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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

CFP: International #Conference: #Comparative #Literature as #Alternative #Humanities #Ethics, #Affect and the Everyday Social-#Delhi #University- September, 2024







In the last few decades, scholars in the Humanities have found it necessary to examine the fundamental underpinnings upon which their disciplines are built. One of the primary questions that animated this re-examination has been regarding the very terms of our engagement with countries and communities that inhabit radically different social and moral life-worlds, living as they do outside the orbit of European Enlightenment values that still regulate both organisation and practice within and outside the academy, across the world. Instead of accepting difference as a defining feature of the human condition, the grand narratives of the Enlightenment were used as colonial and imperial tools to homogenize the diversity of experience, emotion and expression as the high tide of colonial modernity swept the world. The consequent otherness and alienation that characterised human society have deeply impacted literary and cultural production. We witness a disjunction between the objective, scientific discourse with its claim to truth and the everyday social experience of the human subject which Humanities seek to understand. These asymmetries compel us to rethink the Humanities from alternative positions and perspectives to embody and address the plural orders of reality and the differences between them. How can the collection of disciplines we call the Humanities recover the capacity of self-reflection and self-criticism? Much has been written about how stereotypes invade our imagination to contaminate our experience and knowledge.

Comparative Literature’s commitment to alterity and plurality gives it a foundational interest in

the non-stereotypical, non-canonized, un-heard narratives of “others” that constitute a radical sense of the literary. Such articulations can only emerge from the confluence of different locations, experiences and identities, demonstrating how our vision of “others” projects our own versions of ourselves onto the outside world.

An alternative view of the Humanities will have to come to terms with the ideas of relationality, plurality and cultural mobility as the defining features of all epochs including that of the pre-modern. Texts, ideas, images, metaphors, themes, modes, genres, tales are all human endeavours and like humans themselves these have the capacity to travel across constructed, eternally given or pre-fixed borders, thereby defying the exclusivist, essentialist ideas of culture and literature. The prevailing inclination towards connected sociologies and connected histories, while a step in the right direction, often reflects the dominant discourses which impose homogeneity and hierarchy, evincing a lack of empathy for the precarious endeavour of encountering alterity and a lack of understanding of the transient and the contingent.





Thus, we propose plurality as a conceptual framework to address this eco-system of interconnectedness and relationality in terms of their manifestations in the languages and literatures of all nations, regions and communities, regardless of their location in the hierarchy of political and economic regimes, or of their internal stratifications. We would like to recover the mutuality of interconnections and interdependence between literatures and cultures across the world. The assertion that we live in a post-human world prompts us, as humans to consider our experience in terms of relationality and plurality. These emerge as conceptual tools for recasting our relations with the other - be it humans, animals or the non- living.

Texts are actualised through their immersion in the shared ideological and affective worlds that constitute the everyday world. From orality to print to the visual media, modes of intersubjective engagement are implicated in structures of power relations within society and our response to them. The very practice of Comparative Literature is an acknowledgement of plurality and a willingness to engage with difference. The discipline emphasises upon relationality, heterogeneity, multivocal perspectives, and direct engagement with alterity that translation offers as a process and a product. Built into the discipline is the interaction between literatures in multiple languages both within the nation and in other countries of the world. Furthermore, it takes orality and performance in its ambit. It reaches out to all other disciplines by asking the existential question : can we open ourselves to the location of the other and view the world from the vantage point of difference that we encounter outside ourselves? Can we frame a dialogic mode of interaction that reading teaches us to our relations with the world, to expand our view of the world outside our own limited subjectivity ? Hence, we propose Comparative Literature as an alternate paradigm - and invite reflections upon the possibilities inherent in the conceptual frame structured by the reciprocal, the relational and the plural. It is our hope that it will help to grasp and address the nature of the crisis that afflicts the Humanities today both in intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary framework.




Sub-themes

Some of the sub-themes in the context of the main theme that can be taken up for discussion are as follows:

Interrogating categorial binaries (tradition/modernity, nature/culture, regional/national, east/west etc.)/ Literature after theory/ Shifting paradigms between Literary Studies and Social Sciences/ The Post-human as a paradigm in literary studies.

Worlding literature / Historicising canons/ Global and local as contexts of reading. The idea of the classic in modernity: circulation or creativity ?

Translation and the encounter with difference. Translating “dialects”/ The oral texts/ Archaic texts.

The plural nation: stratification and resistance/ Literary historiography and geopolitics/ Intertextuality and chronotopes.

Polyphony/ Polysemy in literature/ Poetry and cosmopolitanism.

Interrogating “Minor” literature as category/ Identity theories as critiques of the Humanities / Life-writing from the margins.

The performativity of literature/ Screenplay as literature/ Intermediality in literature. South Asian literatures and cultures: relations, reciprocity and ruptures/ Population movements and literature.

Papers are invited from scholars of Comparative Literature,
Translation Studies, Cultural Studies, Theatre Studies, Gender Studies, Black Studies, Dalit Studies etc. or on any aspect of literature and culture that will help us understand and practice the Humanities in accordance with the ethical perspectives outlined above.

Abstracts of about 250 words along with a short bio-note of about 100 words may be submitted to clai2024@admin.du.ac.in

Upon acceptance, participants will be provided with registration details through email. The Registration Fee will include workshop kit, certificate, lunch, and refreshments during the three days of the conference. Participants would need to become members of CLAI on receiving their acceptance letters in order to present papers, if they are not already members of CLAI.





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Important Dates:

Last date of abstract submission: 30th April, 2024

Selected participants will be notified by: 30th May, 2024

Last date of registration: 15th July, 2024



Registration Fee:

Faculty members: Rs.3500/-

Research scholars/students: Rs.2000/-

International participants: US$ 200


For further information please visit: https://www.clai.in/upcoming-event/

Organising Committee, XVII Biennial International Conference

Call for Papers - Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics Vol. 47, No. 3, Autumn 2024



The Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics is now accepting submissions for its forthcoming regular issue, Vol. 47, No. 3, Autumn 2024.


ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Comparative_Literature_and_Aest...

The Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics (ISSN: 0252-8169) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Vishvanatha Kaviraja Institute of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, India, since 1977. The Institute was founded by Prof. Ananta Charan Sukla (1942-2020) on 22 August 1977, coinciding with the birth centenary of renowned philosopher, aesthetician, and historian of Indian art Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) to promote interdisciplinary studies and research in comparative literature, literary theory and criticism, aesthetics, philosophy, art history, criticism of the arts, and history of ideas. (Vishvanatha Kaviraja, most widely known for his masterpiece in aesthetics, Sahityadarpana, or the “Mirror of Composition,” was a prolific 14th-century Indian poet, scholar, aesthetician, and rhetorician.)

The Journal is committed to comparative and cross-cultural issues in literary understanding and interpretation, aesthetic theories, and conceptual analysis of art. It publishes current research papers, review essays, and special issues of critical interest and contemporary relevance.

JCLA is indexed and abstracted in the MLA International Bibliography, Master List of Periodicals (USA), Ulrich’s Directory of Periodicals, ERIH PLUS, The Philosopher’s Index (Philosopher’s Information Center), EBSCO, ProQuest (Arts Premium Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Collection, Arts & Humanities Database, Literature Online – Full Text Journals, ProQuest Central, ProQuest Central Essentials), Abstracts of English Studies, WorldCat Directory, ACLA, India Database, Gale (Cengage Learning), International Directory of Philosophy (PDC), Bibliography History of Art (BHA), ArtBibliographies Modern (ABM), Literature Online (LION), Academic Resource Index, Book Review Index Plus, OCLC, Periodicals Index Online (PIO), Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers, CNKI, PhilPapers, Google Scholar, Expanded Academic ASAP, Indian Documentation Service, Publication Forum (JuFo), Summon, J-Gate, MIAR (Matriz de Información para el Análisis de Revistas), United States Library of Congress, New York Public Library, BL on Demand and the British Library. The journal is also indexed in numerous university (central) libraries, state, and public libraries, and scholarly organizations/ learned societies databases.

The Journal has published the finest of essays by authors of global renown like René Wellek, Harold Osborne, John Hospers, John Fisher, Murray Krieger, Martin Bocco, Remo Ceserani, J.B. Vickery, Menachem Brinker, Milton Snoeyenbos, Mary Wiseman, Ronald Roblin, T.R. Martland, S.C. Sengupta, K.R.S. Iyengar, Charles Altieri, Martin Jay, Jonathan Culler, Richard Shusterman, Robert Kraut, Terry Diffey, T.R. Quigley, R.B. Palmer, Keith Keating, and many others. Celebrated scholars of the time like René Wellek, Harold Osborne, Mircea Eliade, Monroe Beardsley, John Hospers, John Fisher, Meyer Abrams, John Boulton, and many renowned foreign and Indian scholars were Members of the Editorial Board of the journal.

Manuscripts in MS Word (5,000–8,000 words) following the MLA style should be sent to editor@jcla.in by 31 May 2024.

Founding Editor: Ananta Charan Sukla (1942-2020), Vishvanatha Kaviraja Institute, India
Email: jclaindia@gmail.com
Website: jcla.in

Call For Articles: Special issue #CFP: #Women’s #Autobiographical #Filmmaking -Alphaville: Journal of #Film and #Screen #Media,

 Call for Papers

Women’s Autobiographical Filmmaking 

Special issue of Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, Summer 2026

Guest editors: Dr Felicia Chan (University of Manchester) and Dr Monika Kukolova (University of Salford)

Autobiographical filmmaking refers to films created by filmmakers that tell stories about their lives, experiences and memories. These may be truthful or partially fictionalised, remembered clearly or misremembered, or a combination of these, usually in ways that also explore how film as a medium itself can do this — a form of practice-as-research, if you like. We are interested in exploring with potential contributors whether there might be a gendered nature to this mode of filmmaking / life-remembering / self-narrating? Do filmmakers who identify as women tell different stories about themselves and their lives from those who identify as men, or do they do so in a different way? How do women filmmakers navigate their simultaneous objecthood and subjecthood in the eye of the camera (Everett, 2007)? Much of the canon in film studies is constituted by works of male auteurs, all in one form or another said to be exploring their lives, their pasts and their selves on screen: think of figures like Federico Fellini, Woody Allen, François Truffaut, Shane Meadows, the list goes on. This structural domination is being continually challenged (Gledhill and Knight, 2015) and moves to rehistoricise women’s filmmaking have seen increased attention on figures from Agnès Varda through to Greta Gerwig though much more remains to be done on women filmmakers in the global majority. 

There has been a longer history of scholarship on women’s literary life-writing (Smith and Watson, 1998; Neuman, 2016; Brodzki and Schenck, 2019) but less so on women’s life-writing on/through film as a mode of self-narration. How have women filmmakers had to navigate the industrial structures of filmmaking with all its gatekeeping mechanisms, including access to capital? To what extent are these gatekeeping mechanisms disproportionately discriminatory towards women?  

We are inviting proposals to explore any area of the subject, although we are especially keen to receive proposals from scholars studying the ways women in the global majority use cinema to write themselves and their memories into post/colonial histories. We would also like to invite proposals on alternative publication formats such as the video essay, and shorter provocations, interviews or reports.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

  • Filmmaker case studies
  • Close readings of individual films
  • Industry analysis
  • Autobiographical film as method
  • Challenges to theoretical orthodoxies, e.g. auteur theory, canon-making, etc.
  • Decolonial approaches to gender studies and women’s filmmaking 

Full-length articles: 5,500-7,000 words, including notes but excluding references

Video essay: Approx. 3-15 mins, plus accompanying text 500-1000 words

Short reports, provocations, reviews, interviews, reflections: 1,500-2,500 words

Full-length articles and video essays will be subject to full peer review. Guidelines here: https://www.alphavillejournal.com/Guidelines.html

Publication Timeline
15 May 2024, abstract due

31 May 2024, notification of editors’ decision
15 January 2025, full video essay / manuscript due 
Publication: Summer 2026


If you are interested in contributing to this issue, please send a 300-word abstract along with a brief biography, in the same file, to Dr Monika Kukolova (M.Kukolova@salford.ac.uk)

Feel free to contact us with any questions.

 Alphaville is a diamond open-access journal, and it requests no fee from authors or readers. Visit us at https://www.alphavillejournal.com

 

Contact Information

Dr Felicia Chan, University of Manchester, UK: Felicia.Chan@manchester.ac.uk

Dr Monika Kukolova, University of Salford, UK: M.Kukolova@salford.ac.uk

Contact Email
Felicia.Chan@manchester.ac.uk

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

CFP: First Conference on Global Indigenous Studies (CGIS 2024)

 The First Conference on Global Indigenous Studies is now accepting proposal submissions until June 15th, 2024! Visit the Call for Proposals page on our website to learn more. 

Conference description: Throughout the world, ethnic minorities and Indigenous people have strived to protect their rich heritages and linguistic characteristics against colonial powers, expanding nation-states, as well as the homogenizing forces of globalization. It is increasingly being recognized, exemplified by UNITED NATIONS' “Indigenous Languages Decade” (2022-2032) (https://en.unesco.org/idil2022-2032), that Indigenous languages and the epistemologies embedded in them are fundamental for the perseverance of biological and cultural diversities. The protection and promotion of linguistic diversity help to improve the human potential, agency, and local governance of native speakers of endangered languages, which is especially critical in the face of climate change and environmental degradation. 

The First Conference on Global Indigenous Studies (CGIS 2024) is a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary event that will bring together national and international scholars, educators, practitioners, students, policy makers, activists, academic institutions, Indigenous organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations. The participants in this conference will be involved in a local and global dialogue and exchange of ideas, research, and experiences on the themes of the event.



Contact Email :  hlsindig@iu.edu

Sunday, March 24, 2024

CFP: 4 PAN NIT Humanities and Social Sciences Research Conclave (HSSRC) - May-2024 on Humanities at the Crossroads: The Convergence of Language, Literature and Technology- NIT Warangal



Concept Note
The PAN-NIT Research Conclave on "Humanities at the Crossroads: The Convergence of Technology, Language, and Literature" seeks to explore the dynamic interplay between traditional humanities disciplines and emerging technological advancements. This conclave aims to provide a platform for intellectual exchange, interdisciplinary dialogue, and collaborative exploration among scholars, researchers, and students from 31 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) across India.
In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, the boundaries between technology, language, and literature are becoming increasingly blurred. The infusion of technology into humanities disciplines has opened up new avenues for analysis, interpretation, and expression, revolutionizing traditional approaches to scholarship and creative endeavors. This conclave aims to critically examine the challenges and opportunities presented by this convergence, exploring its implications for pedagogy, research, and societal engagement.

The PAN-NIT Research Conclave on "Humanities at Crossroads: The Convergence of Technology, Language, and Literature" promises to be a stimulating and enriching forum for exploring the transformative potential of technology within the humanities domain. By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, promoting ethical reflection, and embracing innovative pedagogical practices, this conclave aims to empower scholars, researchers, and students to navigate the complex intersection of technology, language, and literature in the digital age.
The Research Conclave includes Directors’ Dialogue, Heads’ forum discussion, webinars, panel discussions and an International Conference 

Objectives of the Research Conclave
The conclave extends a warm invitation to faculty members, Ph.D./M. Phil scholars, postgraduate students, other academicians, and independent scholars engaged in diverse humanities, social sciences, and related fields to exchange their insights. The event aims to achieve the following objectives:
Facilitate Interdisciplinary Dialogue: 
Establish a platform for intellectual discourse that bridges the gap between humanities and technology.
Promote collaborative efforts among individuals from varied disciplines and institutions.
Foster a community dedicated to advancing knowledge at the confluence of technology, language, and
literature.
Explore Emerging Trends:  Delve into the evolving trends that are shaping the future landscape of humanities scholarship and creative expression.
Unravel the transformative influences propelling innovation in the realm of intellectual pursuits.
Promote Innovative Pedagogy:  Showcase inventive pedagogical methodologies and educational technologies.
Highlight strategies that empower learners to engage critically with the world around them.
Provide educators with tools to navigate the complexities of the 21st-century educational landscape.
Ignite Intellectual Curiosity: Cultivate an environment conducive to fostering intellectual curiosity.
Pave the way for new avenues of inquiry and exploration.





Themes and sub-themes
The conference covers the following areas, but are not limited to:
Language Education
English Literature
Phonetics and Linguistics
Cultural and Gender Studies
Digital Humanities, Medical Humanities, Posthuman Studies, Sustainability Studies, Disability Studies, Children’s Literature, Diasporic Literature, Partition Literature, Commonwealth Literature, Memory and Trauma Studies, Pandemic Literature, Classical Literature, Shakespearean Literature, Victorian Literature ELT in the era of new technologies, Innovative educational methods, approaches, and techniques, English Language Education in India, Translanguaging, Critical Pedagogy, Multi-lingualism, 21st Century Pedagogy Phonetics, Socio-Linguistics, Stylistics, Corpus Linguistics, Language Documentation and Revitalisation, PsychoLinguistics, NLP, Computational Linguistics, Linguistics Typology, Forensic Linguistics Queer Studies, Feminist Theory, Film Studies, Culture and Aesthetics, Indigenous Studies, Popular Culture, Postpartum Literature, Masculinity Studies, Graphic Narratives Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, Anthropology and other interdisciplinary areas.




Please submit your abstract within 250-300 words and with 4-5 keywords in this google form link:
All content must be original, and authors are responsible for obtaining necessary consent and permission to
use any third-party material.



Deadline for Abstract Submission: 10th April, 2024
Acceptance Status Update: Authors will be notified within 7 days of abstract submission
Registration Date: 20-30th April, 2024


For any related queries, contact us:
Email: pannit24.nitw@gmail.com
J Ravi Prakash
Contact:+918978145797
Mail id: jr720121@student.nitw.ac.in
Gopika Jayachandran
Contact : 8129694083
Mail id: gj22hsr1r02@student.nitw.ac.in

Saturday, March 23, 2024

CFP: #Disability and Detective Fiction (theme issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection) -Clues Journal

 The guest editors welcome proposals for a theme issue of Clues focusing on the representation of disability, broadly defined, in crime and mystery fiction, television shows, films, and other media. We seek a wide range of critical and cultural perspectives on how bodymind anomalousness features in stories about wrongdoing, from the maimed and scarred villains of Conan Doyle to the neurodivergent hero-sleuths of contemporary popular culture. In what ways have impairment, disfigurement, and disease been used to raise the stakes of fear and upheaval in crime stories? How do such narratives perpetuate or challenge ableist notions of order and resolution? Does corporeal vulnerability stoke our pity, sympathy, or admiration—whether for criminals, victims, or detectives whose genius seems to triumph over adversity? Conversely, do the contours of disability facilitate alternative modes of sleuthing and lead to unexpected forms of justice? What alternate forms of knowledge do these characters and texts present and endorse? Since the genre of crime by definition entails what and how we know, how have authors—over time and around the world—engaged disability to probe the meaning of truth? 

Possible topics may include but are not limited to:
• Disability as the mark of criminality  
• Disability as a crime—or as damage—that must be redeemed
• Disability as metaphor for social decay
• Supercrip crime solvers and criminals
• Analytical prowess as compensation for physical or emotional loss
• Neurodivergence and the lonely sleuth
• Intersectional plots pairing disability with gender, race, class, and sexuality
• Disability as affective vector: upping the emotional ante
• Specific impairments as modes of knowing: detection and “cripistemology”   

Submissions should include a proposal of 250–300 words and a brief bio. Proposals due: March 15, 2024. Submit proposals to: Prof. Susannah B. Mintz, Dept. of English, Skidmore College, email: smintz@skidmore.edu, and Prof. Mark Osteen, Dept. of English, Loyola University Maryland, email: MOsteen@loyola.edu. Full manuscripts of 5,000 to 6,500 words based on an accepted proposal will be due in September 2024.

About Clues: Published biannually by McFarland & Co., the peer-reviewed Clues: A Journal of Detection features academic articles on all aspects of mystery and detective material in print, television, and film without limit to period or country covered. It also reviews nonfiction mystery works (biographies, reference works, and the like) and materials applicable to classroom use (such as films). Executive Editor: Caroline Reitz, John Jay College/The CUNY Graduate Center; Managing Editor: Elizabeth Foxwell, McFarland & Co., Inc., Publishers

Contact Information

Elizabeth Foxwell
Managing Editor, Clues: A Journal of Detection
Editor, McFarland & Co., Inc., Publishers
PO Box 611
Jefferson, NC  28640

Contact Email
journalclues@gmail.com

Friday, March 22, 2024

Call for Abstracts: #Education and Role-Playing Games: #Theory, #Pedagogy, and #Practice


Analog role-playing games (tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, larps [live action role-play], etc) provide opportunities for formative and educative experiences for players. The game’s elements of role-play demand a level of imagination, participatory commitments, self-reflection, creative problem solving, and collaboration from players that most leisure activities do not. This proposed volume will focus on analog role-playing games and their educative capabilities. We are interested in how people learn and are formed by these games, both in and outside of formal educational environments. The volume seeks to examine how these games do (or do not) facilitate educative growth both through theorizing as well as concrete analysis of practice. Both theoretician-oriented and practitioner-generated pieces are welcome, but all pieces should seek to examine broader themes and questions around education, knowledge, and growth through the lens of analog RPGs. 

The editor gladly invites proposals for chapter submissions on, but not limited to, the following topics: 

Theories of education, knowledge, and pedagogy in analog role-playing games:

  • RPGs and theories of learning, construction of knowledge
  • RPGs and experiential/active learning 
  • RPGs and vicarious experience 
  • Bleed and education
  • RPGs and civic / democratic education
  • The role of AI in RPG play

Analog role-playing games and education broadly through:

  • Education around conceptions of race, gender, sexuality, neurodivergence, etc
  • Social participation, group membership, social mores
  • Conflict resolution and violence in games
  • Identity formation and self-discovery
  • Transgressive play and education
  • Consent practices and boundary setting
  • RPGs and depictions of colonialism and exotification

Challenges/Benefits of utilizing RPGs in formal educational settings in regards to:

  • RPGs and critical thinking, literacy, social emotional learning, etc
  • RPGs and neurodivergent students
  • RPGs as distinct from simulations or case studies
  • RPGs and math education
  • “The dice tell a story” - RPGs and data visualization 
  • Ethics of usings RPGs in the classroom, especially when dealing with sensitive or controversial subject matter 
  • Challenges around time management, assessment, and participation
  • Considerations/Benefits when using RPGs with specific populations (i.e. children, seniors, ESL, etc)
  • Pre and post game practices & reflection
  • RPG practices of consent as practiced in a classroom
  • Teacher as GM / GM as Teacher

 

Interested authors should send chapter abstracts of 250-500 words (excluding sources cited), a paragraph author biography, and a CV or resume to educationrpgpedagogy@gmail.com.

The call for chapters ends July 1st, 2024. Authors will be notified of accepted proposals on July 15th, 2024. Authors will submit their accepted chapters of a minimum of 4500 words in length by October 1st, 2024.

All contributors should engage with the existing academic literature on role-playing games. While the editors will not prescribe particular sources or methodologies, proposals should reflect acquaintance with current scholarship on role-playing games.

The project will be submitted for consideration as part of the Education and Popular Culture series. The series is unique as it equally values practitioner-generated pieces on using mass/popular culture as it does theoretician-oriented pieces on studying mass/popular culture, as well as works that exist in the intersections between these worlds. Works in this series take up issues surrounding popular culture in education broadly through pedagogical, historical, sociological, and critical lenses.

Contact Information

Dr. Susan Haarman

Loyola University-Chicago

Contact Email
educationrpgpedagogy@gmail.com