cfp.english.upenn.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS: International Conference
TITLE: “Diasporic Subjectivity, Intimacy and Memory”
CONFERENCE DATES: June 30-July 2, 2013
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS: February 15, 2013
PLACE: Oxford University

This conference is the last event in the “Diaspora, Cultures of Mobility, ‘Race’” series. The convenors wish to extend and expand the reflection on the concept of diaspora, its uses, its limits, or even its outright rejection as a useful concept, by unravelling the extent to which the diasporic condition affect the subjective perceptions of the self, the sphere of intimacy and memorial processes. They also want to address the ways in which these processes are reflected in past and contemporary artistic creation.
We seek contributions (theoretical interventions as well as case studies in the disciplines of the social sciences and the humanities) that address the following issues:

The diasporic body: what becomes of the perception of the self once affected by an experience of de-territorialisation? How does it intersect with issues of race and gender? Can migration be regarded as a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood and parenthood? What are the political underpinnings of these processes?

Diasporic memories and narratives of the self: diasporic consciousness solicits past memories brought from the place of origin still mediating the relationships with those who stayed behind, or new memories built up in the context of migration or on the work-place. They may reflect the migrant’s militant engagement or his/her intimacy. How are these different ranges of memories brought together in the narratives that migrants construct of themselves? How do they put together the fragmented pieces of their disrupted selves?

The idea of home: how do the perceptions of and relations with home evolve over the life course of migrants? What becomes of intimacy when it no longer dovetails with proximity?

Choices: migration is a long series of choices: the choice to leave, the decision to stay or to return, to marry or not, to bring up children here or there, etc. The question of choice is particular salient in a diasporic context. What is the mechanics of choice in a migratory context? Are they a manifestation or an illusion of agency (when the choice is made not to choose)?

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS (maximum 250 words): February 15, 2012
Please submit a short bio-bibliographical notice as well (maximum 200 words) and copy the five co-convenors of the conference.

Pr Sally Barbour (Wake Forest University, USA) barbour@wfu.edu
Dr David Howard (University of Oxford, UK) david.howard@conted.ox.ac.uk
Dr Thomas Lacroix (IMI, Univ. of Oxford, UK; MIGRINTER, Université de Poitiers, France) thomas.lacroix@univ-poitiers.fr
Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak (EMMA, Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3, France) judith.misrahi-barak@univ-montp3.fr
Pr Claudine Raynaud (EMMA, Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3, France) claudine.raynaud@univ-montp3.fr

“DIASPORAS, CULTURES OF MOBILITIES, ‘RACE’” CONFERENCE SERIES
This will be the fourth meeting in the series organized by the research centre EMMA (University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France) over 2011-13 which has gathered leading scholars in the field to identify and assess the joint evolutions of “Diaspora Studies” and “Race studies” to better understand: 1) how these approaches can be cross-fertilising; 2) how socio-economic and political changes have affected race relations and diasporic communities; 3) how literature and the arts, the social sciences and cultural studies have seized that question. This project entails a redefinition of terms and concepts and the confrontation of different, but not necessarily divergent, perspectives.

http://pays-anglophones.upv.univ-montp3.fr/?page_id=285

A preparatory symposium, “Diasporas and Cultures of Migration” was held at University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3 in June 2011, in partnership with CAAR (Collegium for African-American Research), the Centre de Recherches Littéraires et Historiques de l’Océan Indien (CRLHOI, University of La Réunion), the Centre of South Asian Studies (CSAS, University of Edinburgh, UK), the Department for Continuing Education (University of Oxford), the Institut de Recherche Intersite Etudes Culturelles (IRIEC, University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3), the International Institute of Migration (IMI, University of Oxford), the MSH-Montpellier (Maison des Sciences de l’Homme-Montpellier), Wake Forest University (USA), Wesleyan University (USA). Leading scholars assessed the state of the debate in preparation for the second event, entitled “Diaspora and Race”, which took place at Wake Forest University in October 2012. The third conference, “African-Americans, ‘Race’ and Diaspora”, scheduled for June 13-15, 2013 at University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, will be specifically dedicated to the interlocking issues of “race”, African-Americans and the Black Diaspora.

This conference “Diasporic subjectivity, intimacy and memory” (Oxford, June 30-July 2, 2013) will be organised as a partnership between EMMA (University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France), MIGRINTER (CNRS, Université de Poitiers, France), Wake Forest University (NC, USA) and the Department for Continuing Education (University of Oxford, UK).
It will be part of the main conference organised by Oxford Diaspora Program, COMPAS, IMI and Refugee Studies Center. The proposals sent in response to this cfp will be selected by the five co-convenors mentioned here. Notification of acceptance will be sent by March 15.

http://www.migration.ox.ac.uk/odp/