CFP: Post-Colonial Transformations in the New Literatures in English (Slovakia) (6/5/07; 6/8/07-6/9/07)

full name / name of organization: 
Jaroslav Kusnir
contact email: 

 CFP: Post-Colonial Transformations in the New Literatures in English
(Slovakia) (6/05/07; 6/8/07-6/9/07)

Department of English Language and Literature

Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences

University of Pre¹ov at Pre¹ov, Slovakia

European Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
(EACLALS)

International Conference (and Post-Graduate Seminar) on

POST-COLONIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE NEW LITERATURES IN ENGLISH

Pre¹ov, Slovakia, June 8-9, 2007

 Keynote Lectures: Pétér Szaffkó, University of Debrecen, Hungary
                                David Callahan, University of Aveiro,
Portugal

In his study entitled Post-Colonial Transformation (Routledge, 2001), Bill
Ashcroft argues that "the imaginative and the creative are integral aspects
of that process by which identity itself has come into being. Cultural
identity does not exist outside representation. But the transformative
nature of cultural identity leads directly to the transformation of those
strategies by which it is represented." Despite the fact that this book
deals mostly with ideological, sociological and political topics related to
the development of post-colonial societies, the author is also addressing
the issue of the changing nature and the transformation of post-colonial
cultural identity as manifested in the literary and artistic work of
post-colonial writers. Indeed the latter have tried to find a symbolic way
for expressing the changing nature of cultural identity in their countries,
taking into account the difficult transformation of former patterns of
colonialism and authoritarianism, but also the new freedom brought by
emerging regimes or by modern means of technology and globalization such as
the media (TV, video, computers, internet), popular culture and consumerism.
This conference seeks contributions on authors associated with the new
literatures in English which will deal with but are not limited to:

1) the symbolic expression of post-colonial transformation as manifested in
literature (including drama);

2) the volatile nature of post-colonial cultural identity;

3) the opposition between traditional (oral and mimetic) literature and new
and experimental forms of representation (written, modern, postmodern,
media) as the expression of a tension or conflict between tradition and
innovation, colonialism and resistance, traditional and modern life;

4) "the translation among cultures" and the linguistic and literary
expression of different kinds of cultural identities within post-colonial
societies;

5) postmodern, metafictional and hypertextual narrative techniques,
postmodern parody, play, irony, generic and stylistic hybridity as literary,
aesthetic and cultural alternatives to the dominant literary, cultural and
national(istic) discourse as manifested in post-colonial literary texts;

6) essentialist versus non-esssentialist concepts of cultural identity
(Stuart Hall, Homi Bhabha) as expressed in literary works written by
post-colonial authors;

7) local and regional, versus national and global, relationships as the
expression of specificity on the one hand, and universality and
generalization on the other.

One of the aims of the conference is to attract doctorate scholars from
Central and Eastern Europe to exchange views on the discipline of
post-colonial studies and to discuss further co-operation under the aegis of
EACLALS (European Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language
Studies). The conference programme will include a post-graduate students
seminar which will be run by Professor David Callahan, University of Aveiro,
Portugal. This seminar will be based on lecturing and the discussion of set
literary texts. These doctorate and other scholars from Central and Eastern
Europe can be sponsored by means of an EACLALS grant. Doctoral students are
encouraged to present their papers at the conference (these presentations
will not coincide with the seminar programme which will be conceived as a
separate activity).

Contributions are not restricted to the themes oulined above. We prefer
papers which deal with the aesthetic, artistic and literary aspects of
individual works, rather than those tackling ideological, political and
societal aspects. The conference is organized jointly by Department of
English Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences,
University of Pre¹ov, Slovakia, and the European Association for
Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (EACLALS), and will take place
on the University of Pre¹ov's main campus. The city of Pre¹ov is easily
accessible by train, bus, and car from neighbouring countries and by air
from other countries (Ko¹ice airport is only 40 kilometers from Pre¹ov). The
papers should be presented in English. The conference is part of the
research projects KEGA 3-3136-05 and VEGA 1-3710-06. Short abstracts of no
more than 200 words should be sent by electronic mail to Jaroslav Ku¹nír at
jkusnir_at_fhpv.unipo.sk, or by mail to

Jaroslav Ku¹nír

Katedra anglického jazyka a literatúry FHPV

Pre¹ovskej univerzity, 17. novembra 1

081 16 Pre¹ov, Slovakia

by May 6, 2007. A selection of papers will be published in the conference
proceedings. The conference fee is 700 Sk (or equivalent in Euro, which is
25 Euros).

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Received on Mon Mar 19 2007 - 14:35:50 EST