Kategorie: Veranstaltungen

International conference, Nov 23-24, 2017, Grenoble Alpes University, France

Subject fields: Australian and New Zealand History/Studies, British History/Studies, Canadian History/Studies, Colonial and Post-Colonial History/Studies, Ethnic History/Studies

(Colonial and Postcolonial English-speaking World, 18th – 21st Century)

The research group ILCEA4 is pleased to announce the organisation of an international conference on „Space, Place and Hybridity in National Imagination“ to be held at Grenoble Alpes University. It proposes to examine the notion of hybridity or cross-fertilization in the highly controversial field of national identity – namely the spaces, figures and historical events that best symbolize it, as exemplified in the cultural productions originating from a nation or an ethnic or community group. The concept of „third space“ as developed by Homi Bhabha in his seminal book The Location of Culture, is particularly productive in that it suggests a vision of space based not on confrontation, binary oppositions or antagonistic relationships of lordship and bpondage, but on interactions involving exchange, transfer and mediation.

The conference shall examine the foundations of any „imagined community“ (Benedict Anderson) and the ways in which artistic productions cause this set of images, values and references to evolve. These both reflect a history and a heritage but also expose their inherent limitations and underlying ideology, thus paving the waay for the progressive transformation of such national figures, values and spatial representations.

All the elements pertaining to culture in a general sense and commonly considered as representative of national identity are within the scope of the symposium:

• Iconography: flags, posters (nationalistic or otherwise), emblematic figures (specimens from the local flora and faune for example), the representation of the national landscape in painting or photography, allegorical figures of the nation
• The short form as a medium for the national sentiment: national anthems, songs, poems.
• Literature in a  general sense: fiction, chidren’s and youn adult literature, textbooks, political speeches, philosophical essays, history books
• Places, types of geographical spaces but also historical events crystallizing what the nation is supposed to represent (map making, memorial ceremonies, official events)
• Cultural productions: film, dance, street art.

Every nation perceives itself as articulated around the concept of origin: a choice then emerges between a founding myth specific to it (a sort of self-generation devoid of any hybridity), and an impure, problematic genesis, born out of the contact with another cultural, historical and geogprahical sphere. Thus, within the British world itself, Scotland for example can be said to have been defined, both historically and culturally, in close relation to its rival and double, England. Similar considerations are relevant for Ireland and Wales.

More generally, former colonies of the British Crown have founded themselves in an ambiguous relationship to the „motherland“ while trying to free themselves from its influence. After the colonial period, the goal was for the settler colonies (the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) to found their identity antagonistically to that of the motherland, especially by focusing on their new land and the type of relationship they had with it so as to invest both with distrinctive national characteristics.

An interesting and contentious point of study is the undeniably hybrid character of such early identity formations devoid of any cultural heritage or history except for those bequeathed by the motherland. Another essential and no less challenging issue is that of the relationship to the Indigenous populations of the colony whose culture and values, whose very existence sometimes, were voluntarily erased. The question of a possible hybridization between the culture of the colonizer and that of the colonized could be seen as a form of defilement, corruption or degeneration. Conversely, the appropriation and even the instrumentalization of symbols, places and values specific to Indeigenous peoples in national mythologies is a highly controversial issue deserving careful scrutiny.

In what is commonly referred to as the „postcolonial“ period, the discussion often centres on the denunciation or re-definition of national figures, symbols and places as well as the great texts and events constitutive of the core of a nation’s identity. Examining those shows how much they have evolved, acress generations, through an underlying hybridization allowing greater representativeness, not only of the first inhabitants but also of new migrant communities or minority groups.

Space and place are not to be apprehended as strictly geographical or referential but also as textual, thus enabling new hybrid subject positions within national mythologies. The rewriting or new adaptation of famous works in other forms (with generic, gender or modal variations) characterstic of the postmodern approach also allows the reevaluation of what constitutes the core of a nation’s identity, changing it into a field of experimentation and cross-fertilization.

Please send an abstract (max. 300 words) either in French or in English, and a short biographical note (max. 150 words) to both Christine Vandamme and Cyril Besson by January 6, 2017. The notification of acceptance will be sent by February 10, 2017, at the latest.

International Conference, Western University, London, Ontario/Canada, March 24-26 2017

Organizers and advocates for local and global social justice are the lifeblood of solidarity movements worldwide that disrupt historic projects of exploitation, violent dispossession and social fragmentation. Social and economic inequality is a global challenge of the 21st century. The Global North’s Occupy and anti-austerity movement spoke back to the 2008 financial crisis. They now confront the urgent, mass scale migrations of peoples from the Global South to the North, fleeing a colonial legacy deprivations, militarization, wars and land grabs. Settler societies are also experiencing Indigenous re-centerings, from #IdleNoMore to the Truth and Reconciliation process, and the #BlackLivesMatter cry to enfranchise African diasporas.

Feature speakers will be (with more to be announced):

• Glen Coulthard (University of British Columbia)
• Panagiotis Sotiris (University of the Aegean, Greece)
• Concerned Student 1950 (University of Missouri)
• Miriam Miranda (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras)

It is now increasingly recognized that rising levels of inequality are linked to poverty, discrimination, illness, environmental degradation, and social unrest. It is further recognized that inequality, in turn, is conditioned by and contingent on a range of other factors, including citizenship rights, gender, race, ethnicity, age, location, and education.

But despite this recognition, social movements contesting inequality face serious problems of organization, strategy and tactics. Recent years have shown the limits of traditional trade unionism, occupy and assembly movements, vanguards and new electoral parties alike. They have also shown that anti-racism, anti-violence, LGBTQ and migrant rights movements, to name a few, face major challenges organizing in the face of violence, xenophobia, marginality, impoverishment and under threat of criminalization. Across the board, movements have to reckon with the unprecedented levels of surveillance of the digital networks which have become an important part of their organizing practices.

This conference therefore asks what forms of organization might, in today’s conditions, be most useful to movements for equality. It especially seeks contributions willing to explore new possibilities for the organization of equality struggles.

Organizitng Equality is an international conference hosted by members of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies and the Initiative for the Study of Social and Economic Inequality at the University of Western Ontario. Its goal is to bring organizers, scholars, public educators, artists, media producers and advocates together from around the globe to build local and global capacity, share theories, strategies, experiences, and insights about efforts to address inequality and develop new kinds of theory/practice to guide and build future struggles. Our goal is to strengthen connections regionally, nationally and internationally, and to develop new forms of knowing, thinking and acting together between and across politics, sectors and communities of interest. To this end, we solicit scholarly presentations, organizing and dialogue sessions, workshop proposals, art performances/installations, radical media teach-ins and more, addressing a wide variety of themes related to the worldwide struggle for equality.

These themes include, but are not limited to:

• indigenous reconciliation and reclamation
• opposing violent policing and the carceral state
• worker organizing, in and beyong unions
• social media, digital technologies and global resistance networks
• intersectional decolonial community and scholarly praxis
• migrant justice and networks of support
• decolonial/liberatory cultural production and praxis
• gender, sexuality, anti-violence and community solidarity
• struggles for access and equality in education
• environmental and climate justice and sustainability
• anti-austerity mobilization and cooperativism
• health and food security organizing
• social and community housing movements
• strategies for digital protections and privacy from surveillance

Proposals for papers and sessions should be limited to 400 words. The deadline for the submission of abstracts for 20-minute presentations is 1 August 2016. Please include with your paper or session proposal, your name, email address, institutional or group affiliation, and a short CV or biography. Abstracts should be e-mailed to the organizing committee (email). For further information and conference updates, please visit the conference website.

Travel bursaries are available for participants from the global south. Please indicate in your submission if you would like to be considered for financial assistance.

48th Annual NeMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association) Convention, March 23-26, 2017, Baltimore, MD (United States)

48th Annual NeMLA Convention – Baltimore, Maryland | March 23 – 26th, 2017

Resolved: In Francophone literature of the last three centuries, Humor has constructed identity while Satire was used to deconstruct it.

Participants are invited to argue either side of this normative statement.

The French word “Humour” is not French at all. It was imported from the English in the 18th century; until that time, in France one spoke of Wit (“l’Esprit”) not Humor. The first written mention of humor in its modern definition in a French text is in Abbé LeBlanc’s 1745 Lettres d’un François: “De notre mot d’humeur, les Anglais ont fait celui d’humour” (114). From the age of Enlightenment on, two literary traditions evolve in French and Francophone literatures: the Anglo-influenced Humor and the Gallic-influenced caustic wit which becomes Satire.

This session proposes to debate whether Humor is a component, a constructor, of identity while Satire is its deconstructor. If true, what role does Humor play in the literary construction of characters’ identities? Conversely, Satire must represent an “othering” which seeks to deny or negate identity.

Using examples from French or Francophone Literatures from the 18th to the 21st centuries, in any number of critical lenses, participants are invited to present arguments for or against the above premises. Areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to, presentations dealing with the relationship between humor and/or satire and Socialization, Postcolonial identities, Race and Ethnicity, National and Regional identities, Gender, LGBT, etc.

NeMLA formatting standards: Paper Title: 100 characters (including spaces) Paper Abstract: 300 words

Starting June 15th, please submit abstracts for this panel here.

Deadline for submissions: September 30, 2016

Decision e-mails will be sent by October 15th.

NEMLA asks that accepted and confirmed panelists pay their membership/registration fees no later than December 1, 2016 in order to present at the 2017 convention.

Contact Email.

Conference, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, October 13-16, 2016

This conference is an international meeting for researchers to share papers on Algonquian peoples. Fields of interest include anthropology, archaeology, art, biography, education, ethnography, ethnobotany, folklore, geography, history, language education, linguistics, literature, music, native studies, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology.

The conference will open on the evening of Thursday, October 13 with a welcome reception. Regular conference sessions will take place from Friday morning to Sunday noon.

If you are interested in making a presentation, please send a title and abstract of a maximum of one page to this e-mail address.

The subject line of your e-mail must read „Algonquian Conference“ and the text of your e-mail message must include your name, postal address, institutional affiliation and telephone number as well as the e-mail address of each speaker.

Please indicate your requirements for audio-visual equipment. The d eadline for submission of abstracts is September 1, 2016.

The following facilities will be made available to all participants through the Electa Quinney Institute: photocopier, computer, printer and telephone,

Registration information can be found here.

International Conference/Congress of the French Association of Canadian Studies (AFEC), 14-16 June 2017, Canadian Cultural Center, Paris (France)

On July 1 2017, Canada will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. On this historic occasion, the FrenchAssociation of Canadian Studies, in conjunction with the Research Center on Anglophone Cultures (LARCA) of the Université Paris Dideor and the Canadian Embassy in Paris, will hold a conference to explore the evolution of Canada and what defines it. This conference intents to favor the historical perspective of the longue durée, by examining not only what defines Canada in 2017, but by comparing this with the way it was defined in 1867, at the time of Conferedation, as well as in 1967, at the time of the centennial. To do so, the conference will be organized around three guiding lines that correspond to the values, the practices and the representations through which Canada is defined.

 

1) Canadian Values and Principles

The 2015 federal election was marked by a fierce debate over Canadian values, with two opposed views of Canada. The Conservative view of Canada promoted by Stephen Harper was based on a defense of moral certainty and material values and the desire to make uncompromising choices. The Liberal view of Canada, defended by Justrin Trudeau, emphasized the values of kindness and respect for diversity, and the desire to promote inclusiveness through collaboration and compromise. Both views were inspired, to a certain extent, by Canada’s past: the Conservative vision was associated with a return to the monarchist and British atmosphere of Sir John A. Macdonald’s Canada, while the Liberal view recalled the golden age of Lester Pearson’s and Pierre Trudeau’s Canada. The conference will therefore invite exploration of the values of contemporary Canada, but also of past Canada, so as to assess their permanence and evolution. To this reflection on values, which often possess an emotional dimension, could be added a study of the theoretical principles that serve and have served as foundations of the Canadian identity. The conference will welcome proposals for papers that address one of these topics, among others:

• What is the current state of research on the values and principles that persided to the invention of the Canadian nation, its difficult beginnings, its links with the British Empire?
• What is the place of conservatism in Canada today, and how did conservatism in Canada evolve since the foundation of the nation in 1867, and its centennial in 1967?
• What are the libearl values of Canada? How far did they shape the Canadian identity in the 20th century? Is Justin Trudeau’s victory a sign that they form the permanent core of Canada?
• In the past, were Canadian values and principles a crucial element to differentiate Canada from the United States, and is it still true today? Is the trend today towards a great resemblance or a greater divergence of Canadian and American values?
• To what extent have new values that were disregarded in the past become central in the early 21st century (such as concern from the environment, equal representation of men and women…)?
• How are Canadian values (re)defined, (re)presented or challenged by various artistic or literary forms?
• Could it be said that the indigenous question is at the heart of Canadiaan values today? To what extent does the evolution of Canadian values lead to the construction of an inclusive identity (First Nations, founding peoples, immigrants)?

 

2) Canadian Practices

Canadian values are expressed and translated into reality through political, institutional, social, economic, and cultural practices which have greatly evolved since 1867 or even 1967.The conference invites proposals that explore the evolution of Canadian practices in all fields, among others:

• Politics, Institutions, National Unity: the evolution of Canada federalism (decentralization, asymmetrical federalism); the place of Quebec in the post-referendum era; the Charter of Rights, the Supreme Court and the judicialization of politics bwetween 1967 and 2017; the evolution of the Canadian democracy, from British-style parliamentary system to participative democracy; reform of the electoral system…
• International Relations: does multilateralism remain the cornerstone of Canadian foreign policy? From Pearson to Axworthy, does Canada remain a key agent for peace in the world?
  Economy: evolution of the trade practices of Canada, from the National Policy to NAFTA; permanence of staple model, from the fur trade to the mining sector…
• Environment and the Economy: from the Hudson’s Bay Company to the XL Pipeline, ahve Canadian priorities changed?
  Indigenous peoples and society: a key challenge of contemporary Canada is to enable the integration of the First Nations on an equal basis, as well as their reconciliation with non-indigenous peoples. We will encourage presentations of the practices that make this evolution possible, such as the judicial use of land claims; the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; the creation of the territory of Nunavut; the legal obligation to consult indigenous peoples on development projects; the national inquiry into the murder or disappearance of indigenous women…
• Language and Society: evolution of language policies and language practices. While Article 133 of the Constitution of 1867 did not officially establish bilingualism in Canada, it represented an almost revolutionary progress at a time when the institutional coexistence of two languages was at odds with received ideas of the link between language and the national identity. How has the relaitonship between the two official languages evolved since 1867? Do the language practices of speakers reflect this evolution? Is bilingualism a still valid concept in a society defined by multiculturalism?
• Religions and Society: evolution of religious practices in Canada. Since 1867, the country has moved from religious practices that reproduced the European tradition of Catholicism, Anglicanism, Protestantism, and Judaism to an impressive pluralism that matched that of the United States. This was due to immigration but also tot he specific workings of religion in Canada.
• Literature and the Arts: as early as the 1880s, the „Poets of Confederation“ started to build a Canadian poetic tradition and to contribute to the definition of the national identity. However, it is only since the 1960s that Canadian literature has moved apart from British and American literature. Where does it stand today? What relationship between literary practices in French and in English? Do they reflect similar evolutions?

 

3) Canadian Representations

Canada is also defined by the way it is represented, especially in the current era when branding has brcomse such an important concept. The conference will particularly encourage reflection on the representation of diversities in contemporary Canada, in comparison with the past. At the time of Confederation, Canada was often perceived as described as a binational state made up of two founding peoples, the French Canadians and the English Canadians. At the time of the centennial, the concept of a bicultural state was being replaced by the representation of Canada as a multicultural nation. Fifty years later, the representations of Canada seem to relfect a desire to encompass an ever-widening range of types of diversities, such as gender, religion, eexual orientation, physical handicap… Among these, the process of indigenization of Canadian identity that is barely beginning today may prove to be one of the most important changes in the future representation of Canada. The conference encourages proposals on the following topics, among others:

• Does multiculturalism remain a central element in the representation of Canada today?
• Is gender a key element of the representation of Canada today, in the fields of politics (gender equality in the Trudeau government), institutions (call to introduce gender-neural lyrics in the national anthem), arts (gender and sexual orientation as central themes in Xavier Nolan’s movies), literature….?
• How the indigenous heritage of Canada is slowly being included in the national representtion through various processes of indigenization: greater visibility and consideration for indigenous languages; enhancement of indigenous artistic production; nomination of indigenous peoples at keyCabinet positions; showcasing the indigenous heritage as the official theme of the Vancouver Olympic Games; introduction of mandatory courses on indigenous cultures in Canadian universities…

Abstracts can be submitted individually or as a panel (group of 4 proposals around the same topic), in French or in English.

Deadline to sumbit abstracts (400 words) along with a short bio (100 words), preferably in Word format: August 1, 2016

Notification of acceptance: September 30, 2016.

Contact:
Dr. Laurence CROS
Associate Professor, Canadian Studies
Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7)
Mail

Selected papers from this conference will be published in the journal Études Canadiennes / Canadian Studies.