CALL FOR PAPERS:
The Riddle of Devolutionary Identity: A One-Day Interdisciplinary Conference
University of Warwick, Humanities Research Centre (HRC)
~ Saturday 18th November 2006

Keynote Speakers: Prof. Michael Gardiner, Chiba University, Japan.
Prof. Stephen Knight, Cardiff University.
Prof. Susan Bassnett, University of Warwick.

Also: David Morley, poet and director of the Warwick Writing Programme.

Call For Papers
This interdisciplinary conference will bring together academics working
within the fields of Scottish, Welsh and Northern-Irish literature, and
Postcolonial Studies. The central aim is to tackle recent debates on whether
the cultural, social and psychological issues can be explored using
postcolonial theory particularly in relation to devolutionary literature.
The legacy of colonisation pervades Western culture, yet as international
movements emerge at the hard-line of religion and politics, the factors of
dissimilitude and difference tend to be ignored. In such a climate, how does
one situate oneself as a subject of a minor culture, that of Wales, Scotland
or Northern Ireland?

The organizers welcome a variety of approaches: historical, sociological,
linguistic, feminist and textual analysis. The conference will deal with
devolutionary identity in relation to three main themes:
"X The End of Britishness
Kirtsti Bohata writes of Britishness as ¡¥a misleading label that disguises
English cultural hegemony and a project of assimilation¡¦. What are the
pressures on Britishness? Can one think of contemporary English Literature
as ¡¥devolutionary¡¦ too?
"X The Limits of the Postcolonial
Who is 'excluded' from Postcolonial Studies? Various minority groups seem to
be under-represented within the field of postcolonial theory. We are
interested in proposals concerning British regions, but we would also
welcome papers on the relatively neglected literatures of peoples such as
Native Americans, Australian Aborigines and South Pacific Islanders,
Indo-Caribbeans, the Roma nations of Europe. What is the current situation
regarding hegemonic structures within the discourse of postcoloniality?
"X Difference and Complicity
In their definition of a minor literature, Deleuze and Guattari suggest that
in order for a minor culture to represent itself it must subvert a major
language by deterritorializing that language and imbuing it with a minor
tradition. Are devolutionary literatures subversive and radical in
subverting linguistic tradition or are they more complicit with hegemonic
Western values?

Details on the Plenary Speakers
Prof. Michael Gardiner works in British cultural studies at Chiba
University, Japan. He has published widely on the topic on devolutionary
literature and culture in studies such as The Cultural Roots of Scottish
Devolution (2004), Modern Scottish Culture (2005) and From Trocchi to
Trainspotting: Scottish Cultural Theory Since 1960 (2006). He has also
published a collection of short stories entitled, Escalator (2006).

Prof. Knight is based at University of Wales Cardiff, where one of his main
research interests is the Welsh industrial novel. He is the editor of
British Industrial Fictions and his recent study in the Writing Wales in
English Series, A Hundred Years of Fiction, has been extremely influential
in considering the relationship between postcolonial models and
devolutionary literature.

Guidelines for Abstracts and Papers

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words for 20 minute papers. You
can send by e-mail (in the e-mail body or by attached Word document) or by
regular mail. The organizers details are listed below:

Zoe Brigley, English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of
Warwick, Coventry, CV47AL
E-mail: zoe.brigley_at_gmail.com

Jonathan Morley, Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV47AL
E-mail: jonmorley79_at_hotmail.com

Registration

Details of conference registration are available from Humanities Research
Centre secretary Susan Dibben to whom enquiries should be addressed. Please
send your name, faculty, institution and contact telephone number and if
sending by e-mail enter the title ¡¥Registration¡¦ in the subject field.
Registration closes on 1st November 2006.

Ms. S. Dibben, Humanities Research Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry,
CV4 7AL
E-mail: Susan.Dibben_at_warwick.ac.uk

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Received on Fri Aug 11 2006 - 15:27:35 EDT