CALL FOR PAPERS

Academic Association for Doctoral Students of English

Student Feminist Society

Department of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Comparative Studies

Institute of Literary Studies

Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń  

are pleased to announce

International Emerging Young Scholars Online Conference

Politics and Poetics of Difference

Approaches in Anglophone Literature, Culture and Linguistics

2-3 June 2023

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”

~Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Difference and diversity have a profound impact on every aspect of human activity. However, society’s response to them can be mixed, ranging from outright elimination or assimilation to affirmation. Differences can spark new trends, inspire innovative research, and bring fresh perspectives to the arts and sciences. Politics of difference highlights, among many other issues, social inequities that give rise to movements for change. Feminism, for example, emerged as a response to gender inequalities and the exploitation of women. Postcolonial studies, in turn, arose from the tensions between European and Indigenous cultures. Even collective experiences of nationhood, community, and cultural values derive, as Homi Bhabha argues, from “the overlap of the domains of difference” (The Location of Culture, 2). Poetics of difference denotes strategies and modes of expression used for communicating diversity and otherness. It might, for example, include subversive and disruptive forms, experimental styles or deconstructive discourses. Poetics of difference can also involve embracing a multiplicity of voices as polyphony (Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics), where “a variety of conflicting ideological positions” are presented as equally important without being subjected to authoritative judgment (Lodge, After Bakhtin). The examples in which different perspectives on social and cultural issues changed the way of thinking are diverse; together, we can explore the ways in which difference shapes our world and the challenges and opportunities it presents.

By taking an inter-disciplinary approach towards ‘politics and poetics of difference,’ we aim to explore contemporary reactions to the most recent and captivating ideas in literature, culture and linguistics. Such an approach allows for additional scrutiny of the tensions between society’s well-established institutionalised frameworks and some fresher, alternative models of today. It will also contribute to the discussion on various modes of expression that are used for communicating difference and diversity.

The Academic Association for Doctoral Students in cooperation with the Student Feminist Society cordially invites BA, MA, and doctoral students to present papers connected, but not restricted, to the following issues:

l  Intersectionality - how various factors create different modes of oppression and privilege;

l  Postcolonial theory as a means to explore cultural diversity - difference as connecting and alienating factor;

l  Depictions of exclusion and inclusion in literary and cultural texts;

l  Speciesism in fantasy texts;

l  Different but equal - solarpunk stories of coexistence;

l  Language as a feature distinguishing humans from other animals - a posthuman take;

l  Gender-inclusive language;

l  Genre as a way of discussing difference;

l  Linguistic novelty in exploring difference, diversity, inclusiveness and exclusiveness;

l  Imagery of gender, racial, ethnic, religious (etc.) differences in literature, culture, and linguistics.

Our keynote speakers are:

 Prof. Dominika Ferens (University of Wrocław, Poland)

Dr Anna Bernard (King’s College, London, UK)

Participants are invited to prepare approximately 20 min presentations.

Abstracts of 150-250 words should be sent by 14th April 2023 to differenceconferencetorun@gmail.com. All submissions must include the first and last name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation, and a 50-100 words biographical note of a candidate.

Notification of acceptance: 28th April 2023.

For more information, please visit our Conference website:
https://differenceconferencetorun.wordpress.com/

Scientific Committee:

dr hab. Katarzyna Więckowska, prof. UMK

dr hab. Edyta Lorek-Jezińska, prof. UMK

dr Nelly Strehlau

Organising Committee:

Bernadetta Jankowska

Natalia Jaworańska

Edgar Jephcote

Agata Rupińska

Agnieszka Staszak

Krzysztof Drobiński

Maria Rydzewska

Maksymilian Pasternak