Adaptation(s) : transferts et soci=E9t=E9 / Adaptation(s) : Transfers =
and
Society

Du 15 au 17 NOVEMBRE 2006 /=20
November 15-17, 2006
Montr=E9al, Canada
Colloque international bilingue organis=E9 sous la direction de /=20
Bilingual international conference organized by
Michael Eberle-Sinatra, Danielle Aubry, C=E9line Lafontaine et Gilles =
Visy
avec le soutien du /=20
with the help of=20
Centre de recherche sur l=92interm=E9dialit=E9, l=92Universit=E9 de =
Montr=E9al et
l=92Universit=E9 de Qu=E9bec =E0 Montr=E9al
Conf=E9renciers pl=E9niers /=20
Keynote Speakers :
- Prof. George Elliott Clarke (University of Toronto), E.J. Pratt =
Professor
of Canadian Literature, recipient of numerous awards, including the =
Governor
General=92s Award for Poetry, and author of many publications, including
poetry, verse plays, an opera, a novel, and academic publications =
including
Treason of the Black Intellectuals? and Odysseys Home: Mapping
African-Canadian Literature
- Prof. Alain Gras (Sorbonne, Paris 1), directeur du Centre d=92=E9tude =
des
techniques, des connaissances et des pratiques et auteur, entre autres, =
de
La fragilit=E9 de la puissance. Se lib=E9rer de l'emprise technologique.

Adaptation stands for the labor-saving adjustment of an object to the =
shape
of a new social and cultural setting. Adaptation stands for scale,
projection, transfer process, and thus begs the question of the =
unchangeable
and the new, of agreement and distortion -- in sum, of difference:
difference in discourse, as well as in aesthetic and artistic shape,
material and technique.=20

This concept acts as a frame that allows us to consider the processes of
exchange and transfer which animate our contemporary world, while it =
also
serves as a model for the production of cultural and media practices, as
well as one which encourages standardization.=20

This notion permeates the humanities as well as social sciences but,
surprisingly, few attempts have been made so far to compare the varying
definitions of adaptation across the disciplines of the social sciences,
humanities, fine arts and literature. Yet these comparisons would shed a
welcome light on the different reference and value systems which shape
studies of adaptation.=20

This conference aims:

1. to look at adaptation as both a practice in the field of cultural
production, as well as a concept that is defined, programmed, proposed =
and,
sometimes, imposed;

2. to revisit the theme of adaptation in order to track the theoretical
changes from the early studies on intertextuality, and particularly all =
the
studies done in the structuralist, linguistic, and semiotic fields from =
1970
to 1990, to the concept of adaptation as "ubiquitous and central to the
human imagination" put forward by Linda Hutcheon;

3. to confront the different theoretical models of adaptation, =
understood as
an intermedia process, or as a new set of rules for intermedia space.

We hope that this conference will fruitfully contribute to the ongoing
debate on adaptation, and will foster a better understanding of one of =
the
key concepts of the last two centuries=92 cultural production. This =
concept
will also constantly evolve thanks to the broadening of the notion of =
art
and the relationships and transfers which in turn result from it; in =
fact,
adaptation is already engaged with multiple systems simultaneously.=20

In order to facilitate the consideration of various aspects of the =
question,
and to foster fruitful exchange, we have identified three research =
themes,
each one encompassing a number of sub-topics (obviously, these are not
intended as being restrictive):

I. Sociology and adaptation

- From biology to social science: a critique of the Darwinian model
- The myth of economic adaptation
- Frames, codes, and programs of adaptation for social institutions
- Violence of adaptation/ refusal of adaptation
- Controlling adaptation: migration and society
- Cyborg, posthuman, and transhuman: new faces of adaptation?

II. Adaptation as creation

- Fiction and adaptation: travelling across novel, film, theatre, and =
comics

- Are new media a special case?
- "Seriality": vectors of formal and technical hybridity
- Intertextuality as a forerunner of an intermedia reading of cult =
series
- Opera adaptations

III. The anthropology of adaptation

- Normative adaptation: psychology and clinical psychiatry
- Selective adaptation: the new shapes of exclusion and inclusion
- Adapting sexuality
- Adaptation and technique
- Nature/culture: frontiers of adaptation
- Darwinian theories of adaptation and science fiction

Please send your 500-word proposal and 1-page CV before April 17, 2006, =
to
michael.eberle.sinatra_at_umontreal.ca

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Received on Wed Mar 15 2006 - 08:29:31 EST