"Locating Empire: Seduction, Domination, and Revolt in the French
Cultural Reach"=20

The Graduate Center, City University of New York Friday, October 6

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The Ph.D. Program in French at the City University of New York invites
paper proposals for its annual student conference. This year's
conference will be held on Friday 6 October and will focus on: "Locating
Empire: Seduction, Domination, and Revolt in the French Cultural Reach."
Papers should be 15-20 minutes in length.

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As kingdom, empire, and republic, France has exerted exceptional
international cultural and political power. But why France, and what is
unique about the (often contested) French influence? According to Michel
Foucault: "Power is not an institution, it is not a structure, it is not
a certain force with which some are endowed: it is the name that has
been lent to a complex strategic situation within a given society."
Working from this standpoint and within the current global context, this
conference will explore the French power to entice, seduce, and
dominate. How and why do nations and cultures submit to, resist, or
revolt against French strategies of power? From the internal
construction of France itself to the Americas, Africa, and Asia, what
are the implications of French successes and failures, and what are the
limits of the French cultural reach?

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Proposals for papers from all historical periods and disciplines are
welcome. Papers may be either in French or in English.

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Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

* Exploration and conquest

* Constructing the nation

* Confrontation, appropriation, and resistance

* Religion, territory, and political relativism

* France and the Americas

* Flora and fauna: Possession, domestication, classification

* Food and cultural consumption

* The French stage: Performing the French/France performing the
Other

* Destabilizing empire: Revolution and revolt

* Economic imperialism

* Defending cultural relevance

* Incorporating the exotic

* Constructing bodies: Conformity and difference

* Fashion and cultural identity

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The deadline for submissions is 14 July 2006. Please send proposals to
Desmond Hosford (dhosford_at_gc.cuny.edu) and Chong J. Wojtkowski
(cjwojo_at_gmail.com).

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Conference Website:
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/French/events/LocatingEmpire.html

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Received on Tue Mar 28 2006 - 09:33:04 EST