limited to our current focus on climate change. Potential submissions might explore, for instance, how writers, film-makers or artists have addressed the ecological implications of:
• Overpopulation
• Viruses, outbreaks, epidemics
• Genetic engineering
• Virtual reality, cybernetics, robotics
• Deforestation
• Species extinction
• Climate change
Completed essays should be submitted to Dr Rowland Hughes (r.w.hughes@herts.ac.uk) and/or Dr Pat Wheeler (p.a.wheeler@herts.ac.uk) by 1st September 2013, with the intention of going to press before the end of 2013.

CDE Conference 2014 – CFP: “Theatre and History: Cultural Transformations”

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:34:48 -0400

23rd Annual CDE Conference, Hamburg, Germany, 19 June - 22 June 2014

The German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English (CDE) is pleased to announce its 23rd Annual Conference (19-22 June 2014). It will be organized by the Department of English and American Studies (Prof. Ute Berns) at the University of Hamburg and held as a residential conference at Elsa Brändström Haus in Hamburg.

THEATRE AND HISTORY: CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS

This conference addresses versions and visions of history in contemporary drama and theatre in English across the world. Just as the “end of history” proclaimed in 1989 has turned out to be a chimera, so the historical has remained a powerful presence in the plays and performances we have seen since then. Many plays challenge hegemonic historiography from gendered, postcolonial, and ecological perspectives that pluralize the past. And in re-conceiving the past and historicizing the present in its cultural transformations and global entanglements, these plays and performances bear witness to a significant “plurality of temporalities” (Russell West-Pavlov 2013).

In recent decades, history has featured in history plays, verbatim or memory plays, staged biographies, and enactments ‘on location’. They may bear traces of the activist deployments of history in the 1970s, or react to postmodernist constructions of a ‘permanent present’ (Paul Virilio 1991). At the same time the global unsustainability of dominant modes of production has raised the awareness of the material embeddedness of all historical processes. Hence playwrights and theatre practitioners do not only stage but also scrutinize and resist linear notions of history. They create alternative temporalities, whether traumatic or mythical, religious or ritualistic. And they address the material or environmental processes within which these temporalities unfold.

How do the ‘here-and-now’ of the performance situation and the embodied material process of theatrical performance figure in this? Can the aesthetics of theatre challenge the notion of necessity, imposed on history in retrospect and repressing all contingency? And how does theatre recover history as a process harbouring multiple futures?

The 2014 CDE conference aims to investigate the relations between theatre and history, to analyse different temporalities in performance, and to explore the historical visions thus emerging.

We invite papers in English of 20 minutes length. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• aesthetic figurations of histories and temporalities
• histories of violence and war
• women and history
• modernity, postcoloniality and history
• history and environment

In accordance with CDE’s constitutional policy, papers should deal exclusively with contemporary (i.e. post-1989) theatre and drama in English.

Abstracts: Abstracts (300 words) of suggested papers (20 minutes
delivery max.) should include a short biographical note
plus full address and institutional affiliation.
Deadline: 15 December 2013
Contact: Ute Berns (ute.berns@uni-hamburg.de)
Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Von-Melle-Park 6, 20146 Hamburg.

N.B. Only paid-up members are eligible to give papers at CDE conferences. Membership subscriptions may be taken out or renewed during the conference. For details, please contact the treasurer: m.pietrzak-franger@tu-braunschweig.de

We look forward to receiving your suggestions and welcoming you to Hamburg!

[UPDATE] CFP: Urban Culture Area, MAPACA, 11/7-11/9/2013, Atlantic City, NJ (June 30th, 2013, deadline for proposals)

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:18:40 -0400

This year, we continue to explore various matters of the urban, but in particular, education and this city. Sunday schools, regular schools, symposiums, workshops, libraries, newsletters, e-learning, expositions, exhibitions, street festivals, travel, field trips, block associations, reading groups, elders, blogs, youtube, revolutionary buildings, performance, music education -- what are the various forums that we build, sustain, and perpetuate in our cities, in order to know more about the city? Of particular interest will be issues of place, sustainability, class, race, and gender, as they play with or against access to the various forms of education in the city. How does the city that we teach (or the city that we learn) correspond (or not) to the physical map of the city? How many and what different kinds of cities are out there? As in previous years, please send your proposals about these and related issues to the Urban Culture Area of MAPACA. Historical or ethnographic studies of particular philosophies and forms of education, poetic accounts of personal journeys through city education, and explorations of highly orchestrated or surprisingly improvised forms or systems of education in the city are welcome, as are studies of particular cities. If interested in participating in a workshop on “writing the urban,” in addition to presenting a paper, please, indicate so. June 30th, 2013 is the deadline by which you can submit your proposal through our website, http://mapaca.net/conference. If you have any questions, please, email Dr. Blagovesta Momchedjikova, Urban Culture Area Chair, bmm202@nyu.edu. This year, the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association meets November 7-9, 2013, in Atlantic City, NJ. For further information, check www.mapaca.net.

Critiquing Culture: The Cultural Studies Graduate Conference - submission extension to June 22, 2013

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:38:39 -0400

Critiquing Culture: The Cultural Studies Graduate Conference (21/9/13) at George Mason University is now accepting paper proposals. We encourage papers that take a cultural studies approach including Marxist political economy, poststructuralism, feminism, critical theory and post-colonial studies to investigate cultural objects. Papers may be related to the broad themes of political economy, mass & popular culture, gender & sexuality, race & ethnicity, representation & aesthetics and American electoral politics. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and should be submitted to critiquing.culture@gmail.com by 22 June 2013. http://culturalstudiesconference.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/2013-critiq...

CFP: Making Meaning with the Work of N. Katherine Hayles, SAMLA, Nov. 8-10, 2013

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:02:08 -0400

This panel seeks to explore a wide range of research that engages the writings of N. Katherine Hayles, SAMLA 85 Critical Plenary Speaker. We invite papers on topics that include but are not limited to the following: theoretical extensions of Hayles’s concepts/approaches; critical applications of her work in analyses of literature, film, digital media, etc.; suggestive combinations of Hayles with other theorists and critics; and explorations of the implications of her ideas for the humanities, the classroom, scholarly publishing, etc. By June 25, 2013, please submit a 300-word abstract and brief bio to Lynn Page Whittaker, University of Georgia, at lynnpw@uga.edu.

SAMLA 85 (Nov. 8-10, 2013) will be held at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center. Accepted presenters must join SAMLA (membership information available here: http://samla.memberclicks.net/membership-information) and register for the conference.

[UPDATE: DEADLINE APPROACHING]

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:15:21 -0400

From Science to Sensation: Art and Artifice in Wilkie Collins (MMLA November 7-10 2013)

A special session on the relation between science and sensation in the work of Wilkie Collins at the Midwest Modern Language Association 2013 conference that focuses on the theme of Art and Artifice.

Accused of such literary crimes as sensationalism and dilettantism, Collins is too often dismissed as a writer of lighter fare, passed over for studies of the period's more serious writers - like Dickens, for instance, with whom he worked closely as a journalist for Household Words and as a a dramatist. This session puts Collins and his work in the critical spotlight, looking from an interdisplinary perspective at how Collins's writing explored deeper social issues - marriage, sexuality, ethics and science, to name but a few - while catering to his audience's taste for art and artifice.

We are particularly interested in papers that explore Collins's writing that receives less critical attention.

Deadline for abstracts June 14, 2013

Please submit a 300-word proposal and a brief bio to
Professors Elizabeth Anderman and Erika Behrisch Elce:

Erika.Behrisch.Elce@rmc.ca
Elizabeth.Anderman@Colorado.edu

I INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “(DIS)MEMORY OF DISASTER” (18-19 October 2013 - Madeira, Portugal)

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:18:05 -0400

Within the context of the controversial risk society concept, which seems to have played a pivotal role in his thinking on the reflexive modernity, Ulrich Beck more recently drew attention to the impact of “the public dramatization of risks” on the cultural imagination of the contemporary globalised world and furthermore noting the implications of these factors to our daily lives whether in socio- ecological, (bio)political, economic or technological terms or at the level of issues relating to psychology, epistemology or even the arts (Beck, 2012: 6). Inhabiting a desacralised world, with borders that prove ever more porous, and where reality becomes experienced at an ever more accelerated pace of mutation dominated by instability and liquidity (Baumann, 2000), the modern subject finds himself caught up in a “tidal wave of memorial concerns”, as Pierre Nora (2002: 1) highlights, and, in Beck’s perspective, takes up a position as a central and (ir)responsible figure in the construction of the respective eco-socio-cultural system. To this extent, risks and disasters may be attributed to human action itself and the choices and decisions taken by individuals and institutions, while taking into consideration past experiences and perspectives as regards the future. According to Ulrich Beck (2012: 8), more science or knowledge does not necessarily mean the mitigation of risks but rather a greater visibility to those risks (and often in neither a critical nor a thorough fashion) and thereby rendering their perception still starker.

Understood as a complex process, subject to manifold manipulation and determined, according to Gisela Wachinger and Ortwin Renn (2010), not only by formal or empirical knowledge but also by other factors (experiences and expectations; values, mental and imaginary models; attitudes and interests; affects and emotions; socio-cultural contexts; etcetera), the perception of risk is today deemed a key process in decision making in situations of (risk of) disaster (Alexander, 2011: 9) and, consequently in the construction of both vulnerability and resilience.

Within this framework, and perceiving disasters as multi-dimensional phenomena caused by exposure to diverse hazards (floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wars, terrorist attacks, nuclear accidents, etcetera) and, in particular, as extreme events that reveal failings in the workings of the eco-socio-cultural systems as Enrico Quarantelli (2005) notes, the I International Conference “(Dis)Memory of disaster” wishes to constitute a space for both academic and civic debate and to question the implications between memory/forgetfulness (whether individual or cultural), perceptions of danger, risk management and the experience of disasters in diverse geo-cultural contexts.

Without ever ignoring approaches centred around the study of dangers (natural, technological and others), we nevertheless aim for this event to analyse disaster related phenomena across all of their densest and most complex facets within a multidisciplinary perspective. We aim at reaching beyond the boundaries of the technological and the natural sciences and thus also engaging with other disciplinary fields. Indeed, as Anthony Oliver-Smith (2004: 11) points out, even natural disasters themselves should be studied as phenomena driven by the interchange between natural factors and human and cultural factors. Therefore, any analytical approach requires not only the learnings generated by the natural and technological sciences but also the fields of anthropology, economics, history, psychology, sociology, culture studies and other interconnected fields. Taking an inverse approach, we become able to legitimately question the relevance that the study of disasters might play to studies of the human psychology and studies on the historical and socio-cultural universes that experience those extreme phenomena.

Thus, the I International Conference “(Dis)Memory of disaster” hereby issues a call for paper proposals (20 minutes), focused preferentially on the following broad fields of reflection:

. The art of disaster and ways of worldmaking: the representation of disaster and the construction of the event’s cultural memory;
. Culture(s) of disaster and resilient societies: the role of schools and education, archives, museums and other cultural institutions in constructing the memory of disaster and the perception of risk;
. Exchanging perspectives: the discourse of I and the Other in disaster narratives;
. Disasters, art and risk mitigation;
. Disasters and (bio)politics: cultural memory, conflict and power;
. Disasters and religion: apocalyptic discourses and/or discourses on resilience;
. Disasters, memory and economy: from losses to the opportunities for developing sustainable models;
. Disasters, ruins and archaeology: writing the memory of disaster across time and space;
. Disasters, tourism and development: perspectives in analysis;
. (Dis)Memory of disaster and identity construction: disaster narratives and nation narratives;
. (Dis)Memory of disaster, socio-cultural perceptions of risk and vulnerabilities to natural dangers;
. Management and the governance of disaster risks: the role of memory in politics and actions designed for risk and emergency management
. Islands and vulnerable insularity: memory and/of disasters;
. Memory of disaster, mourning and trauma;
. Memory of disaster and engineering
. Words that mean (the memory) of disasters: toponyms and socio-linguistic approaches;
. Land-use planning and management: the memory of/in space and strategies for disaster risk reduction;
. Representing disasters, their (re)mediation and coverage in a globalised world: (new) media and the construction/eradication of the memory of disaster.

Registration for themed panels is also now open with each panel made up of groups of three or four speakers chaired by a specialist on the respective theme of that panel.

Schedule and submission of proposals:

Paper proposals (lasting a maximum of 20 minutes) and/or panel suggestions should be submitted to the following email address: (desmemoria_de_desastre_2013@sapo.pt) by 30th June 2013. The e-documentation submitted should include the following: paper title; abstract (200 words); name(s), contact(s) and academic affiliation of the proposed speaker(s); a brief CV or bio- bibliographic note containing the respective key areas of academic research and interest (approx. 100 words).

Notification of paper acceptance will take place by 31 July 2013.

The conference working languages are Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

For further information on this event, please go to:
- the I International Conference on “(Dis)Memory of disaster” webpage:
http://www4.uma.pt/dmd/
- the I International Conference on “(Dis)Memory of disaster” facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/ana.salgueirorodrigues?ref=tn_tnmn#!/events/511188358918437/

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
. Ana Paula Almeida
. Ana Salgueiro Rodrigues
. Diana Gonçalves
. Duarte Encarnação
. Filipa Fernandes
. José Maria Montero
. Maria João Beja
. Paulo Miguel Rodrigues

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:
. Anne Martina Emonts (CCAH-UMa; CECC- UCP)
. Delta Sousa e Silva (LNEC);
. Diana Gonçalves (CECC –UCP);
. Duarte Encarnação (CCAH-UMa)
. Élvio Duarte Martins Sousa (CHAM – UNL/UA; CEAM);
. Filipa Fernandes (ISCSP- UTL)
. Isabel Capeloa Gil (FCH-UCP; CECC-UCP);
. Maria João Beja (CCAH-UMa)
. Paulo Miguel Rodrigues (CCAH-UMa; CIEC-UC; CIERL-UMa)

SAMLA 85 in Atlanta: Contemporary American Creative Non-Fiction

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:37:57 -0400

ADVANCED WRITING
Contemporary American Creative Nonfiction
The genre of creative nonfiction— exemplified both by engaging, intellectual essays and by narrative with attention to literary style—has received increasing scholarly and public attention. Moreover, such writing is taking new forms—on the page, as in the past, and on the web as well. This panel highlights and celebrates creative non-fiction composed for both page and screen. Papers on any aspect of writing, writing about, or teaching creative nonfiction are welcomed, and papers that connect to this year’s special focus are especially encouraged. By June 27, 2013, please send abstracts of 300 words or so and a brief bio to Diana Eidson at deidson@gsu.edu

12th Medieval English Studies Symposium: Between Nostalgia and Hope: The Waning of the Middle Ages

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:31:56 -0400

The 2013 Medieval English Studies Symposium (30th Nov - 1Dec) invites scholars and young researchers in the Middle Ages. MESS 2013 be devoted to perspectives on the past as construed by late medieval writers. Our plenary speaker is Richard Newhauser whose work on sins is internationally known, and who will discuss the idea of decadence, inextricably connected with the waning of an epoch.MESS 2013 welcomes papers about the fifteenth century, a century of nostalgia for the world that is inescapably coming to an end, as well as one of welcome for the new sciences, new geography and new literatures. Please send 500-word abstracts should be submitted by the end of July 2013, by e-mail (kbronk@wa.amu.edu.pl; bbronkk@gmail.com), in the .rtf or .doc format. As the number of paper slots is limited, all proposals will be reviewed by the organising committee and the authors will be notified about acceptance by mid-September 2013. Participants without papers are also welcome.