cfp.english.upenn.edu

Performance in Contact Zones

Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013
Submission deadline: February 28, 2013

California State University, San Marcos announces its upcoming dialogue between subjectivity and contact zones. As a border city, we are challenged to teach and perform in a hybrid space. This space creates a forum of discourse which can either be labeled as cultural syncretism or cultural tension. Whether one views this exchange as a transaction or oppression, we are eager to organize panels on the discussion of teaching and performance in contact zones. We are open to pedagogical approaches in rhetoric and composition, critical analysis on cultural artifacts within contact zones, historical interpretation of multicultural environments, sociological investigations about border communities, and journalistic challenges in the writing of physical and philosophical borders.

Some questions might include, but are not limited to:
-Does dissolving boundaries lead to a heterogeneous environment or create a homogeneous space perpetuated by hegemony?
-How is cultural contact/exchange negotiated within a global community? Are these exchanges reciprocal or hierarchical?
-How are contact zones and borders represented and/or navigated in specific literary texts?
-What are the challenges of representing and incorporating marginalized voices in the academic setting?
-What are the challenges of ESL students or instructors of such students?
-How does music/film and/or media represent/reflect cultural exchange and contact zones?

Fields of Interest:
Literature and Writing
Translation
Communications
Anthropology
History
Philosophy
Sociology
Cultural Studies
Gender Studies
Rhetoric and Composition.
Film/Media
Journalism
Political Science

This conference does not limit itself to a specific philosophical nor physical border. We hope to hear voices and presentations from various cultures and geographical locations.

We invite you to send your abstract of 300-500 words to
LTWRconference2013@gmail.com.