CFP - International Conference on "Mind Matters: Literature, Cinema and Culture-Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata

Conference Dates: 19-20 January, 2024 (OFFLINE mode)

Venue: Rabindra Bhavan, Centre for Distance and Online Education, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

(Address: EE 9 & 10, Sector II, Salt Lake, Kolkata, West Bengal - 700 091)

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Supriya Chaudhuri

Plenary Speakers: Prof. Amrit Sen, Prof. Anup Dhar, Dr. Prasanta Chakravarty and Dr. Nina Krajnik (online)

CALL FOR PAPERS

What precisely constitutes a mind? This inquiry has been a source of contemplation for both philosophers and those outside philosophical circles throughout documented history. Some assert that minds are spiritual entities that temporarily inhabit bodies, entering either at conception or birth and departing at death, framing death as the separation of the body's spirit. Alternatively, there are those who envision a more interconnected relationship between minds and bodies: a mind is present when a body is organised in a specific manner and absent otherwise. Yet, another perspective maintains that minds are indeed tangible entities, specifically physical ones, contending that minds are essentially synonymous with brains. The ongoing discourse with neuroscience, dedicated to scrutinizing hypotheses about human behaviour and neurophysiology through empirical methods, has expanded psychoanalytic conceptualizations to encompass areas such as motion, memory, sleep, dreams, conflict, and trauma. Importantly, both psychoanalysts and neuroscientists share a profound curiosity in investigating the neurological foundations of psychic functioning. Cognitive perspectives delve into the mental processes involved in perception, memory, problem-solving, and decision-making. When applied to cultural texts, this lens allows for an exploration of how individuals within the text perceive and interpret their world, process information, and construct meaning from their experiences. This conference seeks to explore the kaleidoscopic possibility of reading various cultural texts and practices vis-à-vis philosophy of mind, as it evolved through Cartesian dualism, Lockean empiricism, German idealism, and of course, an array of psychoanalytic theories. It aims to consider how these diverse philosophical perspectives have shaped our understanding of the mind within the cultural tapestry, laying the foundation for continued inquiry and dialogue in contemporary philosophical discourse.

Sub-topics for the conference may include (but are not limited to):

Literary Studies and Human Mind Dreams, Repression, and Desire Representation of Mind in Cinema and Popular Culture Psychology, Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis Memory Studies Mind and the Screen: Cinema, Games, and New Media Ideology, Politics and Human Mind Narrative and the Unconscious Language, Mind, and Meaning Understanding Affect: Visual and Plastic Arts Literature, Sinthome, and the Textual Unconscious German Idealism and the Natural History of Mind Collective Unconscious and Archetypes Mind-Body Dualism Artificial Consciousness, AI and Desiring Machines Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Mind Mysticism, Planes of Consciousness, and Yoga Psychology Psychobiology and Cognitive Science Qualia, Rhizomatic Consciousness, Neuroaesthetics

DEADLINE for ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: 20 DECEMBER, 2023.

Please submit your ABSTRACT (about 250 words) along with your Paper Title, Name, Designation, Affiliating Institution and your Email-ID using the link below:

https://forms.gle/5zCzDEMPzCMEw2XHA  Selected participants will be notified via email by 30 December, 2023.Select papers may be published in a book after the conference.

REGISTRATION FEES (to be collected after Abstract Selection)

Paper Presenters (any discipline/department)

• Faculty Members/Professionals: INR 800/-
• Students/Research Scholars: INR 500/-

Participants (Non-presenters): INR 150/-

The registration fee will cover Conference Kit, Lunch, and Refreshments during the conference.

No travel bursary or accommodation is available. Certificates will be provided.

For any queries, please contact: cdoerbu.eng@gmail.com 

Special Issue Call for Papers: Studies in South Asian Film & Media

 Marathi Cinema and Media’

 

It is now a critical common sense that the Marathi film industry’s geographical and cultural co-location with the ‘national’ Hindi film industry located in Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra, has meant it has had to face spatial, infrastructural and spectatorial challenges from the mid-1940s onwards. The industry’s struggles regarding the availability of finance and resources and the subsequent dip in the popularity of its products led to a steady decline in the number of releases; at times, only four or five films saw yearly theatrical releases during the last decades of the twentieth century. This seems to have changed in 2004, which not only saw the release of Shwaas, which became India’s official entry to the Oscars that year but several other films as well. Shwaas (2004) was seen as marking a new phase in the production and reception of Marathi cinema. In the wake of the country’s adoption of neo-liberal policies in the 1990s that opened the doors to global capital and a free-market economy, enormous changes have been visible across regions in film and media cultures in terms of industry practices, media forms, audiences, spaces of production and reception, publicity patterns, celebrity formations, proliferation and integration of digital technology, expansion of entertainment and news content on OTT platforms such as YouTube, etc. The power of capital and corporations, often circumventing the national structures of power and governance, have allowed them to directly intervene in and shape the cultural and affective landscape of specific regions.

 

Despite Marathi cinema’s rich and varied history, scholarship has been sparse and only in recent years do we notice a growing academic interest in the field. If this is likely a response to Marathi cinema’s newfound prominence generally and the popular and critical success of films like Sairat (2016) particularly, a growing scholarly interest in the histories and archives of the region’s cinematic forms, genres, production spaces and practices and viewing cultures is also noticeable. With the view to expand and build upon this critical interest and emerging scholarship, SAFM proposes a special issue on Marathi film and media to be published towards the end of 2024. This call invites engagement and enquiry into the specificity of the film and media culture in Marathi, including its differences and themes, as well as in terms of the national/global reach and popularity of other regional media formations. It is hoped that the essays featured in the volume will reflect and comment on Marathi cinema and media in Maharashtra through the lens of film and culture studies, media studies, screen histories, archival studies, feminist and gender studies, etc. We invite contributions from scholars, researchers and practitioners of Marathi film and media.

 

Topics for papers may include but are not limited to the following:

 

• Marathi film and media as social history

• Labour practices in the Marathi film industry

• Marathi advertising culture;

• Song and dance in Marathi cinema

• The rap song; Politics and Circulation

• Folk song/dance and video cultures

• Feminist analysis of Marathi films, music, television series, YouTube content, etc.

• Class, caste and gender: The politics of subalternity and marginalization in Marathi film, music and media

• Archives of Marathi cinema

• Contemporary news media/documentary and the Marathi public sphere

• Marathi cinema/media and consumer culture

• Nationalism and Marathi cinema/media in the context of neoliberalism

• Identity and representation in cinema, television and documentary

• Histories and ideologies of Marathi film forms and genres

• Marathi films in film festivals

• Stardom and celebrity culture in Marathi film and media

• Independent or parallel cinema cultures in Maharashtra

 

Dates and Deadlines

 

Abstracts of 400–500 words, along with author bio should be emailed to aartiwani@gmail.com by 30 October 2023. In addition to critical essays of 6000–8000 words, shorter creative pieces of 2000–4000 words, such as interviews and photo essays, are also welcome. Write to aartiwani@gmail.com to discuss ideas.

 

The deadline for the first draft is 15 April 2024. All contributions will be peer-reviewed, and the final submission will be due by 31 July 2024.

All copyrights are to be cleared by the authors. Guidelines for the Intellect house style are available at https://www.intellectbooks.com/asset/1414/house-style-guide-5th-ed-2021-n.pdf.

Contact Information

Lead Editor: Aarti Wani

Contact Email

aartiwani@gmail.com

URL

https://www.intellectbooks.com/studies-in-south-asian-film-media#call-for-papers

Call for Publications: #Ecocriticism, #Sustainability and the #Literature

In today's world, we bear witness to epidemics and pandemics, the global climate change caused by human actions, as well as ecological collapse marked by floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes. These events underscore the risks and challenges of a human-centered way of life. At the same time, they remind us of the need to reconsider our binary and hierarchical divisions between humans and the Earth, humans and animals, mind and body, nature and culture.

In the 1970s, William Rueckert's groundbreaking work 'Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism' (1978) delved into the relationships between humans and non-humans, the deep history of our planet, environmental transformations, and the changing micro and macro climates, all within the context of literature. Since then, these ideas have found a systematic place in the fields of cultural and literary studies and literary criticism.

Today, in the Anthropocene, we actively engage with post-human theories, ecofeminism, feminist new materialism, affect theory, actor-network theory, speculative realism, and sustainability.

'Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies' will center its 6th issue on the theme of 'Ecocriticism, Sustainability, and Literature,' set for April 2024. The issue welcomes essays that explore literary works, both fictional and non-fictional, from the early Ottoman period to contemporary Turkey. within an ecological perspectives, offering a comparative global literary outlook.

 

Possible topics:

• Environmental History
• Memory Studies
• Gender Studies, Feminism, and Sustainability
• Literary Theories
• Genre Studies
• Film Studies
• Video Games
• Graphic Novels
• Environmental Disasters, Epidemics, and Famine
• Post-humanism
• Critical Animal Studies
• Turkish and Ottoman Literature
• World Literature(s)
• Folklore / Fairy Tales
• Migration and Colonialism, Postcolonialism
• Travel Writing
• Translation

Contact Information

editor@nesirdergisi.com

Contact Email : editor@nesirdergisi.com

URL  http://nesirdergisi.com