cfp.english.upenn.edu

Narratives Mediated: (dis)junctions 2012
19th annual graduate student conference
University of California, Riverside
April 13-14th, 2012

Abstracts due: February 17th, 2012
Email: disjunctions2012@gmail.com

For this year’s (dis)junctions conference, we are seeking papers that explore the construction and definition of “narrative” in all its mediated and mediating forms. The word narrative is typically associated with storytelling and plot, but for this year’s conference we want to understand “narrative” as any instance of producing meaning or “truth.” In this regard, a piece of literary criticism, while often explicating a literary narrative, is a type of narrative in itself. Further, in an attempt to be at once inclusive and provocative, we want to think about the way disciplines across the academy each work to construct particular narratives. History, for instance, seeks to understand the past through contending narratives; the Sciences constantly revises dominant narratives of the physical world; and even music, while not verbal, still has a trace of narrative in its composition, framed by a beginning and end. To what extent do narratives (in a broad sense of the term) reflect, challenge, or create a sense of both oneself and one’s world? Does the medium act as a link between the reader/viewer/listener and the “real,” or does the medium come to define the real? How do different academic discourses mediate and create new ontological narratives? Papers may address topics such as, but not limited to: identity, the nation, race relations, ethnic rhetorics, gender, sexuality, materiality, neoliberalism, pedagogy, postcolonial theory and narratives, autobiographies, landscapes, narrative genres (of Trans-Atlantic, North-South relation, Medieval, Romantic, Modern, Post-Modern, travel, war, visual, video games—to name a few), technology, narratology, popular media/new media, the university as the public production of knowledge, and other academic criticism/theory not mentioned above as narrative.

In keeping with previous years, (dis)junctions 2012 welcomes papers from all disciplines inside and outside of the Humanities. Participants may submit to a specific panel or in response to the general call for papers. Traditional genre and period-related papers, as well as creative writing, spoken word, dance pieces, and installation artwork are highly encouraged. Please visit our website at http://disjunctions2012.wordpress.com for additional panel-specific Calls For Papers as they become available. Abstracts (250-300 words) may be emailed to disjunctions2012@gmail.com. Please note any A/V needs you may have at that time. We can obtain VCRs, DVDs, and projectors for laptops. Less standard equipment is possible (although not guaranteed) upon request.

*Keynote speaker to be announced on our website at http://disjunctions2012.wordpress.com