UPDATE: In response to many queries, we are sending out this updated cfp=20
to confirm that we are still accepting submissions of completed papers by=20
March 1, 2004.=20

    CALL FOR PAPERS:

We invite papers for possible inclusion in an anthology tentatively=20
entitled GLOBAL BABEL: INTERDISCIPLINARITY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND THE DISCO=
URSES OF=20
GLOBALIZATION. The main focus of the anthology will be on the potential fo=
r=20
interdisciplinary, cross-cultural exchange of ideas and discourses to=20
overcome barriers to mutual intelligibility among disciplines and=20
discourses concerned with globalization. Do economists, non-governmental=20
organizations (NGOs), antiglobalization activists, proponents of=20
transnational corporations, intellectual historians or other cultural=20
theorists always mean the same thing when they speak about globalization?=20
If not, what are the points of incommensurability? Even if transcultural=20
or interdisciplinary discourse is possible, what lingua franca can we=20
elaborate? What shared forms of rationality can we articulate between and =

among disciplines and cultures without falling into the trap of=20
Eurocentric universalism?=20

We welcome papers no longer than 7500 words postmarked or received via=20
e-mail no later than March 1, 2004 on topics including but not limited to=20
the following topics, with a focus on whether we can imagine coherent disco=
urses for theorizing=20
these issues, or elaborating problems that a variety of perspectives can=20
engage creatively.

Institutions, Transnational exchange, and Power Differentials.=20
What roles do institutions such as the World Bank, the International=20
Monetary Fund (IMF), Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the World=20
Trade Organization, and environmental groups play in the generation,=20
control, and dissemination of knowledge about globalization? How are the=20
horizons of this knowledge defined by the terms of a given discourse, and=20
what constraints are there on the translation of these terms into other=20
disciplines? What are the "real" effects of such epistemological=20
functions? What are the consequences of the transnational exchange of=20
ideas and information under globalization: exploitation or avenues of=20
resistance to cultural appropriation? How is power distributed under=20
globalization? What is the relative institutional power of the World Bank, =

the IMF, NGOs, Environmental groups, or labor unions to influence policy=20
regulating transnational flows of goods and information and to define the=20
terms of the debates about access to resources and institutions?=20

Activism and the Academy.
What is the role of the academy in the geopolitics of the contemporary=20
period? Is the "university in ruins" complicit with transnational=20
capitalism? To what extent can activist discourse generated in the=20
academy have a political role in the global public sphere?

Identities in Translation.
What is the effect of globalization on the politics of immigration,=20
cultural memory and national identity? How are subjectivities of both=20
immigrants and hosts being transformed in the process of large-scale=20
demographic shifts as borders become more porous within the European=20
Union? What alternative identities and what imagined communities can we=20
project into the future to bring about more democratic civil societies?=20
How are these identities in transition represented in art, film,=20
performance and/or video, and how are these representations themselves=20
affected by global economic flows?=20

Empire, Nationalism and Postnationalism.
How should we talk across disciplines and across national borders about=20
Empire after the World Trade Center bombings of September 11, 2001and the=20
U.S. invasion of Iraq? How do formulations of Empire such as that of=20
Hardt and Negri help us to talk about the Realpolitik of globalization? In =

what ways is "empire" itself a disputed term? How is empire to be=20
distinguished from globalization, and if they are different the question=20
in a given situation may be: Whose "empire"?=20

Gender.=20
In what discursive frames do defenders of sexual customs and rituals such=20
as female genital mutilation in non-Western cultures respond to challenges =

from proponents in the West of universal human rights and gender parity?=20
How stable are the discursive categories of the body and even the ideas of =

the human body's integrity across cultures and disciplines today? How are=20
discourses of pleasure, desire, and criminality in gender relations being=20
conditioned by the age of transnational travel and the cross-border=20
transmission of pornography or provocative images in advertising into=20
formerly insular cultures?

Conjunctures among Discourses of Technology, Business and Culture.=20
What possibilities are there for meaningful collaboration between "third=20
world" nations and "first world" nations on moral and financial issues=20
such as the international distribution of AIDS drugs and other medicines?=20
In what ways do national corporate interests, as well as transnational=20
institutions, regulate and police the distribution of scientific=20
technology and medical research? How are cultural differences produced or =

perpetuated in the process? How do we articulate an understanding of=20
flows of transnational, "flexible" capital with libidinal and psychic=20
economies?

Mass-Mediated Culture, Technologies of Globalization, and the Cultures of=20
Cosmopolitanism.
How are we to understand the circulation of discourses and ideologies in=20
transnational circuits? How do we thematize the desirability of a=20
plurality of forms of rationality, religion, secularism--in short,=20
difference --as an alternative to the thesis of the "conflict of=20
civilizations" taken by some to be imminent? What can we say about the=20
cultures of cosmopolitanism in the context of technologies that further=20
the processes of globalization or that advance the interests of=20
multinational or transnational corporations (TNCs) to the disadvantage of=20
local cultures in the developing world?=20

Please send completed papers by March 1, 2004, to Margueritte Murphy at=20
mmurph2_at_bentley.edu and Samir Dayal at sdayal_at_bentley.edu. Hard copies=20
may be sent to The English Department, Bentley College, Waltham MA,=20
02452-4705, USA.

         ===============================================
         From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                      CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                       Full Information at
                http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
          or write Erika Lin: elin_at_english.upenn.edu
         ===============================================
Received on Tue Feb 17 2004 - 23:26:39 EST