cfp.english.upenn.edu

This interdisciplinary student conference endeavors to bring about discussion and ideas on the current themes of occupation expressing themselves in political demonstrations and movements
throughout our nation and the global community. Exploring these themes in literature, film, and rhetoric provides a textual landscape for the creative expression of occupation which foregrounds and/or responds to the world-wide movements of the early 21st century as well as addressing historical ideas of occupation. Traditional as well as novel approaches to this theme are encouraged.

While this forum is intended for the presentation of scholarly articles, creative submissions will also be considered. Graduate students and undergraduates are encouraged to apply.

We encourage abstracts that explore the theme of Occupation from a wide range of fields and disciplines. Topics may include but certainly are not limited to:
• Representations of Economy
• Occupation and the State of the Mind
• The Rhetoric of Occupation
• Power, Place, and Liminality
• Privatization and the Reclaiming of the Commons
• Imperialism, Empire, and Globalization
• Alternative Identities / Alternative Worlds
• Class, Race, and Power
• Narratives of Dispossession
• Narratives of Social Protest
• Representing the 99%
• State Violence and Neoliberalism
• Displacement, Migration, and the Politics of Space
• Police, Surveillance, and Radical Movements
• Ideology, Political Art, and the Activist-Artist
• Occupation and the Educational System
• Occupy and the New Semiotics of/for Change