Top 40 News

CfP: Listening to Literature, 1900-1950 [CultDoc]

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:24:10 +0200

12-14 March 2014 - KU Leuven

Keynote
Julian Murphet
(University of New South Wales, Sydney)

This three-day conference seeks to survey the impact of aural media (phonograph, gramophone, telephone, radio) and other major sound events of the first half of the twentieth century on the literature of the period. Through in-depth analysis of the different ways in which modernist and avant-garde authors reflected on and incorporated sound and aural technologies in their writings, we aim to explore the literary soundscape between 1900 and 1950.

The first half of the twentieth century – “the age of noise” in the words of its contemporaries – is littered with events crucial to the history of modern aurality. The phonograph and its successor, the gramophone, enabled man to record and replay sound. Telephone and radio enabled long distance verbal communication. The combustion engine filled the big city with its incessant mechanical drone. And of course there were the two World Wars, whose aural impact – deafening bombings, nerve-shattering sirens, the rhythmic stamping of marching feet and the continuous drone of planes overhead – can hardly be overestimated.

This conference aims to explore the impact of these and other related events on the literary landscape of the period, looking for the answers to such questions as:

How is sound represented? What techniques are used to represent sound?
What kinds of sounds are represented and how do they compare? What function do the represented sounds fulfill within the literary work?
Was the representation of sound altered by the introduction of new aural media such as the phonograph or telephone?
How were the various aural media themselves represented? What is their function within the literary work? How are they used as a literary motif or device in the work of particular authors?
How can we study sound within the literary work? How does fictional sound relate to actual sound?
Are there substantial differences in the treatment of sound within the period, for instance between modernism and the avant-garde, but also between authors, genres, generations? And if so, how can they be explained?
How does the literary representation of sound relate to that of the other senses? Do they fulfill different functions within the literary work?

We welcome both theoretical and case-based studies on these and other questions central to the mapping of the literary soundscape between 1900 and 1950. Proposals (in English) should be sent to ltlconference@arts.kuleuven.be by 1 July 2013. These should contain a 300-word abstract as well as a short bio listing contact and affiliation details.

The first day of the conference will cater specifically to postgraduate students, enabling young and promising scholars to present their research and collaborate with their peers.

This conference is organized by the Leuven-based research team MDRN. For more information, visit www.mdrn.be. If you have any further questions, please contact tom.vandevelde@arts.kuleuven.be or tom.willaert@arts.kuleuven.be.

CfP: Negotiating Human Rights: Aesthetic, Cultural, and Political Framings [CultDoc]

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:16:40 +0200

Negotiating Human Rights: Aesthetic, Cultural, and Political Framings

Arr. by Humanistic Studies of Human Rights
Aarhus University, Denmark, January 23.-25. 2014

The aim of this conference is to focus on the multiple ways that human rights are framed through specific aesthetic, cultural and political discourses. The conference will facilitate an interdisciplinary discussion about this in a both historical and contemporary context.

The conference is motivated by the increasing use of human rights in global, political and cultural contexts and the simultaneous lack of consensus regarding their precise definition and function. Human rights discourses are used in the construction of cultural identity and political communities but at the same time, a question is raised regarding the nature of communality: we are all human beings but what is human about human rights and how does this human nature qualify us as bearers of rights within specific cultural and political contexts?
We invite papers on the rhetorical, aesthetic, and mediatised framing of human rights: how do human rights-narrations work, how are they used to create empathy, what is the form and function of atrocity tales or tales of victimhood, what is the relation between documentary and fictional strategies, how do we talk about human rights in political debates and in television shows, literature, movies, on the net etc.? There is a constant translation-process going on between law, politics, and culture. This ‘translation’ is not pure and neutral but motivated and based on selection and rhetorical choices. This conference focuses on the changes – losses and gains – of concrete mediatised human rights discourses in specific contexts.
Furthermore, in order to understand the function of human rights discourses, this conference invites papers that focus both on historical and contemporary contexts. If we talk about human rights in a very strict sense in the western world, they only go back to 1948 but all modern human rights discourses draw on a much older heritage. In order to understand the implications and constitution of modern human rights discourses we welcome studies on their development within global history, from antiquity till today and from different parts of the world.

Confirmed keynote-speakers:

Costas Douzinas (Professor of Law and Director of Birkbeck Institue for Humanities, Birckbeck, University of London)
Susan Maslan (Associate Professor, Dep. of French, University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Joseph Slaughter (Associate Professor, Dep. of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, New York, USA)
Lena Halldenius (Professor of Human Rights, and Director of Human Rights Program, Dep. of History, University of Lund, Sweden)

We invite papers on the following (or related) subjects:

•    Cultural contextualizations of human rights
•    The relationship between universality and particularity in concrete human rights discourses
•    Political uses of human rights
•    Human rights in intercultural dialogue in a global world
•    Styles of human rights: rhetorical framings, narrativization, aesthetization, fictionalization
•    Human rights in art, literature, movies etc.
•    Human rights and global history
•    Human rights in different media
•    Gains and losses in the process of ‘translation’ from one field of knowledge to another.

Fee: Participation fee will be 100 Euros.

Paper-suggestions should be no more than 400 words and should be sent before September 1, 2013 to Karen-Margrethe Simonsen, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature, Director of Humanistic Studies in Human Rights, Aarhus University, Denmark: negotiatinghumanrights2014@hum.au.dk

Call for Contributions for an Exhibition: Techniques of Remembering and Forgetting/ Techniken des Erinnerns und Vergessens [CultDoc]

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:31:17 +0200

‘Techniques of Remembering and Forgetting/ Techniken des Erinnerns und Vergessens’

The study of the cultural construction, production and negotiation of memory – collective and individual – has been one of most salient research fields in cultural studies since the early 1990s. Epistemological interest in memory and remembrance has taken various directions as the discipline has developed and diversified. At the core of this project is a specific aspect of memory production; techniques and processes of constructing, negotiating and undoing memory are a ubiquitous part of everyday culture and generally possess a material and/or visual dimension.

In a collaboration of Research Areas 1 and 4, we are planning an exhibition on cultural techniques of producing, representing and negotiating processes of remembering and forgetting (to open in January 2014 at the Lokal International). It aims to present and discuss aspects of memory and its processuality and/or materiality in a scholarly but accessible way. The exhibition is aimed at a mixed audience of German and international students and the general public. Possible Topics include, but are not limited to: memory and the body/bodily memory, archival practices, memory and imagery/visual(izing) memory, iconic images of remembrance, memory and/in/of objects, memory and the new (social) media…

We invite submissions from a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives – specific knowledge in the field of memory studies is not required. Participants are invited to contribute one piece (consisting of one to four image(s) revolving around one topic) to the exhibition (it is also possible to work together in pairs or small groups). The piece should also include a text investigating in a clear and comprehensible way the ways of (un)inscribing memory in the motif represented and is invited to raise questions for discussion: how is memory being constructed? What is being remembered, memorialized, forgotten? Why and how is it represented, and how does the materiality of the motif connect to aspects of memory?

The exhibition will be bilingual (English/German) in order to cater to an international audience. The individual contributions consist of posters or a small series of posters (format DIN A1, high image resolution) combining up to four images and an accompanying text of 350-450 words. Assistance with translations and any technical requirements will be offered by the organizing group.

We would be happy to receive your proposal (consisting of a blurb of 50-100 words, sketching your idea for an image/text combination), as well as any questions or suggestions, by June 15th, 2013.

Current participants: Silvia Boide, Maria Cristache, Vera Fischer, Jordana Greenblatt, Raul Gschrey, Mariusz Kalczewiak, Josephine Karg, Jens Kugele, Alexander Matschi, Alexandra Müller, Florian Sprenger, Fabian Stein, Katharina Zilles

Contact:
exhibit.memorytechniques@gmail.com

CfP: Workshop - The Politics of Agonism [CultDoc]

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:57:03 +0200

Workshop: The Politics of Agonism

The agonist tradition has introduced to political thought an account of politics that focuses on the integral role of power and conflict in the relations between participants in society. But the tradition seems to be insufficiently aware of its conceptual and normative underpinnings. This is especially true for the concepts of power and conflict which lie at the heart of agonist accounts of politics. Despite stressing the importance of context to determining the norms which govern societies, agonists maintain a commitment to certain strong normative assumptions, such as the idea of mutually respectful behaviour of political agents and the desirability of perpetual contestation. Agonists also have very particular expectations for the goals which political engagement ought to achieve: They tread an unclear line between modifying existing liberal institutions and replacing them wholesale with socialist alternatives, which has led to an impasse in agonist thinking about concrete solutions to current political problems.

The workshop convenors invite contributions from multiple perspectives and approaches that critically engage with agonistic political theory, and specifically encourage submissions which address the following topics:

(1) historical origins of agonism and antagonism,
(2) conceptual critique and contemporary developments of agonism, and applications to
(3) democratic institutions and
(4) political economy.

With regard to theory, the workshop invites papers that look at agonism's conceptual and normative underpinnings, specifically the underlying concepts of conflict, power, and the political. In addition to this conceptual critique, the workshop aims at engaging with appropriations of historical concepts by contemporary agonism, and the distinction of the latter from earlier thinkers such as Schmitt, Arendt, and Nietzsche. More specifically, possible themes include:

Agonistic concepts of the political, distinctions between politics and the political, and assumptions about the relation between contest and hostility;
Normative assumptions about the purpose of political engagement, the desirability of contestation, and the regulation of conflict in society;
Agonistic critiques of liberalism and the underlying goals to either modify existing institutions or replace them wholesale with non-liberal alternatives;
Historical manifestations of agon, their metaphysical and theological premises, and the institutional context of ancient practices of contestation;

With regard to praxis, the workshop invites contributions that engage with the agonistic theory of political institutions and the economic implications of agonism. As for political institutions, the focus is on how agonistic visions of radical democracy contrast with theories of deliberative democracy that equally stress the importance of participation and discursive contestation, and how agonistic goals such as enhanced inclusion play out in practice. As for the economic implications of agonism, the workshop aims at returning to the anti-‐capitalist leanings of its origin in critical theory in order to explore how agonistic political theory could better engage with the power implications of wealth inequalities, and the institutional means of redressing them. In this context, the workshop invites contributions that respond to problems such as:

Assumptions regarding the loci of difference-resolution in society and how they bear upon the application of agonism to political institutions;
The need for conclusive decision-making in light of urgent political problems and the apparent shortcomings of agonistic theory in this regard;
Agonistic alternatives to the prevailing hegemony in the international political economy and their implications for public policy formulation;
The apparent failure of agonistic theory to account for issues of redistribution and attempts to reconcile the latter with an agonistic politics of recognition;

Please email an abstract (up to 500 words) as an anonymized attachment to thepoliticsofagonism@gmail.com by 15 June 2013. Please include contact details in the body of the email.

Stipendien Ausschreibung der W�rzburg Summer School for Cultural and Literary Animal Studies (CLAS) [CultDoc]

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:44:48 +0200

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
wir freuen uns, Sie über eine weitere Stipendien-Ausschreibung der Würzburg Summer School for Cultural and Literary Animal Studies (CLAS) informieren zu können.

Ausschreibung (Auszug):

Den kompletten Ausschreibungstext finden Sie auch in unserer Internet-Präsenz unter "Aktuelles" bzw:
http://www.graduateschools.uni-wuerzburg.de/humanities/aktuelles/einzelnews/artikel/ausschreib-12/
Veranstaltungszeitraum: 23.09.-28.09.2013
Ort: Universität Würzburg, Philosophiegebäude, Am Hubland
Bewerben können sich: fortgeschrittene Studierende, Doktoranden und PostDocs

1. Würzburg Summer School for Cultural and Literary Animal Studies, gefördert von der VolkswagenStiftung:

Die "Würzburg Summer School for Cultural and Literary Animal Studies versammelt diese interdisziplinär gestellten Fragen und geht der historischen und systematischen Position der Tiere in unserer Kultur in drei aufeinander aufbauenden, dabei aber jeweils eigene und eigenständige Schwerpunkte setzenden Jahresthemen nach. Die diesjährige Summer School wird sich dem Jahresthema der "Politischen Zoologie widmen

2. Summer School 2013: Politische Zoologie

Im Zentrum der Summer School 2013 zur "Politischen Zoologie (23.09-28.09.2013) steht eine politisch-historische Frage: Was sind die politischen und sozialen Funktionen der Tiere? Wie steht es um den Zusammenhang von Politik, Poetik und Geschichte der Tiere?
In drei parallel laufenden Themen-Workshops soll das Thema exemplarisch vertieft werden:
A) "Anomalien/Delinquenzen (Harald Neumeyer, Antonia Eder)
B) "Völker/Schwärme (Eva Johach, Martina Munk)
C) "Jagd/Herrschaft (Roland Borgards, Alexander Kling)

3. Bewerbung

Für die Summer School 2013 stehen 33 vollfinanzierte Stipendien zur Verfügung, die sowohl Reise- als auch Übernachtungskosten abdecken.
Zur Bewerbung bitten wir NachwuchswissenschaftlerInnen (fortgeschrittene Studierende, Doktoranden und PostDocs) aller einschlägigen Fachgebiete mit einem eigenen Projekt zu den CLAS.
Bewerbungen sind bis zum 15. Mai 2013 zu richten an: netzwerk-clas@germanistik.uni-wuerzburg.de
Die Einladungen werden Anfang Juni versendet. Die Teilnahme an der ersten Summer School 2012 ist keine Voraussetzung für eine erfolgreiche Bewerbung.
Bewerbungsbogen, Programm und weitere Informationen finden sich unter: www.summerschool-clas.de

CfP: Uncommon Wealths: Riches and Realities [CultDoc]

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0200

Innsbruck, 14-18 April 2014

In light of the natural disasters and political and economic upheavals marking the new millennium, it seems more than timely that EACLALS should use its 15th triennial conference to retrace its conceptual roots in the Commonwealth and reconsider the notions of wealth and commonality.

Postcolonial discourse has preferred to utilise poverty, subalternity and disadvantage as theoretical categories and rarely examined what Foucault calls the “abuses and arrogance of wealth” or refined wealth as a measure of advantage and disadvantage. Yet the production of wealth has been both a motivation behind colonial expansion and a justification for it. Although interventionist acts and overseas investments have consistently been masked in a liberal rhetoric of benevolent “common good,” all too often their purpose and effect have been the enrichment of a few, the accumulation of wealths not commonly shared.

While scholarly interest in the resultant social, political and cultural asymmetries has lent greater visibility to the exploited and marginalised, it has also eclipsed the excesses of today’s rich and super-rich. These demand our attention though, especially as the discrepancies between the wealthy and the poor are being reinforced by the global financial crisis and as protest movements against corruption and economic injustice are drawing hitherto unimagined constituencies. The Arab Spring and the Occupation of Wall Street are cases in point, demonstrating the urgent need for both a critical reassessment of such concepts as “general interest” and “public welfare” and a careful appraisal of resources that still give currency to the idea of a commonly shared wealth. Such resources include also more uncommon wealths: riches not necessarily perceived as such, if only because of their inherent resistance to commodification.

Commonwealth literatures and languages, the core of our discipline, embody such riches and at the same time re-present other cultural wealths threatened by monetisation, consumerism and affluenza. How can such a heritage, which counteracts exclusive ownership and values shared experience, sharpen our awareness of different types of wealth and poverty? How can the ‘truth-telling’ of literature undermine strategic efforts to conceal and distort economic and political realities? How does it improve our understanding of the material conditions under which we live and the metaphoric riches at our disposal? What alternative scenarios of wellbeing, what new visions of prosperity, what innovative approaches to affluence can writing, especially from the Commonwealth, offer to a world believing itself held hostage by market demands and the neoliberal imperative to produce capital growth? What warnings does it spell out against the fragility of certain wealths and the devastating costs of others? What future does Commonwealth literature envisage for concepts like “commonwealth” and the “common weal”?

For further information see: https://uncommonwealthseaclals2014.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/full-call-link-homepage.pdf

Spirits of Utopia - a one-day Masterclass Workshop [CultDoc]

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:31:00 +0200

Spirits of Utopia - a one-day Masterclass Workshop will take place on Friday 21 June, 2013 at Freie Universität Berlin (9.00 am - 5.30 pm)

CfP: Begriffe � Theorien � Kritik [CultDoc]

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:48:48 +0200

Begriffe � Theorien � Kritik

Interdisziplin�re Tagung f�r Geistes- und SozialwissenschaftlerInnen

20. und 21. September 2013 an der Universit�t Augsburg

Noch vor wenigen Jahrzehnten wurde der Streit um Begriffe, Theorien und Kritik mit einer Sch�rfe gef�hrt, die heute eher auf Unverst�ndnis sto�en w�rde. Demgegen�ber hat sich in j�ngerer Zeit ein st�rker pragmatischer Umgang mit Theorien durchgesetzt. Zugleich haben sich die Forschungsans�tze und damit auch die Konzeptionen von Kritik seit den 1970er Jahren pluralisiert. Diese Diversit�t theoretischer Perspektiven mit ihren jeweils spezifischen methodologischmethodischen Zug�ngen und Zugriffen birgt Chancen f�r die geistes- und sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung � aber auch die Gefahr des "anything goes". So scheint die Pluralisierung mit einem Verlust des Dialogs �ber M�glichkeiten und Grenzen theoretischer Perspektiven innerhalb der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften einherzugehen.

Um Widerspr�che und Grenzen verschiedener Perspektiven, wie auch die Gemeinsamkeiten und Differenzen zwischen den Denk- und Forschungstraditionen erschlie�en und reflektieren zu k�nnen, ist es n�tig, die losen Enden fr�herer Diskussionen aufzunehmen und die damals gef�hrten Diskussionen �ber zentrale Fragen der Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften fortzuf�hren:

Was ist der Standpunkt des Sozialwissenschaftlers/der Geisteswissenschaftlerin, wenn der/die WissenschaftlerIn dem untersuchten Gegenstand selbst angeh�rt? L�sst sich Gesellschaft als Ganzes erkennen oder immer nur perspektivisch in den Blick bekommen? Welches sind die Voraussetzungen von Kritik und wie werden Erkenntnissubjekt und -objekt konstituiert? Was ist der moralphilosophische bzw. normative Standort der Kritik und woran misst diese ihre Gegenst�nde? Inwiefern m�ssen Gegenstands-, Wert- und Praxisbez�ge reflektiert und expliziert werden?

Die Tagung will diese Fragen anhand dreier Themenfelder vertiefen:

Panel I: Disziplinspezifische Theorierezeptionen

TheoretikerInnen wie Theodor W. Adorno, Judith Butler, Gilles Deleuze oder Michel Foucault werden in verschiedenen Disziplinen rezipiert � nicht zuletzt, weil diese selbst disziplin�re �Grenzg�ngerInnen� in einem nach Disziplinen geordneten Wissenschaftsbetrieb sind bzw. waren. Vor diesem Hintergrund sollen Fragen nach 1 disziplinspezifischen Rezeptionsweisen von Theorien und Forschungsprogrammen aufgeworfen werden. Willkommen sind Beitr�ge, die folgende Fragen aufgreifen: Welche disziplinspezifischen Rezeptionsweisen von Theorien lassen sich entdecken und wie lassen sich diese erkl�ren? Haben sich innerhalb von Disziplinen Standardrezeptionen bestimmter Ans�tze und deren begrifflicher Instrumentarien durchgesetzt? Haben sich die Rezeptionsweisen gegen�ber anderen Disziplinen verselbst�ndigt oder stehen diese weiterhin im Dialog mit anderen Disziplinen? Und wenn sich disziplin�re Rezeptionen feststellen lassen, worin liegt dann die Produktivit�t solcher disziplinspezifischer Lesarten und wo deren Grenzen?

Panel II: Transformationen von Begriffen und Theorieschulen

Zudem will die Tagung den Blick auf den genetischen Aspekt von Theorien und Theorietraditionen legen. Hier interessiert sowohl der Wandel der Theorien selbst wie dessen Erkl�rung bzw. Begr�ndung durch die jeweiligen TheoretikerInnen: Welchen (kritischen) Anspruch erheben verschiedene Theorien? Was verstehen sie als ihren jeweiligen Gegenstandsbereich und welches begriffliche Instrumentarium wird f�r die Entfaltung eines Gegenstandsbezugs entwickelt? Wie begr�nden verschiedene TheoretikerInnen die von ihnen vorgenommenen Ver�nderungen? Welche Bedeutung kommt hierbei wissenschaftsimmanenten auf der einen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen auf der anderen Seite zu? Vorstellbar sind hier zum Einen Beitr�ge, die sich mit Entwicklungsverl�ufen wissenschaftlicher Paradigmen, Konjunkturen der Rezeption und Konkurrenzbeziehungen zwischen theoretischen Paradigmen auseinandersetzen. Zum Anderen ist die n�here Betrachtung von Entwicklungen innerhalb bestimmter Theorietraditionen oder �Schulen� von Interesse.

Panel III: M�glichkeiten und Grenzen der Theorien-Bricolage � Herausforderungen der Theorieintegration

Die Zeiten leidenschaftlicher Diskussion und des Schlagabtausches um die �richtige� Theorie, die sich bis in die 1990er Jahre beobachten lassen, sind vorbei. W�hrend sich ein pragmatischer und integrativer Umgang mit Theorien zun�chst in interdisziplin�ren Forschungsfeldern wie der Geschlechterforschung finden lie�, hat sich dieser heute auch in �traditionellen� Disziplinen st�rker durchgesetzt. Problematisch scheint dies aufgrund des mitunter selektiven Zugriffs auf �Theorieaspekte� und der mangelnden Reflexion von in Theorien (implizit und explizit) enthaltenen gesellschaftstheoretischen wie methodologischen Grundannahmen, die m�glicherweise unvereinbar sind. Deshalb sollen die Unterschiede verschiedener Theorien sowie etwaige Schwierigkeiten bei deren Integration reflektiert werden. 2 Hier interessiert vor allem, welches Verh�ltnis von Subjekt und Objekt, welche Kriterien von Wahrheit und Realit�t und welchen Begriff von Kritik Theorien transportieren. Im Anschluss daran kann gefragt werden, ob diese einen pragmatischen Zugriff zulassen und wenn ja zu welchem Preis bzw. mit welchem Gewinn. Inwiefern sind Patchwork-Theorien produktiv oder problematisch?

Pro Panel sind zwei Vortr�ge (30-45 Minuten) und zwei Kommentare (10-15 Minuten) vorgesehen. Es wird angestrebt, dass ReferentIn und der/die darauf antwortende KommentatorIn jeweils aus verschiedenen Disziplinen kommen. Abgelehnte ReferentInnen werden von uns gegebenenfalls als KommentatorInnen angefragt.

Die �bernachtungskosten f�r ReferentInnen und KommentatorInnen werden komplett finanziert, die Reisekosten bis zu 100 Euro. Eine Teilnahmegeb�hr wird nicht erhoben.

Zur Beitragseinreichung aufgerufen sind DoktorandInnen sowie Post-Docs der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften. Vortragsvorschl�ge in Form eines 1-2 seitigen Abstracts werden bis zum 25. Mai 2013 erbeten an: tagung_kritik@phil.uniaugsburg. de

Organisation der Tagung:

M.A. Ludwig Gasteiger, Universit�t Augsburg

Dipl. Pol. Marc Grimm, Universit�t Augsburg

Dipl. P�d Barbara Umrath, Universit�t Flensburg 3

Symposium: Translating Human Rights [CultDoc]

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:24:49 +0200

Anlässlich des 60. Geburtstages von Dr. Doris Bachmann-Medick veranstaltet das GCSC am 26. April 2013 ein interdisziplinäres Symposium zum Thema „Translating Human Rights“.
Das Programm, das sowohl von ausgewiesenen ExpertInnen in diesem Bereich als auch von DoktorandInnen des GCSC/GGK gestaltet wird, verspricht einen wissenschaftlich interessanten und inspirierenden Diskurs über Menschenrechte als Übersetzungsproblem, ein Thema, mit dem sich Doris Bachmann-Medick selbst intensiv beschäftigt. Weiterhin soll die wertvolle Arbeit, die Doris Bachmann-Medick am GCSC/GGK in der DoktorandInnenausbildung und -Betreuung und darüber hinaus leistet, gewürdigt werden.
Neben Freunden und Wegbegleitern der Jubilarin sind auch am Thema interessierte ZuhörerInnen herzlich eingeladen.

26. April 2013, 10-18 Uhr, Alexander-von Humboldt-Haus

Programm


10 Uhr	Eröffnung (Hubertus Büschel) und Grußwort (Wolfgang Hallet)
Betreuung und Forschung im GCSC/GGK (Moderation: Hubertus Büschel)
10:30-10:45 Uhr	Anne Rüggemeier: Think Tank Masterclass: Über Dinge, Grenzen und Autorschaft in relationalen Autobiographien
10:45-11 Uhr	Seiji Hattori: Ein literarisches Beispiel für die Mischung von 'iconic', 'spatial'‚ 'acoustic' und 'postcolonial turn'
11 -11:15 Uhr	Thomas Edeling: Masterclass Meets Movie: Entdeckte Anwendungsfelder in The Royal Tenenbaums
11:15-11:30 Uhr	Friedolin Krentel: Analoge Praktiken in digitalen Systemen – Erste Ansätze für eine praxeologische Übersetzungsperspektive
11:30-11:45 Uhr	Alexander Matschi & Katharina Zilles: Translating Cultural Turns into Ordinary Language
11:45-12 Uhr	Hubertus Büschel: Doris Bachmann-Medick – ZeitRäume am GCSC

12-13:30 Uhr	Mittagspause
Translating Human Rights I (Moderation: Horst Carl)
13:30-14:30 Uhr	Martin Fuchs: Alternative Genealogien von „Menschenwürde“ und „Menschenrechten“? Das universalistische Potential indischer Religionen und das Problem des übersetzerischen Anschlusses
14:30-15:30 Uhr	Antje Linkenbach: Die Universalisierung von Normen und die Generalisierung von Werten: Möglichkeiten trans-kategorieller Übersetzung im Kontext der Menschenrechte

15:30-16 Uhr	Kaffeepause
Translating Human Rights II (Moderation: Beatrice Michaelis)
16-17 Uhr	Ursula Lehmkuhl: Übersetzung in den Geschichts- und Sozialwissenschaften: Annäherungen an ein kulturwissenschaftliches Konzept aus der Perspektive der „Governance-Forschung“
17-18 Uhr	Birgit Mersmann: Vom (Un)Recht am Bild: Die Zerstörung und Rekonstruktion der Buddha-Statuen von Bamiyan als bildkulturelles Übersetzungsproblem

18 Uhr	Schlusswort (Andreas Langenohl)

Dr. Beatrice Michaelis neu im Qualit�tszirkel Promotion [CultDoc]

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0200

Dr. Beatrice Michaelis ist neue Vertreterin im Qualitätszirkel Promotion (QZP) für das International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC). Der Qualitätszirkel ist ein seit 2009 eingerichtetes, fünf Bundesländer übergreifendes Netzwerk von über zwölf Graduiertenschulen, Qualitätssicherungs- und Nachwuchsförderungsinstitutionen aus zehn Universitäten, das sich für die Sicherung der Qualität und die konzeptuelle Weiterentwicklung von (strukturierten) Promotionen einsetzt.

Der Qualitätszirkel hat bereits ein in zweiter Auflage online abrufbar und auch englischsprachig vorliegendes Handbuch "Gemeinsam die Promotion gestalten" herausgegeben. Zudem bietet er einen Fragebogen für Betreuende und Promovierende, der dazu dienen soll, die jeweilige Rolle zu reflektieren und wechselseitige Erwartungen zu formulieren.

Im Februar 2013 fand an der Universität Gießen der zweite Workshop für Promotionsbetreuende Promotionen gut betreut statt. Dem liegt die Annahme zugrunde, dass die gute Betreuung ein wichtiger Schlüssel für den Erfolg der Promotion ist. Es wurde diskutiert, welche Kriterien gute Betreuung ausmachen, was es im Verlauf der Betreuung zu beachten gilt und nach welchen Kriterien Promovierende ausgewählt werden sollten.

Die Absicht des Workshops war es, bei den Betreuenden ein Bewusstsein für nötige Strukturen und Verbindlichkeiten zu schaffen. Dabei sollten sowohl die eigene Fächerkultur als auch die individuellen Promovierenden berücksichtigt werden. Die Workshops sollen Grundlagen für eine zeitnahe Bearbeitung der Promotion und die Erreichung von bestmöglichen Ergebnissen bei möglichst effizientem Betreuungseinsatz schaffen.

Neben diesen praktischen Handreichungen und Veranstaltungen äußert sich der Qualitätszirkel zu aktuellen, die Promotion betreffenden Fragen.

Weitere Informationen gibt Ihnen gern Dr. Beatrice Michaelis; zentral ist der Qualitätszirkel hier qz-promotion at ml.coli.uni-saarland.de zu erreichen.

registration for the second ACS Institute [CultDoc]

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:54:35 +0100

The Association for Cultural Studies (ACS) is delighted to announce that registration is now open for the second ACS Institute, which will be held from 22-26 July 2013 at the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Faculty of Cultural Studies, of Alpen Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt in Austria. The theme of the 2013 Institute is "The Sights/Sites of Cultural Studies." The local conference director is Prof. Rainer Winter.

The ACS Institute will be a forum for critical discussions of important perspectives on cultural studies today. Our paired theme is intended to forge productive and provocative conversations between two related, yet distinct, sets of issues. On the one hand, we will explore the question of where cultural studies can (and should) best be practiced in the 21st century, and what (if any) meaningful common ground exists between the different existing formations of cultural studies. On the other hand, we will engage in a special focus on visual culture, and the question of what cultural studies can contribute to a deeper understanding of a world dominated by images.

The Institute will provide an intense and rewarding pedagogical experience for postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers who will have the opportunity to spend the week learning from lectures and seminars delivered by six keynote speakers and a faculty staff of leading cultural studies scholars from around the world. The following keynote speakers have been confirmed: Ien Ang (University of Western Sydney, Australia); Gisela Canepa Koch (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú); John Clarke (Open University, UK); Lothar Mikos (University of Film and Television, Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany); Nicholas Mirzoeff (New York University, USA); and Constance Penley (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA).

Following on the great success of the inaugural ACS Institute in 2011 (at the University of Ghent (Belgium)), the 2013 edition of the Institute will bring together people from a wide range of disciplines to explore what it means to conduct cultural studies. We invite and encourage participation from researchers who work in disciplines such as cultural studies, visual studies, film studies, media studies, cultural sociology, cultural anthropology, literary theory and criticism, discourse analysis, new literacy studies, educational studies, rhetorical criticism etc.

The website for the Institute <http://acssi2013.aau.at> is now online, and registration is open. Early bird registration is €180 and ends on 30 April 2013. After that, registration goes up to €210. Please note that space for the Institute is limited, so register soon in order to guarantee yourself a seat at this uniquely rewarding event.

Email inquiries can be addressed to acssi2013@aau.at.

The Association of Cultural Studies <http://www.cultstud.org/> is the premiere international association of cultural studies and hosts the biennial Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference.

Cheers,
Gil Rodman
Chair, Association for Cultural Studies

Call for RECODE Summer School 2013 [CultDoc]

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0100

RECODE Summer School 2013

The Challenge of Complex Diversity: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives from Europe and Canada

RECODE Summer School,

University College Dublin, 10th to 14thJune 2013

Applications are invited from doctoral research students to participate in a week-long summer school organized by the RECODE research networking programme, funded by the European Science Foundation, and hosted by the Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, from 10thto 14thJune 2013. Successful applicants will receive an award covering travel costs and accommodation.

RECODE, an interdisciplinary, comparative research programme, aims to explore to what extent the processes of transnationalisation, migration, religious mobilisation and cultural differentiation entail a new configuration of social conflict in post-industrial societies (see http://www.recode.fi/). The summer school will examine the challenge of complex diversity, through theoretical and empirical perspectives from Europe and Canada. The week long programme will consist of lectures and seminars on the following four thematic areas covered by the RECODE network: (1) Linguistic diversity; (2) De-territorialized diversity; (3) Religious diversity; (4) Solidarity beyond the nation-state.

Participating lecturers and seminar leaders include Gianni D’Amato (University of Neuchâtel), Rainer Bauböck (EUI, Florence), Anette Borchorst (Aalborg University), Susanne Brauer (Paulus-Akademie Zürich), Linda Cardinal (University of Ottawa), John Erik Fossum (University of Oslo), Alain Gagnon (UQAM), François Grin (University of Geneva), Riva Kastoryano (CNRS-CERI-Sciences Po, Paris), Peter A. Kraus (University of Augsburg), Jocelyn Maclure (Laval University), Michel Seymour (U. Montréal), Birte Siim (Aalborg University).

Description of thematic sessions

Day 1:Introductory

Day 2 Religious diversity: Religion has lost its role as a fundamental reference in Western societies, but it has not given way to completely secularized forms of subjectification. It continues to be in a post-secular setting a relevant social force that pervades the public, private and intimate realms. Therefore, the session will address the following themes: How to interpret secularism and laicité in post-secular societies? What is the role and option of religion in public space? Which ethical and legal parameters should be taken accountable in religious plural societies? What are workable public policies for religious co-existence?

Day 3 Linguistic diversity: The session will be devoted to assessing the impact of linguistic diversity and multilingualism on society and politics in Europe and Canada from a multi- and trans-disciplinary perspective. It will address the following themes: (a) language and identity-formation under conditions of complex diversity; (b) language, immigration, and integration; (c) multilingualism and democracy; (d) political communication in transnational contexts; (e) linguistic justice.

Day 4 De-territorialized diversity: Politics has traditionally been conceptualized and organized along territorial lines. Today, however, the confluence of globalization, cosmopolitanisation and Europeanisation have given new impetus to the development of transnational communities. The session will address the following questions: What is meant by transnational communities? How salient are they in today’s EU and Canada? What is the relationship between transnationalism, nationalism and cosmopolitanism? Is cosmopolitanism the way forward?

Day 5 Solidarity beyond the welfare state: The session will address multicultural politics within and beyond welfare states focusing on the following themes:(a) the changing politics of diversity and belonging;(b) old and new forms of diversities and inequalities; (c) the boundaries of solidarity during the economic crisis.

Eligibility

Applications can be accepted only if they satisfythe two following criteria:

Applicants must be currently registered with an institution of higher education and/or research in the RECODE membership countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland).
Applicants must be currently registered PhD students in disciplines and fields of interest relevant to the themes of the school and RECODE network.

Documentation requested from applicants

All application material must be submitted in pdf format to recode2013@ucd.ie for the attention of Professor Margaret Kelleher, RECODE Irish representative, by 31 March 2013.

Letter of application (max 500 words) detailing a) your institutional affiliation, b) nature and length of programme for which you are registered, c) subject of research project, and explaining how you will benefit from the workshop.
A short essay (max 500 words) addressing directly one or more of the themes of the workshop sessions from the perspective of your research project.
CV (max. 1000 words).
Letter of support from your research supervisor (recommended length: c. 500 words).

NB: Applications exceeding the indicated word restrictions and late applications will not be eligible. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Selection criteria and process

The selection will be carried out by a dedicated panel of reviewers, appointed by the Recode Steering Committee. Decisions will be based on the following criteria:

Suitability of student’s subject of study to summer school themes;
Quality and originality of the short essay;
Thematic balance, i.e. to ensure representation of all four thematic areas;
Balanced geographical and gender representation amongst the participants.

Timeline for application and selection

31 March 2013 Deadline for submission of application (pdf format) to recode2013@ucd.ie
By end April 2013 Notification of successful applicants

A certificate of participation will be issued to all summer school attendees. Credit allocations will be the responsibility of the student’s own institution.

The ESF award will cover travel costs (economy class), meals and accommodation (5 nights); travel costs will be reimbursed to participants following the event.

CfP: Big emotions in literature [CultDoc]

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:44:18 +0100

Conference of the Flemish Association for Comparative Literature and Literary Theory

Ghent University, November 15, 2013

Organisers: Gunther Martens, Tobias Hermans, Koen De Temmerman

According to one of the master narratives of literary history, the rise of the novel is accompanied by a shift in rhetorical scope: Instead of the lofty genus grande of passions and affects, literature is gradually entitled to speak the language of the everyday. This leads to a remarkable predilection for the genus humile as evidenced in discourses of the grotesque and the ugly. This evolution coincides with the development of a modern habitus of literature reception primarily governed by sociability, sensibility and empathy.

This does not mean, however, that the grand style and its programmed affects, geared towards arousing powerful emotions in the audience, have disappeared from literature. The stylistic register of pathos, however, is increasingly seen as artificial, inauthentic or reserved for other media (such as opera and film).

The 2013 VAL conference aims to map big emotions and grand style (and its theorisation) in various literary and cultural traditions as well as across the threshold between pre-modern and modern literatures. The conference specifically aims to tackle strategies of emotionalisation in genres that are less easily associated with pathos or strong emotions (such as documentary prose, literary criticism or minor literary forms such as letters, lexicons, encyclopaedias, .. ).

Contributions should focus either on specific topics (literature and war, …); selected strong emotions (pain, disgust, anger, “irrational exuberance”); the theorisation of literature and emotion; gender-stereotyping of emotions or on the legacy of ancient style codes in modern and contemporary literature (e.g. theatrical emotions elicited by the ‘grand scene’ and its equivalents in post-dramatic conceptions of excess).

This congress aims to evaluate and expand research rooted in the emotional turn, both in literary studies and in interdisciplinary settings (such as historical research concerning civilisation and the exigencies of honour; ‘languages of emotion’, etc.). Although the restraint of emotion continues to dominate current conceptions of literature, amongst others in the wake of the ‘affective fallacy’, reassessing conceptualisations of affect and emotion and their stylistic description may prove vital for emerging research methodologies that attempt to trace (dis)continuities between classical, early modern and modern literature.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Strategies of emotionalisation in minor literary genres;
“small emotions”: forms of self-discipline, discourses and settings of coolness and emotional restraint (Neue Sachlichkeit, documentary literature, …);
affect in literary polemics and various forms of criticism (literary criticism, music criticism, …);
narratology, stylistics and pragmatics of emotion;
neo-classical revival(s) (around 1900, …)
gender, emotion and rhetoric;
the vocal ranges and intensities of post-dramatic theatre;
pathologies of pathos and big emotions (cf. Zumbusch 2010);
the return and/or persistence of sentimental genres;
computer-/Corpus-based approaches to emotion via sentiment mining (Digital Humanities);
definitions of grandeur in various cultures and methodologies (e.g. sociology);
…

We invite abstracts of no more than 500 words for papers (in Dutch, English, French or German) that, while based a specific case study, may offer a theoretical reflection on the topic.

Please e-mail abstracts to tobias.hermans@ugent.be by June 1 2013. The conference will be held at Ghent University on November 15, 2013.

Announcement of keynote speaker is forthcoming.

Selected papers will be published in the Cahier voor Literatuurwetenschap.

Website: http://www.literarystudies.ugent.be/big_emotions - http://www.val.ugent.be

Workshop: Cultures of Opposition � Samizdat in East Central Europe [CultDoc]

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:52:46 +0100

Workshop: Cultures of Opposition – Samizdat in East Central Europe

Marburg, 24 April 2013
Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe - Institute of the Leibniz Association
Vortragssaal, Gisonenweg 5-7, 35037 Marburg

Samizdat and cultures of opposition are not only a past phenomenon, but also a very present research and collection issue. For oppositional movements in East Central Europe independent underground publishing was more than a way to overcome the state’s monopoly of information. The samizdat formed a broad forum for oppositional debate, both negotiating strategy and oppositional identity.

The Herder-Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe offers an excellent platform to discuss these topics. On the one hand side it hosts researchers from all over the world working on Samizdat and cultures of opposition and on the other hand side we have a substantial collection of Samizdat material, especially the collection of Prof. Urbańczyk from Poland. The Samizdat-Workshop would like to produce synergy effects between various researchers dealing with cultures of opposition in different geographic and disciplinary contexts and the collections in Marburg.

We invite all researchers working on similar topics to take part in the workshop and contribute with their expertise to fruitful discussions.

Preliminary Program:


10.00 a.m.	Ina Alber (Marburg): Welcome and Introduction
10.15 a.m.	Gregor Feindt (Bonn, Herder-Stipendiat): Introduction to Samizdat and some Reflections on (oppositional) Political Community
11.00 a.m.	Ina Alber (Marburg): Cultures of Opposition in Biographical Narrations – Polish Memories
11.30 a.m.	Coffee Break
12.00 a.m.	Daniela Sneppova (Toronto, Visiting Fellow at the Leibniz Graduate School): Samizdat: the Art of Czech Resistance, 1968-89
1.00 p.m.	Lunch Break
1.30 p.m.	Jan Lipinsky / Jürgen Warmbrunn (Marburg): Presentation of Samizdat Sources in the Urbańczyk- and Herder Newspaper Collection
2.00 p.m.	First Explorations of Samizdat Sources
3.00 p.m.	Open Discussions and Summoning Up

Contact and Registration:

Ina Alber M.A.
Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung -Institut der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft
Gisonenweg 5-7, 35037 Marburg
Tel: +49 6421 184-122
Fax: +49 6421 184-194
Mail: ina.alber@herder-institut.de
www.herder-institut.de
www.facebook.com/HerderInstitut

CFP Material Culture Research � an appraisal of its epistemic gain [CultDoc]

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:21:50 +0100

Part 1, 5-7.12. 2013. Early Modern Material Culture (Gotha)
Part 2, November 2014: Material Culture Studies, trans-epochal. ‘Things’ in changing contexts: assessment, devaluation, reinterpretation. Transitions between eras and socio-political crises through the lens of ‘things’ (Gießen)

The study of material culture is booming within Germany – most noticeably since the German Ministry of Research (BMBF) announced its new program in May 2012 – and beyond. The boom does not, however, correlate with a completely new perspective but rather is the result of interdisciplinary research that introduced object-based methodologies to cultural studies as early as the 1990s in the United States. Before then, engagement with the material remains of past eras belonged largely to the domains of Archaeology and Ethnology. Under the label of ‘Material Culture Studies,’ the examination of culture via ‘things’ has become an established and relevant discipline within Anglo-American cultural studies contexts. It is important that the political-policy dimensions of this area of research undergo critical analysis: Is the study of material culture simply fashionable or should it become an entirely new discipline within historical studies? Can material culture be usefully studied as a medium for knowledge in all eras?

The aim of this conference is to fundamentally examine the potential for epistemic gain from material culture research. What forms of insight result from the study of objects/things/artefacts as source materials? How are the field’s terminology and concepts distinguished? Do established historical phenomena develop new significance when viewed via ‘things’? According to Latour, objects are actors with their own scripts and contain messages about the people who used them as well as cultural practices and norms. Can ‘things’ be regarded as sources for understanding modes of thought and cultural habits that yield information that is not attainable via textual or iconic sources? Which kinds of information do objects immediately convey and how can we decode them? How does the haptic quality of things add to their meaning? Questions arise concerning the repeatability of historical perception. Methodologically of particular interest are the medial fractures that result when ‘things’ are not conveyed in their three-dimensional physicality but only described by texts and pictures.

Part 1 of the conference focuses on the early modern period in its interdisciplinary investigation of things. Of central concern is the epistemic value of the study of material culture, which will be evaluated via examples (which can also be contemporary). What does material culture studies achieve and what are its limits? We especially seek papers engaged with the theoretical implications of the study of material culture.

Papers may be given in German or English. The conference will be conducted in both languages.

Possible topics include:
Everyday objects
Luxury items
Objects of science
Numismatics
Alchemy
Astronomy
Textiles and furniture
Production of food / nutrition
Religious objects
Art and art collection
Quality/material-iconography
Symbolic use/ceremonial/ritual
Social differentiations of handling practices
Medial translation
Early modern theoretical discourses about objects

Proposals for papers (30 min) of max. 250-300 words are due by April 12, 2013:
annette.cremer@gcsc.uni-giessen.de

The conference is a cooperation between the Research Centre for Culture and Social Studies Gotha of the University of Erfurt, and the International Graduate Centre for Study of Culture of the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen. Part 1 will take place at Schloss Friedenstein Gotha.

Contact:
Prof. M. Mulsow / Research Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt, Gotha
Dr. A. Cremer / International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture of the JLU

The Research Centre for Cultural and Social Studies Gotha is a central institution of the University of Erfurt. Housed in Gotha Friedenstein Castle, it is in close contact with the local research library, one of the greatest early modern libraries in Germany. As a Research Centre for Early Modern Studies, it assumes the special task of organising conferences and lectures based on the library’s resources and serves as a platform for scholars, visiting researchers and research projects.
http://www.uni-erfurt.de/forschungszentrum-gotha/

The International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), Justus-Liebig University Gießen offers a structured, three-year cultural studies doctoral education program. With an excellent research-intensive environment, a target group-oriented doctoral program and an intensive advising, the Graduate Centre offers ideal conditions for dissertation-projects.
http://gcsc.uni-giessen.de/wps/pgn/home/gcsc_eng/

Konferenz: Hier und jetzt und anderswo. Situativit�t in medial vermittelten Kontexten [CultDoc]

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:09:36 +0100

Hier und jetzt und anderswo. Situativität in medial vermittelten Kontexten

Frühjahrstagung der Sektionen Methoden der qualitativen Sozialforschung in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie

12.-13. April 2013, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Institut für Soziologie

Freitag, 12. April
14.00-16.00 Uhr
Herbert Kalthoff/Tobias Röhl (Mainz)
Artefakte – Medien – Mittler. Überlegungen zu einer transsituativen Mikrosoziologie

Olga Galanova (Bielefeld)
Zeit- und Distanzüberwindung durch einen Informationssammler: Transsituativität in Stasi-Abhörprotokollen

Pause

16.20- 18.20 Uhr
Jagoda Motowidlo (Gießen)
Gegen die Romantik einer raum-zeitlichen Unmittelbarkeit? Method(olog)ische Überlegungen zur Sozialität transnationaler Familien

Anne-Kathrin Hoklas/Steffen Lepa (Berlin) Zur empirischen Rekonstruktion alltäglicher musikalischer Mediendispositive

Pause

18.30-19.30 Uhr
Mitgliederversammlung der Sektion

20.00 Uhr
Gemeinsames Abendessen

Samstag, 13. April
9.00-11.00 Uhr
Kornelia Hahn/Alexander Schmidl (Salzburg)
Transmediale Informationsorganisation im Übergang zur signifikanten Paarbeziehung

Michael Liegl/Martin Stempfhuber (Mainz)
‚What’s Queer Here?’ Mediale Rekonfigurationen von Situationen intimer Kopräsenz und der Nähegenerator Grindr

Pause

11.20- 12.20 Uhr
Tobias Boll (Mainz)
Zwischen ‚solitary sex’ und Telesexualität. Die ethnografische Situationsanalyse von Camming

CfP: Experiencing Space � Spacing Experience Concepts, Practices and Materialities [CultDoc]

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:11:24 +0100

European Summer School in Cultural Studies ESSCS 2013
PhDnet Literary and Cultural Studies Summer School 2013
in cooperation with the RuhrTriennale Festival for the Arts 2013

September 4-8, 2013, Bochum, Germany

Experience takes time – whether it occurs as a surprising moment or grows out of long-term practice. Yet, the term experience is not only bound to a temporal logic. The PhDnet/ESSCS Summer School “Experiencing Space – Spacing Experience” aims, namely, to explore the spatial dimensions of experience: The German word for experience, “Erfahrung,” etymologically stems from words like to wander or ramble (Umherschweifen) and to cross or perambulate (Durchwandern). Not only the eventful experience of a short moment but also the gradual, long-term gathering of experience are linked to the specific materiality of places, such as schools, laboratories, workshops, sporting fields, etc. Experiences gathered in one particular place can be valueless and even hindrances outside of the spatial specificity in which they happen or are culled.
The Summer School draws upon a long tradition in philosophical, theoretical and empirical scholarship that deals with the concept of experience, ranging from ancient philosophy to European classics by, for instance, Kant, Schopenhauer, Locke and Kierkegaard and more recent works by Oskar Negt, Alexander Kluge and Bernhard Waldenfels, among others. Raymond Williams developed a term for experience throughout the second half of the 20th century which illustrates the ambivalence sketched above and in which experience is a kind of “knowledge gathered from past events, whether by conscious observation or by consideration and reflection” as well as “a particular kind of consciousness, which can in some contexts be distinguished from ‘reason’ or ‘knowledge’”. Experiences that are truly eventful can transform the routine continuity of gathered experiences, throw former experiences into question and usher in states of inexperience.
In addition to these frameworks, the Summer School addresses theoretical approaches that could be organized under the label of the ‘spatial turn’ and which investigate what constitutes various types of space and experience. Which practices contribute to the reciprocal relationship between space and experience? In what way are topologies created and how do they affect subjectivity? The interdisciplinary PhDnet/ESSCS Summer School turns its attention to these key topics – experience and space – within the study of culture to consider their positions within phenomena of transformation and materialization. To pursue these lines of inquiry, the Summer School has chosen a programmatic location. It will take place in cooperation with the RuhrTriennale, an international festival that offers a wide-ranging cultural program within the impressive monuments of the Ruhr area and under the direction of Heiner Goebbels. The venue alone brings spatial experience front and centre. The Ruhr area’s coal mines, coke ovens and industrial halls are assigned new meanings, transformed into spaces for experiences entirely different from those for which they were originally intended. Beyond its aesthetic dimensions, the Ruhr region – with its complex social and cultural processes of transformation – offers a variety of impulses for reflecting upon the relationship between experience and space that even extend to questions such as how a metropolitan region consisting of 53 cities and communities can possibly be experienced.
Contributions to the Summer School can deal with artistic forms of the RuhrTriennale and its region but are by no means restricted to these topics. The program is much more geared toward all PhD students and post-docs working within disciplines that relate to the study of culture (the humanities, philosophy, sociology, political science, fine arts, theater studies, literary and media studies); exploring the relationship between space and (in)experience as sketched above; and seeking a forum for rigorous, interdisciplinary dialogue.
In addition to providing the opportunity to present and discuss one’s own research project, the Summer School offers an attractive academic program with Keynote Lectures and Master Classes and will organize a range of activities that integrate the RuhrTriennale Festival.
Possible topics include the following facets of spatial experience, as well as their treatment within fictional forms of media, in short: their symbolic representations:

Transformations of space and spatial experience (e.g. climate change, gentrification)
Socially differentiated experiences of space
Augmented reality: the interplay between fictional and factual experiences of space (e.g. literary and television-series tourism)
Experience of things and experience of space: subjectivity and materiality (e.g. the staging of space in museums)
Metaphors and spatial experience (e.g. the city as body)
Practices for experiencing space (e.g. eventisation, cocooning)
Experience of non-places (airports, parking lots, etc.)
Experience of closed and open spaces
Sexualising space (e.g. cruising areas)

Select Bibliography

Liz Bondi, Joyce Davidson and Mick Smith (eds.). Emotional Geographies, Aldershot 2005.
Katrin Dennerlein. Narratologie des Raumes, Berlin/New York 2009.
Wolfgang Hallet and Birgit Neumann (eds.). Raum und Bewegung in der Literatur. Die Literaturwissenschaften und der Spatial Turn, Bielefeld 2009.
Martina Löw. Raumsoziologie, Frankfurt (Main) 2001.
Doreen B. Massey. Space, Place, and Gender, Minneapolis 1994.

Submission

Please submit your abstracts (max. 250 words) for 20-minute presentations together with three to five keywords and a short CV (5-10 lines) to Christine Schwanecke, ipp@ggk.uni-giessen.de until April 15, 2013. The selection process will be completed until June 3, 2013. Please also notify your host institution about your application.

The 2013 European Summer School in Cultural Studies (ESSCS)/PhDnet Literary and Cultural Studies Summer School is jointly organized by the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), the PhDnet Literary and Cultural Studies Summer School (PhDnet) and the International PhD Programme in Literary and Cultural Studies (IPP), in close cooperation with the RuhrTriennale Festival for the Arts http://www.ruhrtriennale.de/en/.

Konferenzbericht: The Cultural Dynamics of Generic Change in Contemporary Fiction: Theoretical Frameworks, Genres and Model Interpretations [CultDoc]

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:01:05 +0100

Am 28. und 29. November 2012 fand die internationale Konferenz „The Cultural Dynamics of Generic Change in Contemporary Fiction: Theoretical Frameworks, Genres and Model Interpretations” am International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC) an der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen statt. Die Konferenz wurde vom GCSC (Prof. Ansgar Nünning, Dr. habil. Michael Basseler), dem Internationalen Promotionsprogramm IPP (Dr. Christine Schwanecke) und dem European PhDnet „Literary and Cultural Studies“ (Dr. Kai Sicks) organisiert.

Die interdisziplinär ausgerichtete Konferenz eröffnete einen breiten Zugang zum Thema Gattungsentwicklung und Gattungswandel und widmete sich vor allem folgenden Fragestellungen: Was sind die Auslöser für Gattungswandel innerhalb eines Genres und im Genresystem? Wie lässt sich die Diskrepanz zwischen der Stabilität von Genres einerseits und deren Wandelbarkeit andererseits erklären? Es wurde deutlich, dass nicht nur literarische Prozesse wie beispielsweise Hybridisierung, Medialisierung und Metaisierung einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Veränderung und Entstehung von (neuen) Gattungen haben, sondern sich auch historische und kulturelle Veränderungen auf die Entwicklung von Gattungen auswirken. Die Keynotespeaker Prof. Ansgar Nünning, Prof. Wolfgang Hallet, Prof. Heta Phyrhönen, Dr. habil. Michael Basseler, Dr. Christine Schwanecke und Dr. Jan Rupp gaben zunächst einen theoretischen und systematischen Überblick über die aktuelle Forschungslage und stellten neue Hypothesen zur Gattungsentwicklung auf. Die darauf folgenden Modellinterpretationen der DoktorandInnen des IPP und des PhDnet griffen diese Hypothesen auf und widmeten sich der Analyse eines Primärwerkes. Die Ergebnisse der internationalen Genrekonferenz werden in einem Konzeptband im Jahr 2013 bei WVT veröffentlicht.

Symposium on Law and Culture, Featuring a Lecture by Honni van Rijswijk [CultDoc]

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:15:48 +0100

Symposium on Law and Culture, Featuring a Lecture by Honni van Rijswijk
University of Giessen
March 7, 2013

Professors Greta Olson (English and American Literary and Cultural Studies) and Frank Reimer (Public Law and Legal Theory)

Room to be announced

This symposium is intended to offer an opportunity for scholars working on Law and Culture topics in Germany to present their projects, network with one another, and also meet with other local and international scholars working in the field. It is also aimed at fostering scholarly ties between Germany and Australia. It shall feature a lecture by Dr. Honni van Rijswijk (Senior Lecturer at University of Technology Sydney Law School, and Co-convenor of the Law and Culture Group at UTS Law).

Schedule

3:00 Begin and Introductions Including Project Descriptions
3:45 Dr. Honni van Rijswijk’s Lecture and Q &A
5:45 Reception and Dinner

Narrative Interventions into National Responsibility? Australian Stolen Generations’ Testimonies in 2012

The historical narratives of the Stolen Generations that have been developed in recent case law (Trevorrow v South Australia 2010) and the Federal Government Apology in 2008 are valuable in that they recognise state policies of removal, and the suffering these policies caused to Indigenous survivors. However, these narratives also tend to emphasise Indigenous suffering rather than state responsibility for this suffering. Despite recognising that the child removal policies were directed specifically to Indigenous children, legal and political responses have failed to make material amends for these historical wrongs. These responses have also put in place problematic narratives concerning actions of the past, (for example, the role of parental consent in relation to child removals), and the relationship of this past to the present.

A real problem arises as to how to intervene in these narratives. One form that has been used in a number of counter-national/historical projects is the testimony, which was utilized previously in this context in the Bringing Them Home Report in 1997. This paper examines recent web-based testimonies that have been produced with a similar approach, through The Stolen Generations’ Testimonies project, an initiative of the Stolen Generations’ Testimonies Foundation, which filmed the personal testimonies of members of Australia’s Stolen Generations Survivors in 2009 and published them online this year.

This paper asks whether these testimonies might be read as texts that animate a present-time responsibility rather than tell a story of past suffering. At the same time that they recount the harm caused to Indigenous Australians, they also recount the actions of the state and other entities, and these accounts can be developed toward a conceptualization of deep responsibility. But this reading in some ways means reading against the grain of the testimonies, whose form invites a particular kind of engagement and affect from the reader/viewer. The paper considers the potential and limits of the testimonial form in relation to social justice projects regarding the Stolen Generations, and suggests critical reading practices that can make the most of the form in this context.

Please contact Dr. Birte Christ or Dr. des. Mirjam Horn about your plans to attend:
Birte.Christ@anglistik.uni-giessen.de Mirjam.Horn@anglistik.uni-giessen.de

34. Ausgabe von KULT_online erschienen [CultDoc]

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:55:47 +0100

Pünktlich zum Beginn der vorlesungsfreien Zeit bietet die aktuelle, 34. Ausgabe von KULT_online wieder zwei Tagungsberichte sowie Rezensionen zu vielfältigen Neuerscheinungen aus dem weiten Feld der Kulturwissenschaften: von der Technisierung des Wohnens in den 1920er Jahren oder im Umfeld des Playboy über die Briefe John Lennons, das Starkonzept Hybridität hin zu einer neuerlichen Marx-Renaissance; von Erinnerungsfilmen zu DDR und Nationalsozialismus über den Soldatenalltag im Ersten Weltkrieg hin zum Materiellen der Kultur. Außerdem finden sich Besprechungen zu The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, zum Handbuch Kulturphilosophie sowie zu Kompetenzen beim Lernen und Lehren des Spanischen.

Mit dieser Ausgabe verabschiedet sich Mirjam Bitter nach knapp fünf Jahren aus der Redaktion von KULT_online. Ab dem Sommersemester wird ein neues GCSC-Teammitglied die Redaktion übernehmen und Sie auch künftig über die Entwicklung von KULT_online informieren. Der aktuelle Kontakt findet sich auf der KULT_online-Website.

Zur aktuellen KULT_online-Ausgabe …

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