cfp.english.upenn.edu

In Derrida's Wake
La Trobe University, Australia
9 Ocotober 2009

ANNOUNCING: Keynote Speaker

ANDREW BENJAMIN: ‘JUSTICE, LAW AND PLACE: DERRIDA AND THE UNCONDITIONAL’

Andrew Benjamin is Professor of Critical Theory and Philosophical Aesthetics in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University.

8 October 2009 marks the fifth anniversary of the death of French deconstructionist Jacques Derrida. Given Derrida’s concern with dates and contexts, but also with notions of trying to mourn for lost friends and the responsibilities of the living towards the dead and their legacies, it seems a more than appropriate time--perhaps a day late, because we hesitate, trying to postpone the inevitable--to bring together some friends and scholars of Derrida, not to mourn a man so concerned with the impossibility of mourning, but to begin to celebrate the enduring influence of deconstruction, to survey the state of play across the disciplines, in Derrida’s wake.        
And then, how does this unique context--not only 9 October 2009, but also La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia--influence what is taking place?  What is the relationship of Derrida and deconstruction to this context, to this time and these places?  More generally, how are Derrida and the particularly European and North American phenomenon of deconstruction placed in the Antipodes?  How does deconstruction take place in the Antipodes?  And what can we make of the Antipodes after Derrida?
The call for papers is still open, and goes out as widely as possible. Papers, of roughly 20 minutes in length, can address any aspect of Derrida’s life, works, or thought, and can show deconstruction in operation across any area of scholarship. The deadline for proposals is 1 August 2009. Abstracts of up to 500 words should be sent to Derrida2009@latrobe.edu.au and should be accompanied by a brief biographical note.