2007 Stanford French and Italian Graduate Conference

"Conversions"

January 26 and 27, 2007

"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."
(Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, /Meditations/)

Conversion is traditionally understood to be a mode of transition in
which an individual directs her or his mind, attention, or actions
toward a new focus. We propose a more expansive definition of
conversion
that incorporates both individual and collective bodies and offers a
point of access to broad paradigms such as religion and spirituality,
politics, media, history, psychoanalysis, economy, and aesthetics. In
addition to literary analysis and enquiry regarding the conversion of
genre, form, or substance, we invite interdisciplinary and
extra-literary approaches to the topic in hopes of achieving a more
comprehensive understanding of the notion of conversion.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

/Conversions of the mind/: converts as subjects/objects; conversion
strategies; conversion as rupture, crisis, trauma; shifting identities

/Conversions of body/: alchemical conversions and drug culture; hybrids
and mutation; conversion as violence or catastrophe; body modification

/Conversions of time/: prognostics/forecasting; history/historiography
and the philosophy of history; acceleration, deceleration, and
perception; temporal dynamics

/Conversions of space/: changing landscapes; urbanization;
environmental
politics; interior and exterior shifts; geographical elasticity

Keynote Speakers:

*Albert R. Ascoli*

Terril Distinguished Professor of Italian Studies

University of California - Berkeley

*Françoise Meltzer*

Mabel Greene Myers Professor of the Humanities in French and
Comparative
Literature

University of Chicago

Submissions may be on a topic involving the French and Francophone
tradition, the Italian tradition, or a combination of both. They may
also address general theoretical issues or writers of other national
traditions that deal with French or Italian topics.

Guidelines for submissions:

Graduate students interested in presenting a paper should send an
abstract of 200-500 words. Presentations can be given in Italian,
French, or English and should last no more than 20 minutes (circa 8
pages). The abstract should include a working title, author's name and
institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email
address.

Send abstracts to: stanford_fr_it_at_yahoo.com
<mailto:stanford_fr_it_at_yahoo.com>

or via post to:

"Conversions" Conference

Department of French and Italian

Pigott Hall, Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305-2010

Deadline for abstracts: Monday, November 27th , 2006

Contact persons:

Amy Elghoroury (lilah_at_stanford.edu) <mailto:lilah_at_stanford.edu>

Christy Wampole (cwampole_at_stanford.edu) <mailto:cwampole_at_stanford.edu>

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/fren-ital/conversions/

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Received on Fri Nov 03 2006 - 18:40:59 EST