I am organizing a seminar based on the proposal below for the American
Comparative Literature Association's Conference 2006 at Princeton
University. Submit paper proposals to

garciaant @uhd.edu and through the acla web site www.princeton.edu/~acla06
<http://www.princeton.edu/~acla06> by the November 30 deadline.

Will Any Humanism Be Possible?
Seminar Organizer(s): Antonio A. Garcia, University of Houston-Downtown

The term "humanism" has a vexed history, yet one that will not die. Many
scholars speak in "post-human" terms, rejecting any concept of humanism on
the grounds that the term masks negative agendas and repressive ideas. Yet
many others find that they need to hold on to some, perhaps vitiated,
concept of humanism, often for political reasons. For example, Edward Said,
shortly before he died, wrote a book about humanism. Will any humanism be
possible in the future? From this central question a range of questions
could emerge. Humanism has been associated with technological and historical
progress. Will it continue to be viewed this way? Is humanism possible in
the future without progress? Will future humanism(s) hold on to some of the
precepts of the humanist tradition, or will it take a different turn
entirely, or will it exist at all? Will future humanism(s) be anchored in a
tension between religion and secular culture, or is there a way to
destabilize such binaries? How do we understand a synthetic approach to
diverse cultures after postcolonial critiques to approach a form of global
humanism? What are the effects of diasporic phenomena on humanism? Papers
are welcome from a variety of critical approaches: Philosophy, Social
Theory, Literary Studies, Psychology, Interdisciplinary Studies.

The ACLA <http://www.acla.org> 's annual conferences have a distinctive
structure in which most papers are grouped into twelve-person seminars that
meet two hours per day for the three days of the conference to foster
extended discussion. Some eight-person (or smaller) seminars meet just the
first two days of the conference. This structure allows each participant to
be a full member of one seminar, and to sample other seminars during the
remaining time blocks.. The conference also includes plenary sessions,
workshops and roundtable discussions, a business meeting, a banquet, and
other events.

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Received on Sat Oct 29 2005 - 14:49:34 EDT