The Dialogue of Cultures/ The Culture of Dialogue

13-15 November 2014
University Ploieşti, Romania

Call for Papers

With Plato, followed by Xenophon, and presumably Aristotle (whose Dialogues did not survive) the dialogue became a major literary genre in antiquity. Meant as speaking across, conversing, the dialogue was seen as leading to consensus. In contrast, the contemporary world is dominated by globalization, eclecticism, and conflict.
What the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin coined in his seminal work The Dialogic Imagination as 'dialogic literature' (in opposition with 'monologic') referred to a continual interchange that one work may establish with other works of literature as well as other authors. Bakhtin's theory was otherwise consonant with T.S. Eliot's view of art in context of other pieces, and consequent view that not only should the past be transformed by the present, but also the present should be at times directed by the past. Julia Kristeva went even further, placing Bakhtin's theory within the large frame of intertextuality.
In a multicultural world, the dialogue between cultures became a sort of a corrective of rejection and vehemence and was meant to make people live peacefully and constructively together, while preserving the feeling of belonging to a community. Asian-American or Asian-European literature, transnational criticism, mobility and feminism in translation, linguistic mediation and immigrating fictions have attempted to instill readers' awareness of their allegiance to (therefore their dialogue with) a global whole, rather than a confined, restricted and restrictive space. Success has come to be achieved, as the renowned Anglo-Japanese postmodernist writer Kazuo Ishiguro has declared in one of his interviews, as 'the great hunger for [a] new type of internationalism'.
Acknowledging that human beings are social and cultural beings lies at the core of recent empirical research which is no longer structure-dependent, as Chomsky used to postulate, but focused on 'competence-in-performance', on language as social action. Mainstream theories of speech acts, developed by Austin and Searle, or interpersonal communication oriented towards primary communicative consensus (Habermas) and cooperation (Grice) have contributed to the emergence of distinct (and yet, interrelated) approaches that aim to grasp the complexities of 'language in use'. From Conversation Analysis to Critical Discourse Analysis and the more recent Dialogue Studies, in a cross-disciplinary endeavour, linguists are committed to examine culture as embodied practice (Foley), by highlighting its manifestation in different types of discourse, and by outlining the roots of cultural synergy and cultural conflict. Investigating language as social action pertains to the minute decoding of the cultural dimensions (Hofstede) that human beings display while engaged in dialogic action (Weigand) and the strategies employed to produce and negotiate meaning in order to deal with cultural discomfort in the social game.

We welcome individual paper presentations, panels and posters that explore topics in the following areas, but are not limited to:

• Dynamics of the social game
• Layers of culture: from core values to ever-changing intercultural practices
• Individualism and collectivism in intercultural education
• The discursive construction of gender roles and corporeality
• Negotiation of identity: 'in-between-ness' and exile
• Translation as intercultural dialogue

Keynote speakers

Prof. Iulian Boldea, "Petru Maior" University, Târgu Mureş, Romania
Prof. Adina Ciugureanu, Ovidius University of Constanţa, Romania
Prof. Émérite Anne Marie Houdebine, Université Paris Descartes-Sorbonne, France
Prof. Vladislava Gordic Petkovic, Novi-Sad University, Serbia

Conference sections

The conference consists of the following sections:

• Cultural and Critical Theory
• Literary and Translation Studies
• Linguistics Studies and Discourse Analysis
• Intercultural Education
• Cultural Anthropology and Philosophy

The five potential strands may be merged depending on the final conference programme.

The official languages of the conference are English and French.

Abstract submission

Please email the completed form (available on the conference website) to: conference.upg@gmail.com

Abstract proposals should be written in the language of the presentation and be up to 300 words long. Please include a short indicative bibliography of up to five titles. Individual papers will be allotted 30 minutes (20 minutes – presentation, 10 minutes – discussion time), while panels and workshops should last no longer than 90 minutes per session.

All abstracts will be peer-reviewed by the organizing committee of the conference.

Deadline

The abstract submission deadline (including panel proposals) is 30 May 2014 and the notification of acceptance will be received by 15 June 2014.

Organizing committee

University of Ploieşti: Diana Costea, Anca Dobrinescu, Arleen Ionescu, Ionela Neagu, Loredana Netedu, Marius Nica, Maria Paraschiv, Diana Rînciog, Irina Toma

Registration fees

80 EUR (early bird fee – 30 June 2014)
100 EUR (late fee – 29 July 2014)
40 EUR (PhD students – 29 July 2014)

Conference registration includes: conference pack, coffee break refreshments, welcome drinks reception.

Please email proof of payment to: conference.upg@gmail.com

Payment methods & submission requirements

TBA
Cancellations and refunds

Registration fees can be refunded, less an administration and processing fee of 10 €, if cancellation is received in writing no later than 29 July 2014. After that date, registration fee is non-refundable.

Further information about the conference is available at
http://conferenceupg.blogspot.com/

Programme

TBA

For updates, please check http://conferenceupg2014.wordpress.com/