theory

From campaign slogans found on the walls in the ruins of Pompeii to lapel pins worn at the inauguration of George Washington in 1789 to today’s t-shirts, “I Voted” stickers, and protest signs, politics and material culture have always been interlinked. In a January 2016 interview, President Barack Obama was asked to discuss an object that held personal meaning for him. He chose to bring several items given to him by supporters, among them a rosary, a small statue, and a metal poker chip. Obama described how looking at these objects and carrying them in his pocket reminds him of the people he has met along his career, their stories, and his responsibilities to them.

Dear Colleagues,

Religions (ISSN 2077-1444, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions) is currently running a Special Issue "The Buddhist Imagination: Visions and Narratives" which is guest edited by Prof. Dr. Francisca Cho of Georgetown University.

We are inviting submissions for a forthcoming edited volume that analyse and survey folk narratives from India’s Northeast. The eight north-eastern states—Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Manipur and Sikkim—have a wealth of narratives that are likely to function as alternative history beyond the generic cultural and geographical assumptions of the history of the Northeast as part of a ‘greater’ Indian history. The polyphonic potential of these narratives can be explored in multiple ways including historical, literary, sociological and political, but not exclusively such.

This roundtable addresses the negotiation of the textual authority of those who call themselves or are called "women" vis à vis critical approaches in feminist and translation theory. The convergence of feminist and translation studies allows for the examination of power differentials in relation to women's roles as authors, translators, and activists. Moreover, this criticism has been useful in revealing the historical and present silencing of women's contributions as cultural agents. The goal of this roundtable is to consider how translation brings global and historical feminisms into dialogue, and in doing so, challenges legacies of hegemonic cultural authority.

13–15 December 2016
Daejeon Convention Center, Daejeon, Korea

The world has entered into the age of universal economic crisis. In this second decade of the twenty-first century, the long shadow of economic downturn and instability looms over not only traditionally underdeveloped countries and regions, but the superpowers of global economy, such as the US, the EU, and China. At the time when economy is at once a global priority and the source of worldwide anxiety, fear, and uncertainty, and when economic crisis seems to accelerate the crisis of humanities and higher education, the ELLAK will organize an international forum to reconfigure the interface of literature and economy and redefine the social parameters of literary studies.