Representations of Home 3
“Where do we carry home now?”
Shifting perceptions of homeSchool of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon
22 – 23 October 2020

[…] Kiss me, for where else
do we carry home now, Habibi,
if not on our lips?
(Zeina Hashem Beck, “Naming Things, For refugees”, September 2015)

The RHOME — Representations of Home in Literature and Culture in English project, based at the University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies (ULICES), explores representations of home and the longing to belong, as they feature in literature, the visual arts and culture. It also addresses issues of identity and belonging related to the geo-political and socio-cultural contexts of countries where English is or has become a language of communication.

In a world faced with climate challenges, migration and the resurgence of populist nationalisms, glocal responses need to be explored. The project, therefore, engages with the notion of home as multi-layered, ranging from (in)voluntary migration and exile, war and conflict, trauma, demographic evolution and climate change to the remembered, imaginary and desired home. The search for place(s), space(s) or communit(ies) of belonging may be the reason for relocation or dislocation, at the individual or group level, and for the emergence of divergent and changing meanings attached to these locations. In this process, questions arise on the shifting perceptions of home: how does one inhabit the home of an inhospitable host? How does one inhabit one’s changing body? How does one live in a foreign language? How do humans relate to the non-human?

For the next RHOME conference, which will take place in Lisbon on 22 and 23 October 2020, we invite contributions on the general theme of representations of home in literatures and cultures in English.

Possible topics to consider within this theme:

• Home and (non)belonging
• Home and utopia/dystopia
• Home and (dis)location
• Home and migration
• Home and exile
• Home and the refugee crisis
• Home and nationalisms
• Home and the body
• Home and violence
• Home and language
• Home and travelling
• Home and nature
• Home and demographic and climate change
• Home and the Anthropocene
• Imaginary homes/homelands
• Home and identity
• Genres of testimony
• Home, emotion and memory

Proposals of no more than 300 words, along with a bionote of 50 words, name, affiliation and 5 keywords, should be sent to rephome@letras.ulisboa.pt by 15 April 2020 with a subject heading “RHOME 2020 submissions”. Notification of acceptance will be sent out by 1 June 2020.

As in 2017, the conference will also include a call for creative pieces (poems, short stories, memoirs, photos or films) for a reading and audio-visual session which will take place during the event.