EGE UNIVERSITY 13TH INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL STUDIES SYMPOSIUM
May 04-06, 2011 - Izmir, TURKEY
CHANGE and CHALLENGE
I am not now That which I have been. Lord Byron
Changeand Challengeare mutually inclusive, one breeding the other. Heraclitus
as early as 480 B.C. analyzed the meaning of life to be the flux of change, and
declared that this aspect of reality is the only experience that does not
change. He based his observation on the hypothesis that flux is an interaction
between binary oppositions bringing about new unities. His ideas after a
considerable span of time attracted modifications by the German Idealists,
especially by Hegel's philosophy of dialecticism. Thus, within Western
philosophical inquiry influenced by Heraclitus, change came to be thought of as
action challenged by reaction leading to synthesis. Karl Marx was later inspired
to formulate historical process as class-struggle. All of these theories had
been initiated by denying the credibility of any concept suggesting the
existence of absolute truth. This denial had flourished in the Western mind
following upon the Renaissance and found its best expression in William James'
American pragmatism claiming that "ideas in an ever changing process" are
valuable as long as they are adaptable to real life situations.
After the 1950s, trauma-ridden human societies desperately searched for
solutions and emphasized the discontinuity of all experiences. What once used to
be appropriate about labeling biological features as 'female and male', for
instance, changed in accordance with the cultural and historical times of
rejecting absolute truth. Hence, we witness the transformative role of culture
on literature, as coined by Raymond Williams, carried forward into the
international sphere by Terry Eagleton. Furthermore, the absolute ground of
being and existence have been challenged by Foucault's principle of reversal and
discontinuity: When there is dominance, there also will be the modes of
resistance to it. Dollimore's formula of "consolation", "subversion" and
"containment" is the extension of the well-known earlier dialectical
construction. The Saussurian relation of "signifier" and "signified" has come to
be known as entities lending themselves to be re-interpreted as endless new
"composition". Concisely, the dichotomy between "change" and "challenge"
characterizes a wide range of social, aesthetic, economic, political, cultural,
and literary phenomena lending itself to endless possibilities of discussions.
In the view of this overarching construct, we therefore invite and welcome
submissions of papers of varied import: papers of theoretical, interpretive or
expository nature from disciplines across the spectrum of British-American and
cultural studies enhancing our understanding of changes and transformations in
relation to myriad aspects of literature, linguistics, fine arts, architecture,
film/media, communication, gender and political studies, critical theory,
literary criticism, history, psychology, philosophy and sociology - all
exploring the notion of Changeas a Challenge.
Topics(and suggestive subtopics):
-----Change and Challenge as Theme: stories, heroes, themes, images in relation
to metamorphosis, adaptation, transformation, mutation, transition,
transcendence, evolution, revolution etc..
-----Academic Adjustments and Theoretical Innovations:eco-criticism,
eco-feminism, magic realism; post-modern, -feminist, -psychoanalytic, -colonial,
- apocalyptic approaches and narratives; reconsiderations of language
(bilingualism, heteroglossia, dialogism, pidgins); changing fields (i.e. Men's,
Islamic, Arab-American, Middle-East Studies, Cyber-culture inter-,
trans-disciplinary studies, feminist geography) etc..
-----Altered, Adapted and Appropriated Texts:Translations, adaptations;
conflation of genres, (sub) genres, forms and techniques (i.e. non-, docu-,
oto-, fictions, graphic novels, eco-poetry) "writing back" or responses to or
revisions of earlier texts, meta-narratives; shifting techniques of
intertextuality, borrowing, plagiarism, etc..
-----Redefining Spatial and Temporal Perceptions:alteration of territorial,
geographical, historical, limits, deterritorialization, reterritorialization,
changing spatial practices and space-power relations, fluidity, consumption of
space, new spatial organizations and allocations, (i.e. malls, hypermarkets,
theme parks), hybrid spaces, intercity relations and the evolution of the urban
hierarchy etc..
-----Alternating Cultural Paradigms and Politics:new cultural tensions in
representations, adaptation of multi-, bi-, inter-, intra-, cross- and
trans-regional/national/ cultural structures and values, cultural nomadism,
digi-modernism, religion's changing role perforating cultural boundaries,
multinational productions, alliances, globalization, glocalization,
environmental, climatic change and changing political discourses etc..
-----Liminal Nature of Body and Identity:modified, hybrid, mixed, post-human,
cyber, trans-gender, queer bodies and identities, deviated gender roles, altered
and/or conversed race, class identities, new landscapes of the self spatial
identity etc.
-----Adaptation to Technological Advancements:Digital humanities, Hyper-media,
cyber-texts, virtual reality, multimedia literacy, e-learning, nodes (social
networks like Facebook, Twitter) etc..
* Along with individual papers, the conference committee welcomes
round-tables, workshops and performances.
* The languages of the conference are English and Turkish.
(Please note that there will be no translations during the symposium.)
* All abstract proposals are to be submitted to css2011@mail.ege.edu.tr and
cultural.studies2011@gmail.com
Submissions must contain the following fields:
* First Name, Surname of Applicant
* Title of Applicant
* Title of Applicant
* Institution and Country of Applicant
* Email of Applicant
* Title of Abstract
* Abstract - 300 words maximum
* Biography - 150 words maximum
* Keywords - 5 maximum
Abstract Submission Deadline:DECEMBER 12th 2010
Acceptance Confirmation:JANUARY 16th 2011
Contact Information:
Prof. Dr. Atilla Silkü and Asst. Prof. Seçil SaraçlıDept. of American Culture &
Literature, Faculty of Letters, Ege University,
Tel:+90 232 311 19 74
Fax:+90 232 388 11 02
Websites:http://css.ege.edu.tr/ and http://ake.ege.edu.tr/new/
Seçil Saraçlı
CSS.2011
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Scientia est potentia (Francis Bacon)
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