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Leitungsteam-Nachfolge für das Nachwuchsforum gesucht!

logo_nachwuchs_grossCall for Applications

Das Nachwuchsforum (NWF) der Gesellschaft für Kanada-Studien e.V. sucht junge, engagierte Kanadist_innen, die sich aktiv im NWF-Leitungsteam einbringen und die Förderung von Nachwuchswissenschaftler_innen im Rahmen einer interdisziplinären Kanadistik unterstützen möchten.

Die Leitung des NWFs setzt sich aus zwei Teams zusammen, die jeweils versetzt für zwei Jahre amtieren. Turnusgemäß wird das Team Potsdam-Kanada auf der nächsten Jahrestagung der GKS (12. – 14. Feb 2016 in Grainau) sein Amt abgeben. Auf der Jahrestagung wird außerdem traditionell auch das zukünftige Team vorgestellt, das dann gemeinsam mit Team Wien die Leitung des Nachwuchsforums übernehmen wird. Ausführlichere Informationen zum Nachwuchsforum und Team Wien findet man auf der NWF-Homepage.

Das Leitungsteam ist für die Organisation des jährlichen Nachwuchspanels auf der GKS-Jahrestagung sowie für die Ausrichtung einer Graudiertentagung zuständig. In das Aufgabengebiet fällt außerdem die Vernetzung im deutschsprachigen Raum mit anderen Partnerorganisationen, akademischen Einrichtungen, Kanadazentren und den Vertretungen der Regierungen von Kanada und Québec. Dies geschieht u.a. durch die Aktualisierung der Webseite, das Erstellen eines monatlichen Newsletters mit Informationen zu Konferenzen, Stipendien, Jobangeboten und weiteren Neuigkeiten im Bereich der Kanada-Studien sowie die Repräsentanz des NWFs in Social Media Plattformen (Facebook und Twitter). Die Arbeit im NWF verschafft einen aktiven Einblick in die Organisation von wissenschaftlichen Konferenzen, die Drittmittelbeschaffung, den Umgang mit neuen  Medien und das Vernetzen der im deutschsprachigen Raum angesiedelten Kanadistik.

Besonders im Hinblick auf die Ausrichtung und Finanzierung der jährlichen Graduiertentagung hat sich die institutionelle Anbindung des Teams an eine akademische Einrichtung bewährt. Bewerber_innen sollten über gute Kenntnisse in mindestens einer der beiden offiziellen Amtssprachen Kanadas verfügen; es ist von Vorteil, wenn im Team sowohl die englische als auch französische Sprache repräsentiert werden. Bewerbungen von interdisziplinär besetzten Teams, die ein möglichst breites Spektrum der Sektionen der GKS vertreten, sind besonders willkommen; Einzelpersonen, die wir ausdrücklich zu einer Bewerbung ermutigen, werden jedoch gleichermaßen berücksichtigt.

Das Team Wien freut sich über zahlreiche Einsendungen! Bewerbungen sind bis zum 15. Dezember 2015 an die E-Mailadresse des NWFs möglich und bestehen aus einem Motivationsschreiben (max. 2 Seiten) und dem Lebenslauf der Interessierten. Alle Bewerber_innen werden bis Anfang Januar 2016 über die Entscheidung informiert.

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Aktuelles Call for Papers Veranstaltungen

CfP: Canadian Culinary Imaginations: A Symposium of Literary and Visual Fare

Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Vancouver B.C. Canada (Richmond Campus), February 19 – 20, 2016

Organizers: Shelley Boyd (English Department, Kwantlen Polytechnic University) and Dorothy Barenscott (Fine Arts Department, Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

In her 2014 book The Culinary Imagination: From Myth to Modernity, Sandra M. Gilbert observes that while the twenty-first century is “gastronomically obsessed,” the “lore and lure of food” have been present since antiquity and prehistory. Culinary imaginings are most certainly dynamic, Gilbert argues, with new modes of writing and visual representations evoking food’s ongoing cultural significance. Similar reflections on Canada’s early beginnings to the twenty- first century understandably lead to questions about the shifting contours of this nation’s “culinary imaginations.” How have innovations in form and content shaped this country’s food- related expressions?

The Canadian Culinary Imaginations symposium invites interdisciplinary examinations of how Canadian writers and/or visual artists use food to articulate larger historical and cultural contexts, as well as personal sensibilities. Who are the key or overlooked figures, and how have they broadened or challenged the meaning of food through their art? The symposium will coincide with the launch of the public art exhibition Artful Fare: Conversations about Food, featuring the collaborative art projects of KPU Fine Arts and English students as they engage in creative-critical dialogues about food in Canadian poetry. The symposium will take place on Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Richmond campus, located near the Landsdowne Skytrain Station (on the Canada Line) with convenient access to Vancouver’s International Airport.

In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of the symposium, the organizers invite paper proposals that may engage with a range of topics within a Canadian or comparative context, including (but not restricted to) the following:

  • Examinations of Canadian artists and/or writers who use food prominently in their works
  • The relationship between food and form (drama, fiction, foodoir, landscape painting, oral traditions, poetry, portraiture, performance art, sculpture, still-life, film, photography, digital media, etc.)
  • Food-related expressions in the context of literary or artistic movements (early Canadiana, modernism, feminism, post-colonialism, the avant-garde, etc.).
  • Representations of scarcity and hunger
  • Examinations of literary cookbooks and/or exhibition catalogues of visual fare
  • Recipes, menus, and/or food policies in literature and/or the visual arts
  • Representations of urban and rural foodways
  • Local, regional, national, and/or global food politics in Canadian literature and the arts
  • Expressions of First Nations foodways
  • Food in iconic works of Canadian art and literature; or Canadian food/brands in art and  literature
  • Comparisons of cross-cultural culinary imaginations that include Canada

Please email your proposal (as a Word attachment) with the subject line “Culinary Imaginations” to Shelley Boyd and Dorothy Barenscott by November 12, 2015.

Proposals should include the following:

  1. Your name, contact information, and institutional affiliation.
  2. The title of your paper, AND a proposal of 250 – 300 words, identifying the texts and/or visual works that will be your focus and outlining the argument to be presented in a paper of approximately 20 minutes in length.
  3. A 50-word biographical statement.
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Aktuelles Ausschreibungen

10 Doctoral Research Positions at the IRTG „Diversity – Mediating Difference in Transcultural Spaces“

The International Research Training Group (IRTG) „Diversity: Mediating Difference in Transcultural Spaces“ (Trier, Montréal, Saarbrücken), funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), is accepting applications for

10 doctoral research positions (TVL 13, 50%)
at the University of Trier and at Saarland University
for the period of 18 months, starting 1st April 2016,
with a possible contract renewal for 18 more months
pending the continuation of funding by the DFG

The IRTG „Diversity“ is a joint German-Canadian doctoral education program of the University of Trier, Saarland University, and the Université de Montréal. On the German side, it has its offices at the University of Trier. The IRTG „Diversity“ proposes an innovative research program in the contested fields of diversity, multiculturalism, and transnationalism by examining paradigmatic changes and historical transformations in interpreting multicultural realities in North America (Montréal, Québec, Canada, North America) and Europe (Saar-Lor-Lux, Germany, France, Europe) since the 18th century. Focusing on dynamic processes that engender diversity, the IRTG Diversity’s analytical framework offers new perspectives for transnational and area studies as well as cross-cultural research. Through the transversal analytic lenses of politics, practices, and narratives, the IRTG investigates the mediation and translation of cultural differences in micro-, meso. and macro-level empirical constellations. Following the principle of herméneutique croisée, the researchers in Europe focus on the sliding-scaled spatial zones of Montréal – Québec – Canada – North America, while the researchers in Canada focus on the Saar-Lor-Lux region – Germany/France – Europe. The IRTG „Diversity“ thus is especially interested in PhD projects focusing empirically on Canada and/or Quebec. Projects with a comparative approach are also encouraged.

Research-oriented Curriculum

The IRTG „Diversity’s“ three-year research-oriented curriculum is based on regular meetings of the doctoral students and the IRTG’s researchers, including intensive summer and winter schools, a mid-term international conference, and a dissertation workshop in the third year of the program. PhD candidates will have access to the research facilities of all three participating universities. The IRTG offers financial support for research trips to the Canadian partner university, to Canadian archives, and to Canadian research institutions during the mobility phases. PhD candidates will be supervised by professors who are members of the Research Training Group (see website). The IRTG therefore requires that applicants enroll as doctoral students at the Universit of Trier or at Saarland University, depending on the location of the first supervisor, and to take residence in Trier or Saarbrücken. To ensure regular scholarly exchanges, the IRTG requires PhD candidates to work at the offices we provide at the University of Trier for three days a week.

For further information about the IRTG Diversity’s research and qualification program, please consult the IRTG’s website.

Applications

The IRTG „Diversity“ invites the application of highly qualified applicants from diverse fields, including history, political science, literature, linguistics, intercultural communication and media studies, cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, cultural anthropology, gender studies and human geography. Applicants are expected to be fluent in at least two of the IRTG „Diversity’s“ official languages (German, English, French).

Applications can be submitted in German, French, or English and are due January 6, 2016. They should include:

  • a statement of purpose (no longer than three pages)
  • an exposé outlining the dissertation project (max. 10 pages)
  • a curriculum vitae
  • contact information for two referees
  • copies of earned degrees (including copy of higher education entrance qualification)
  • proof of language skills (English, French, German)
  • a writing sample (preferably the MA thesis)
  • the DFG-based date survey questionnaire (see website)

The IRTG „Diversity“ welcomes applications from researchers of all nationalities. The University of Trier and Saarland University strive to increase the share of women in research and strongly encourage women to apply. Both universities are certified family-friendly employers. Applicants with disabilities who are equally qualified will be favoured.

Please include all application material in one pdf or zip-file and send your applications via e-mail (subject: IRTG „Diversity“) to:

Dr. Lutz Schowalter
Academic Coordinator, IRTG Diversity
DM 240
54286 Trier
e-mail: schowalter[at]uni-trier.de

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Aktuelles Call for Papers Veranstaltungen

CfP: L’enclave dans les mondes anglophones / The Enclave in the Anglophone World

Colloque international de jeunes chercheurs – Culture et Littérature des Mondes Anglophones (CLIMAS)

Université Bordeaux Montaigne, March 11-12, 2016

Organizers: Remy Arab-Fuentes, Isabelle Gras, James Perosi-Doughty

An enclave is a portion of territory within or surrounded by a larger territory belonging to someone else. Access to this territory is difficult due to moral or social laws being different from those of the territory which it is isolated from. “Enclave” comes from the Latin root “to lock with a key.” This etymology conveys the idea that access is possible, albeit extremely restricted. Thus, the enclave provides its totally hermetic condition while simultaneously allowing for possibilities to enter. By virtue of its isolation from the rest of the world, the enclave is thus the privileged venue for particular phenomena that may only exist in this confined territory.

When the hermetic character of the enclave is exacerbated, whether or not the surrounding world has any influence on it, it is still possible to consider it an absolute alternative to the outside world. Thus, the enclave becomes the place for all fantasies; for all exaggerations. Since it is separated, sealed off, the enclave can serve as a place for experimentation — the radiant city or the laboratory of horrors; a utopia or dystopia. In any case, thanks to its isolation, the enclave has been able to claim the possibility of providing a new start. However, finding refuge in a utopian enclave brings up the question of escape or resistance. Behind this question lies another profound problem specific to the enclave: is the enclave a place in its own right, a removed place or a non-place? What relation links the enclave and the surrounding territory? Making a case of the enclave, taking into consideration a minority which takes its strength from opposing the surrounding majority is to acknowledge a territory in which its integration to a larger whole is problematic. Thus, the Enclave questions the notions of integration and rejection, especially if we consider ethnic enclaves which, due not only to their geopolitical but their social nature as well, have fluid borders which articulate these contradictory notions in a complicated way.

We have seen that enclaves create a gap between interior and exterior, and thus the possibility of a contrast which allows for magnifying certain aspects by comparison. The Enclave thus could act as a magnifying mirror. A paradox thus appears: is the Enclave the space of absolute difference, or does it simply reproduce societal phenomena in a finer and clearer manner, exacerbating these phenomena by smoothing out the surface of an exterior reality which is far too complex to be represented? The enclave does not only just bring about territorial ruptures, but above all it brings about a network of complex relations with its surroundings. Is it a privileged tool for representation or, on the contrary, a difficult place to chart due to its hermetic nature? Is it a refuge or a prison? What does it actually tell us on the concept of borders and affiliations? How does it develop its status of exception and claim its status as a minor territory in a larger and more united world? These geopolitical, ontological, and esthetic motifs of the enclave are what will be explored and developed at this conference.

Fields of Study :

Civilization: ethnic enclaves, reservations and concentration camps, transcendentalist societies

Literature: enclaves in the adventure novel/lost worlds, esthetic experience as enclaves

Linguistics: morphological and syntactical specificities, morphological specificities of dialects, mental spaces

We will consider the proposals in French and English from doctoral students and young researchers from all disciplines of English studies. Talks will discuss enclaves in the Anglophone world. Certain proposals will be selected to be published in Leaves: A Journal, Climas’s online review.

Please send all propositions (around 3000 signs including punctuation marks) along with a short CV to: remy.arab-fuentes@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr, james.doughty@u-bordeaux.fr and isabelle_gras@yahoo.com by November 1st, 2015.

Further information (in French and English) can be found on the CLIMAS Website.

 
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Aktuelles Call for Papers Veranstaltungen

CfP: Disrespected Neighbo(u)rs – Cultural Stereotypes in Literature and Film

Conference, 21.-23.4. 2016, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany

Organizers: Caroline Rosenthal, Laurenz Volkmann, Uwe Zagratzki

Neighbourly relations frequently position a self against an Other. This is the case between individuals, nations or within various cultural groups of a nation. Our racial, ethnic, social, or gender identities are created in demarcating ourselves from others who differ from us in culturally significant ways. These processes of identity formation are often spurred by stereotyping the Other. Sometimes these stereotypes take the form of humorous teasing or satirizing critique. Often, however, stereotypes turn into petrified value judgements of others and lead to discriminatory acts, violence, and sometimes culminate in warfare and genocide.

Disrespect of the immediate neighbour based on stereotypical pre-conceptions and cultural bias may lie dormant for a long time and then, activated by changes in the economic and political macrocosm, surfaces instantly and fuels economic exploitation, political suppression, destructive propaganda and, ultimately, pogroms. What had up to this point been recognised as a familiar neighbour, who was defined through linguistic, cultural, and religious distinctions, now not only transmutes into the unfamiliar, but the disrespected and, finally, hateful, Other.

A more detailed look at the rhetoric of recent conflicts around the globe related to religious fanaticism, economic crises, racism, or sexism reveals deeply entrenched pre-conceptions of the gendered, ethnic, or social Other. Such stereotypical representations of the Other are shaped and disseminated through fictional and non-fictional texts, television, films, and the internet as well as in everyday cultural practices. As a result, media products feature prominently in producing, propagating, and maintaining cultural difference in ideologically effective ways. Degrees of covert or overt forms of disrespect range from conventional hetero-stereotypes (e.g. Southern laziness, African inertia, Polish cunning, Greek economy, Scottish meanness, Irish drunkenness) in everyday encounters to open de-humanisation (axis of the evil, unbelievers, terrorists) in times of heightened ideological or military tensions.

The conference aims to probe the liminal spaces of construction and perception in literary and media representations. It aims to lay open the interplay of textual and media representations and other ways of producing stereotypes; and it intends to shed light on the issue of how such representations both react to as well as impinge on the spheres of cultural, political, and economic practice.

The focus of this conference will be on discourses in four geographical areas: (1) North America, (2) Europe, (3) UK/Ireland/Scotland/Wales (4) the Commonwealth. We are interested in, e.g.:

  • nation states and their “neighbourly relations” (e.g. Poland and Germany, Europe and Russia; Europe and Greece, the US and Canada; England and Scotland; India and Pakistan)
  • tensions between regions, cities, neighbourhoods, and cultural groups within a nation as represented in literary and media discourses (e.g. TV series and shows, pop culture, fiction).
  • linguistic and cultural encounters/clashes between main- and non-mainstreams/regions and nation states (e.g. Sorbians in Germany, Turkish suburbia in Berlin, Bretons in France, Catalans in Spain; Irish in Glasgow, Scottish Highlands in the UK, Atlantic and Central Canada) as created/reflected by media and literature parameters of gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, etc. that contribute to processes of stereotyping beyond and in connection with national and regional strategies of creating cultural meaning.

We invite abstracts of app. 300 words by December 1st, 2015. Please send them to Laura Burger, Universiät Jena.

The language of the conference will be English. This is the third conference under the heading “Us and Them – Them and Us. Constructions of the Other in Cultural Stereotypes” and the first one co-organised by the English Departments of the universities of Jena, Germany and Szczecin, Poland.