Kategorie: Veranstaltungen

Colloquium, 18 – 19 May 2017, Université de Nantes, France

Organizers: Daniella Kostroun (Indiane University – Purdue University, Indianapolis / IEA Nantes) and Yann Ligneureux (University of Nantes)

Sponsored by the Research Center for International and Atlantic History (CRHIA); Labex „Writing a New History of Europe“; the program „STAtutes, ‚RAces,‘ and ‚COlors,‘ in the Atlantic from Antiquity to the Present;“ and the Institute for Advanced Studies, Nantes.

The political, social, and religious systems of Old Regime France were designed and built on traditional, classical ideas about hierarchy and order in ways that promoted an ideal of a stable, self-reproducing system, one that was immune to the changes and contingencies that came with the passage of time. But what happened to these systems when they were contested and disrupted by the increase in commercial activity and the movement of people across the Atlantic Ocean in the 16th – 18th centuries? What were the effects, on individuals and on the society in which they lived, of this new „disorientation“ of institutions, families, and self-representations? What degrees of disorientation did this experience of alterity present, perhaps less in the matter of discovering of other places than in the process of self-discovery that occured in the hearts and souls of individuals?

The organizers explore these questions because the disorientation that resulted from colonial enterprises was a process that unfolded at the very heart of a worldview, one that had its traditional certainties and tenets challenged, weakened, and overturned. Assumptions about our human nature, our relationship to the divine, the essence of our political behaviour, and our need to build societies fell subject to what Jean Rohou has called the „revolution of the human condition“ in the 17th century. The disorientation experienced by the men and women who engaged in the Atlantic adventure was not just a test of distance, but a process of distanciation. Whether this process occured slowly and imperceptively or with incredible speed, it carved into individual consicences and the collective imagination new divides that were possibly as daunting as the ocean that had to be crossed. Was the long voyage from the old France to Canada or the Antilles, made out of fear or out of hope, an opportunity for liberation? Was the New World a place for renewal? Moreover, were these strangers in new worlds susceptible to an estrangement from themselves as they confronted new intersections of intimate, personal, communal and collective spheres?

These questions of the self, of the intimate, and of that which is called ipseity, have a history and an archaeology in the sources of their own. They are embedded in the accounts of the discovery and exploration of new lands in the Americas and of the peoples living there. Writers at the time were preoccupied by them. We find, either explicitly or in ways that were more indirect, in the administrative documents, personal letters, religious treatises, and literary texts, and other genres – including all other forms of artistic expression – discourses relating to peoples‘ fears and hopes surrounding the effects of the specific distanciation at work as they crossed and inscribed themselves in these new worlds.

The goal of this colloquium is to shed light on these fragile discourses and to take stock of them. They are fragile because they are at the cusp of what has since become a ridge demarking differences that needed to be protected, constructed, and overstated in subsequent centuries. In specifying how French men and women perceived this distanciation amongst themselves, this colloquium will help us understand differently how they interacted – whatever the nature of their projects in the Atlantic – with each other and with the other people whom they came to see as fundamentally other. It will also help us to think more generally about the problems France faced when it sought to uphold an ideology of stability and order in a world that was in reality shifting and demanding constant negotiation.

Plese submit paper proposals in French or English (approx. 350 words) and a short CV to the two organizers Daniella Kostroun and Yann Lignereux by December 20, 2016.

Sixth Annual Meeting of the Northeast and Atlantic Region Environmental History Forum (NEAREH, formerly known as NACEHF), May 19 – 20, 2017, University of Connecticut, Avery Point Campus, Groton, CT/USA

Following a half a decade of research in the environmental histories of Northeast US and Atlantic Canada, the 2017 NEAREH Forum solicits papers exploring the ties linking people and places throughout eastern North America and the northwest Atlantic. People have long moved, lived, worked, and travelled throughout this region, drawing its communities and resources into larger networks—both before and after colonization. Focusing upon the environmental histories of such connections, this workshop seeks to bring to light how such linkages defined, evolved, adapted, and fell apart as people scribed lines across the region’s lands and seas. In addition, the Forum invites explorations into definitions and redefinitions: how have we, and how should we define this (or these) regions? What new interpretations emerge when we compare conventional understandings with those emanating from environmental perspectives? How can the region’s past—and constructions of the past—inform collective responses to future challenges?

NEAREH 2017 invites proposals from scholars exploring these—and related— questions from a wide range of disciplines that fall under the wide lens of environmental history—including (but not exclusively) Native American/First Nations studies; gender, race, class, and sexuality studies; history of science; historical terrestrial/marine ecology; and labor perspectives.

The workshop will meet at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point Campus in Groton, Connecticut. Across town, the village of Mystic offers a range of accommodation options. Low cost housing for those interested is also possible. Mystic is also regionally known for farm/fishery-to-table dining (more details to come), as well as hosting Mystic Seaport Museum and the Mashantucket-Pequot Museum. Excursions to both will be organized if attendees express interest.

Five hundred word paper proposals should be submitted to Matthew McKenzie  by 1 February 2017. Full papers, 25 pages maximum (strictly enforced), will be due by 15 April for pre-circulation.

Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, May 27 – 29, 2017, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON/Canada

Keynote speaker: Michael Herzfeld, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University

In accordance with the theme of “From Far & Wide: The Next 150” for the 2017 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Folklore Studies Association of Canada/l’Association canadienne d’ethnologie et de folklore has selected “Cultures and temporalities” as the theme for the 2017 annual conference.

As disciplines historically concerned with quests of origins and traditions, Ethnology and Folklore have been seemingly indifferent to the passing of time and to the concomitant notion of time as change and process. However, social constructions of time have been at the heart of their recent preoccupations, most notably through research in intangible cultural heritage, material culture, food studies, new media, museum studies, tourism, transnational cultures, contemporary myths and rituals. Moreover, the forceful return of ethnographic methods and the rise of cultures of ethnic and/or authentic consumption are testimonies for the diversity of temporal articulations of cultures and many ways to consider the cultures of the time.

By selecting the theme of Cultures and temporalities, the organizers invite scholars of all fields across the social sciences and humanities to explore the evolution of ethnological ideas and knowledge across time, and the temporal articulations of cultural practices, know-hows and cultural representations. This conference aims to trigger critical reflections on the challenges of new conditions of ethnographic fieldwork in a context of globalized cultures and diversified temporalities. Slow culture, fast culture, rhythms, the time of urgency, menacing times, quests of origins, cultural transmission, time that flies, times of dreams, etc. are only but a few illustrations of the rich vocabulary of time that articulates and structures daily life and sociocultural discourses and practices. How do the objects of ethnology, folklore, museology and cultural heritage adapt to changes across society and the world at large? How should we conceive the future of our research objects in the context of an accelerated temporality, rendered unpredictable and diversified by technological innovations and the creation and extension of new infrastructures of mediation? What are the meaning and implications of these sociocultural changes for the relationship between fieldwork and scholarship, or research and society?

The organizing committee welcomes paper proposals in French or English that address the conference theme.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Fast food, slow food,
• Teaching ethnology and folklore: what future?
• Folklore, past and present
• Time and intangible cultural heritage
• The temporalities of museums in a digital age
• Indigenous temporalities
• Memory and difficult knowledge
• Future quests: material cultures of success
• “Real” and “fictional” times: culture and new technologies
• Time and fairy tales
• Time and temporalities of popular and traditional cultures
• Religious temporalities, time and religion
• Time travelling: tourism and heritage

As usual, proposals on any other topic in the fields of Folklore or Ethnology will also be considered.

Proposals shall be sent by email to the ACEF/FSAC President, Daniela Moisa by November 15, 2016. They must include a 100 word abstract (title included) with your name, department, institutional affiliation and contact information. Abstracts of over 100 words will not be accepted.

Panel submissions are encouraged. For panel submissions, please submit a 100-word panel abstract, a list of all participants, as well as separate 100-word abstracts for each presenter. Please identify and provide contact information for the panel organizer. Proposals for other session formats including roundtables, film screenings, performances and poster sessions are also welcomed.

Contact Email.

CAWLS 4th Annual Conference, May 31 – June 2, 2017, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON/Canada

As part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

The conference organizing committee invites submissions for participation in the 4th annual conference of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS). The committee welcomes proposals for single papers, thematic streams, multiple paper panels, roundtables, and workshops. The participation of researchers in union and community settings is encouraged.

The Congress theme, “From Far and Wide: The Next 150” seeks to engage our collective interest reflecting on the past 150 years in Canada as we look to the next 150. Building on this theme, CAWLS 2017 aims to promote discussions of the past, present, and future of work, labour, and labour studies, both within and beyond Canada. This raises a wide range of interdisciplinary themes, including the dynamics and implications of diversity and inclusion/exclusion, the role of institutions, the politics of labour, and strategies for improving and transforming work.

The organizers invite proposals that tackle any of the following questions:

• Who has counted as a ‘worker’ historically, and who counts now? How have racialization, gender, sexuality, class, age, and ability shaped the politics of labour in Canada, and what are their implications for the future of the labour movement?
• Has our conception of work changed much over the past 150 years? How does a focus on social reproduction and care work change how we understand both the past and the future of work?
• A key ideological, political, and cultural reference point is the so-called ‘Golden Age of Capitalism’ from 1945 to 1975 or so. How ‘golden’ was it? And what can be learned from this critical period?
• Since 1867 working-class movements within Canada have transformed and been transformed by macro-level events. What does this long memory teach us about the prospects for working-class politics and the future role and shape of trade unions in Canada?
• Has the normalization of precarity as a feature of the labour market forced a sufficient re-thinking of the labour market institutions, working-class politics or labour organizing that have developed over the last 150 years? What can we learn from other struggles around the world?
• How does the distribution of power between the federal and provincial government affect the construction a coherent labour policy in the 21st century?
• How does intersectional analysis inform the study of work and of labour movements? How is it informing the contemporary labour movement in ways that build more inclusive working-class communities, organizations, and struggles?
• What are the dynamics of continuity and change in terms of immigration, migration, and work?
• How do workers and trade unions engage with environmental movements and issues? What are the links to the historic struggle for occupational and community health and safety protection and regulation? What are the future prospects for labour-environmental justice alliances? What are the implications of de-growth politics for labour?
• What is the relationship between workers, unions, and Indigenous communities and how might connections be strengthened?
• How has labour internationalism changed over time, and what kinds of challenges and strategies will shape the future of labour internationalism?

Participants are not required to limit themselves to the above list. The organizers welcome proposals on all topics that highlight the past, present, and future of work and labour studies within Canada and beyond. Our goal is to create a final conference programme reflective of the broadest range of methodological, theoretical, and disciplinary approaches.

New Voices in Work and Labour Studies: New scholars (graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty/researchers in the first five years of their appointment) are encouraged to indicate their status on their proposal in order to be considered for the New Voices in Work and Labour Studies Prize.

Submission requirements: Proposals should include a 250-word abstract for each panel/paper and a short bio for each presenter. Please email proposals to the conference organizing committee c/o Dr. Bryan Evans, Conference Chair, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University. Please submit your proposal to cawls2017@gmail.com.

To facilitate new conversations, the organizers encourage people interested in organizing panels, streams, roundtables and workshops to submit a CFP for inclusion in the CAWLS newsletter by December 1, 2016.

All paper proposals are due by January 31, 2017.

PLEASE NOTE: Accepted presenters must be CAWLS members in good standing by April 30, 2017.

For information on Conference fees and Conference support, please check the CAWLS website.