(CFP: PAMLA 2017) Images of Crisis
Session Title - Images of Crisis: Poetic Ways of Seeing Disasters
This session seeks papers on representations of "crisis" in literature, broadly defined. A non-exhaustive list of the questions raised by this panel may include: what happens when images of crises, disasters, or ruins are mediated through literature? How do images connect to understanding and knowledge? How does ekphrasis limit or enhance the possibilities of empathy? What are the obligations of our conscience as readers? What are the ethics of writing or reading about cruelties and atrocities? Areas of inquiry encompass, but are not limited to, the following:
- Literature of crisis / disaster
- Poetry of witness
- Use of images / theories of sight (visuality, visibility, ways of seeing)
- Ekphrasis
- Empathy
- Ethics of representation
- Trauma studies
- Interdisciplinary (e.g. artistic and literary theories, poetic theories, psychological theories)
- Comparison across time periods or cultures
The PAMLA 2017 Conference will be held at Chaminade University of Honolulu (with the official conference hotel being the Ala Moana) from Friday, November 10 to Sunday, November 12. Individual paper presentations will be between 15 and 20 minutes long.
Paper proposals must be made via PAMLA's online system found here:
http://pamla.org/2017/topic-areas
For inquiries, please contact the presiding officer at the email above. The deadline for paper proposals is May 21.