cfp.english.upenn.edu

It is with pleasure that we invite you to participate in the 6th Congress of Polish Canadianists, which will take place between 5th and 7th of April 2013 in Poznań, Poland. Congress presentations will focus on the often disturbed or destabilized relations among linguistic, literary and cultural communities of Canada in the context of the political and legal framework within which they exist. We hope to draw scholars from a variety of disciplines within the Canadian Studies and beyond who want to reflect on the emergence of multidisciplinary links among the political, the social and the cultural within Canada. Results of initial research into those areas carried over the last ten years indicate that, whether one takes a socio-political, cultural or literary perspective, it is no longer possible to ignore tensions between differing views regarding the nature of the above mentioned links and interdependencies. Canada, though apparently faithful to the principles of multidisciplinarity and multiculturalism, still has to face and deal with intense conflicts that go beyond the limits of academic discourse. How can one define or think about relationships between cultural and linguistic communities of Canada and the rule of law in relation to this complex interaction between dialogue and the apparent exclusion and silencing?
The organizers invite you to consider the specificity of the three major kinds of tensions occurring in contemporary Canadian society, i.e. negotiations-negations-antagonisms, from the point of view of the law, economy, politics, sociology, culture, literature, linguistics and translation studies.
Potential proposals may include, but are not limited, to the following topics:

• jurisprudence in the context of official bilingualism and multilingual practice; is it in the service of the humanist ideal that aims to create a common culture? or, does it serve instead to strengthen the cultural divisions by highlighting breakdowns of communication and broken links between groups that constitute the multicultural context?;
• official languages of Canada and official translation;
• the impact of the official bilingualism on the policy and practice of translation
• the impact of the relations between cultural and linguistic communities in Canada and the rule of law on national identity;
• the role of the English language in everyday life in comparison to its legal status (ideological framework);
• publication laws and the dissemination of Canadian minority literatures;
• the impact of legal translation on literary themes and devices
• promotion policy of the official languages;
• official bilingualism and the rule of law;
• legal and political developments in relation to language issues
• language laws: federal and provincial;
• linguistic diversity and the economic integration of Canadian provinces ;
• redefinition of the relations between the two official languages and minority languages;
• the impact of the change of the legal status of a given language on the restructuring of the linguistic and economic markets;
• the impact of provincial and regional specificity on legislation related to cultural and linguistic issues;
• literary and critical reflection on the Canadian “pastoral ideal” and pastoral tradition in support of/against Northrop Frye’s claims of its centrality for the concept of Canada as “a Peaceable Kingdom”
• idealistic impulses in Canadian social and literary tradition versus social and cultural practice
• links between Canadian literary markets and legal regulations/cultural policies of the Canadian government today and in the past;
• anglophone and francophone literatures in Canada: historical and contemporary interdependencies, dialogues, conflicts; how are these facilitated or not by the legal framework?
• banned and challenged books: censorship in Canada today and in the past;
• majority and minority Canadian literatures (ethnic, racial, class, gender);
• legal, political and literary responses to othering, excluding, stigmatizing of individuals and communities;
• gender and sexuality within the multicultural framework;
• First Nations literatures and cultures in the “Peaceable Kingdom.”

The deadline for paper or panel proposals is Friday 30 November 2012.

Enquiries and proposals in English or French to:
Dagmara Drewniak and Malgorzata Palaniuk (conference secretaries)
Email: pacs.2013@gmail.com

Email abstract(s) of 200–300 words and brief CV (please do not exceed one side of A4) which must include your title, institutional affiliation, email and mailing address by 30 November 2012. Submissions will be acknowledged by email.

Conference organisers:
Agnieszka Rzepa
Alicja Zuchelkowska