UK-China Media and Cultural Studies Association

Now Accepting Pre and Post-Doctoral Fellow Applications for Global China Initiative Fellowship Program
Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) seeks applicants for both pre-and post-doctoral fellowships to work on its Global China Initiative (GCI). In addition to receiving support for dissertation and post-dissertation work, fellows will participate in the China initiative’s research projects, seminar series, and policy engagement activities.
Successful candidates will have demonstrated experience and interest in researching the economic, social, and environmental impacts of international financial institutions in general and Chinese overseas finance and activity in financial institutions in particular. The GDP Center will accept applications from all disciplines, especially engineering, public health, business, and the natural and social sciences. Priority geographical regions of interest, in addition to China, include Africa, Latin America, and South East Asia. Fluency in Mandarin Chinese or a language from one of these regions is preferred.
The majority of the fellowships will be awarded for the calendar year 2020. Fellows will receive full funding for the period and a modest stipend for data collection and/or fieldwork.
Interested applicants should send the following to Xinyue Ma ([email protected]) by October 1, 2019:
A cover letter that demonstrates interest and experience studying Chinese overseas finance.
A current curriculum vitae.
Contact information for two references.
Int’l candidates only: International candidates will need express approval from their sponsoring institution stating that the potential fellow is allowed to earn income from another institution. This is especially important for international students with J-1 visas.

--
Kevin P. Gallagher, PhD.
Professor of Global Development Policy

Director, Global Development Policy Center
Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies
Boston University
53 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02155

University of Lodz, Poland
Faculty of Philology
Department of Studies in Drama
Literature and Media: productive intersections
24-26 October 2019

In the digital era, which has progressively emerged from the age of photography and film, a fruitful collaboration between theatre, film, new media and literature creates provoking meanings and interpretations, as well as new fields of study. Through intensive assimilation, incorporation and synthesis not only are classical forms of the literary and the visual challenged and redefined, but primarily new genres or forms of communication are produced.
The relation between literary forms and visual media or art has developed into a complex environment of transmedia narratives in which communicative channels never exist merely in one medium and form. Also in visual arts, the merger contributed to the development of a new kind of immersive art that destabilizes traditional connection between images and words, imposing new narrative practices.
The conference aims at addressing a variety of issues concerning the relations between drama, theatre, literature and media or, more generally, word and image. On the one hand, we invite conference papers that explore ways in which literature responds to the emergence of multiple media, and how literary or dramatic texts function in the (new) media environment. On the other hand, we would like to address questions about new media and their relation to the more traditional literary forms or narrative techniques – in particular how new media adapt and incorporate formats and genres developed by literature and its conventions. In visual arts, which use technological means to question the distinction between objects and viewing subjects, artists are interested in affective relations of the senses rather than conventional narration and representation. The conference seeks to reflect on the role and function of word and image in art projects that facilitate bodily experiences with the help of new technologies. It is assumed that digitalization has reconfigured the ways we produce and understand artistic process, facilitating new ways of communication and conversation in art.

Therefore, the conference organisers invite papers and presentations related to theatre, literary and media studies, from film adaptations of classical literary works, through remakes and new adaptations of traditional motifs, characters and genres, drama in performance or tv drama, to explorations of literature as part of networked communication in digital media and contemporary art.
The welcome topics are related but not limited to the following fields of research:

- Contemporary theatre performance,
- Theatre adaptations of classical drama and works of fiction,
- Digitalizing theatre productions, theatre archives,
- Digital literary archives,
- Theatre reviews – reviewing life performance / art / art installation,
- Literature and cinema in digital, social media,
- Literature in computer games,
- Film adaptation of drama and fiction,
- Film remakes,
- TV series and TV drama,
- Digital literature,
- Graphic novel and their film adaptation,
- Life writing and new media,
- Transmedia and multimodal narratives,
- Sound technologies and literature,
- Narration in visual arts,
- Artistic practices and literature,
- Digital humanities.

We are proud to announce three names of plenary speakers who will be delivering keynote lectures at our conference:
Dr Kathleen Loock - Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Andy Lavender - University of Warwick
Kelly McErlean - Dundalk Institute of Technology
The conference fee is 100 Euro (400 PLN), and it covers conference materials and lunch breaks but not accommodation.
Paper proposals (up to 300 words, plus a short biographical note) can be sent to this address: [email protected]
Deadline for submitting proposals is 31 July 2019.
All necessary information about the conference can be found here: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdramathroughtheages.wordpress.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cxing.huang%40UEA.AC.UK%7Cb1523e58394540d4a19808d70542439d%7Cc65f8795ba3d43518a070865e5d8f090%7C0%7C0%7C636983654555859198&sdata=Ey8bdr7fOS%2BPSGdVHzwDim59JTnQrXnzfN%2F%2BuEsI3%2Bw%3D&reserved=0
Organising committee:
Dr. Magdalena Cieślak – University of Lodz
Dr. Justyna Stępień – Szczecin University
Dr. Michal Lachman – University of Lodz

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ICS 2020 Conference
Call for paper!

Constructing Young Selves in a Digital Media Ecology:
Youth Cultures, Practices and Identity

Department of Communication and Media Studies,
School of Economics and Political Science,
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)
THURSDAY 4 AND FRIDAY 5 JUNE 2020

The development of young people’s identities and sense of selfhood is widely recognized as being a social activity undertaken through interaction and feedback with significant others. Advancing beyond earlier top-down models of socialization, whereby parents and teachers were largely seen as responsible for transmitting stable cultural norms, knowledge, political attitudes, religious beliefs and social practices to young people, contemporary understanding has instead foregrounded the active, dynamic, co-construction of young selves. Such approaches have not only drawn attention to the active engagement of young people in shaping their own identities but has also emphasized the wider social, political, economic, cultural contexts that frame the possibilities for the interactive realization of personhood. Most profoundly, and the focus of this international symposium, for the current generation of young people, the active construction of self is significantly mediated by and through a digital media ecology of communications networks, algorithms and platforms. These emergent networked environments have led to celebrations about the potential to enhance the development of young selves through wider access to knowledge, cultures, beliefs, identities and the opportunities to perform such self-formation through online interaction with diverse others. But it has also produced moral panics for those concerned about the perceived negative effects of digital media, such as attention deficit, the break-down of authority, dumbing down of education, infantilizing politics, and the weakening of traditional family ties.

Premised upon a notion of youth as a social construction, as well as upon its permeability, and taking into account how young people - whether as young children, tweens, teenagers, or late twentysomething, whether in the West or outside of it- are growing up with significant access to globalized media and transmedia platforms and narratives, this two-day international symposium will critically investigate the issues presented by the construction of young selves within the contemporary digital media ecology. With the aim to grasp the complexity and diversity of most young people’s experiences and practices with online technologies, we invite original research findings and theoretical analysis addressing (though not exclusively) such questions as:

· What role for young people do traditional markers of identity such as social class, religion, family, or geography play in online group interaction?

· As increasingly more young people find themselves geographically dispersed and living transitional lives in immigrant communities or in refugee camps, what kind of possibilities for connectedness, dialogue and identity-making online technologies have to offer?

· What value are social media platforms for gay, transgender, q***r, atheist, or differently abled young people as spaces for socialization?
· How much are young people’s political norms and engagement practices facilitated by digital communication?

· How does everyday online engagement affect interaction between young people and significant others such parents, teachers and other traditional ‘authority’ figures?

· Does social networking influence learning practices, competencies or curriculum design?

· What are young people’s attitudes and actual use of digital media in everyday life?

· How should we assess the significance of celebrity culture for young people’s development of self?

· Are young people more likely to develop a transnational outlook as a consequence of the digital media ecology?

SUBMISSION
https://sites.google.com/view/ics2020conference/call-for-papers?authuser=0

KEY DATES
Abstract submission by 15 October 2019
Notification of decision: 15 December 2019

CONFERENCE FEES
Conference fee: 80 Euros
Fee for PhD students: 40 euros

ICS 2020 Conference - Call for Papers The development of young people’s identities and sense of selfhood is widely recognized as being a social activity undertaken through interaction and feedback with significant others. Advancing beyond earlier top-down models of socialization, whereby parents and teachers were largely seen as respo...

CALL FOR PAPERS
ASIAN WOMEN FILMMAKERS ON GLOBAL SCREENS:
Networks, Circuits, and Community Connections
International Conference
March 27 and 28, 2020
Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures,
Faculty of Arts, University of Hong Kong

Women filmmakers are severely underrepresented in general film distribution (theatrical and auxiliary), film festivals and awards: a phenomenon that adversely affects the visibility of female filmmakers from Asia. However, there has been little concrete investigation into the mechanisms that underpin the status quo. Through engaging international specialists on women in film, this conference seeks to dissect the system, pinpoint the weak spots and identify a possible remedial course of action toward improving the situation of women filmmakers. The goal of our conversation will not only be to increase knowledge on these matters but to make practical recommendations to the film industry, film festivals, and other institutions.

This conference brings together academics and practitioners to create the opportunity for engagement between communities within the Asian region and beyond. Our objective with this conference is to bring together female academics and practitioners (many of whom have academic credentials as well) for a discussion that focuses on the pitfalls in women’s careers in cinema, aims to identify specific problem areas, and produces concrete remedial recommendations that will then be disseminated to the wider international community.

This follows our successful local summit devoted to women in Hong Kong film higher education (November 2018) and a follow-up on HeForShe male allies (May 2019). In addition, it supplements information on our website/database devoted to Hong Kong women filmmakers active since 1997(https://hkwomenfilmmakers.wordpress.com/) as well as our directory (https://sites.google.com/view/hkwfhighered/home) on men and women involved in promoting gender equality in film education in Hong Kong.

Professor Dina Iordanova, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and Professor Soyoung Kim, Korea National University of the Arts will deliver keynote speeches.

If you would like to present a paper, please send us a title, 250-word abstract, brief bio, and contact information by October 31, 2019. We also welcome self-nominations for delegates to the conference. If you are a film professional and would like to participate in working groups at the conference, please send us your name, affiliation, a brief bio, and contact information by October 31, 2019, to be included in the program. We are, unfortunately, unable to provide travel and accommodation; however, there is no registration fee and some meals/refreshments will be provided for registered participants.

All correspondence should be sent to Gina Marchetti and Christine Vicera at [email protected]. We will send out notifications of acceptance by January 1, 2020, and open registration after that date.

Hong Kong Women in Film in Higher Education

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
“What Is Labor in the Digital Age?”
International Conference on Digital Labor (ICDL)

October 25-27, 2019, Shanghai, China

Submission Deadline: August 15, 2019
Organizer: East China Normal University
School of Communication of East China Normal University (ECNU)
The Chinese Association for History of Journalism and Mass Communication

DESCRIPTION
We invite submissions to the conference “What Is Labor in the Digital Age”: International Conference on Digital Labor (ICDL). The conference, organized by the School of Communication of East China Normal University (ECNU) in conjunction with the Chinese Association for History of Journalism and Mass Communication (CAHJMC), will take place on October 25, 26, and 27 at ECNU in Shanghai, China.

Scholars have noted that oftentimes digital labor goes unrecognized and unrewarded, but what is digital labor anyway? The coming of the digital age has dramatically changed capitalist modes of production and the way how labor works. Does digital labor indicate that the demarcated and fixed lines between work and paly, and between production and consumption are blurred, collapsed, and overlapped? In the news industry, what is the impact of digital technologies on the labor force? What can be learned about digital labor from China's experience? While the conference is hosted by the communication school, we would like to invite scholars from varied disciplines including but not limited to communication, economy, sociology, politics, history, anthropology, philosophy and practitioners from media and IT industries. Submissions should contribute to ongoing conversations about digital labor in empirical, theoretical or methodological ways. Aspects of digital labor to be addressed may be related to the following, among others: ● Definition ● Social media ● News industry ● history ●Platform-based activities ● Digital and platform economies ● Imperialism, neocolonialism and postcolonialism ● Regulation and public policies ● Political economy of communication● Postmodernism ●Fans ● Gender, race, ethnicity, and identity. We look forward to seeing you in Shanghai in October.

GUIDELINES
To make a submission: send an abstract of the article, with a maximum length of 300 words (excluding title and references). The document should also include the contact information and brief (no more than 80 words) biography of each author. Abstracts should be sent without exception as an attached file, in word format (.doc, .docx). The deadline for submission is August 15, 2019. Abstracts should be sent by email to [email protected]

We only accept papers (no panels, posters). Accepted papers must be presented by at least one author. Presenters will have approximately 15 minutes for their presentation, followed by a 10-minute Q & A session. A selection committee will evaluate the abstracts and the results will be notified to the authors on September 1, 2019.

STUDENTS
Students are encouraged to present papers at the conference. ICDL will provide $300 international travel stipend for three (3) participating students who travel from outside mainland China. If you would like to apply for this stipend, please indicate in your email and notify the program with (1) the name of your institution and (2) degree being pursued.

CONTACT INFORMATION
For questions about submissions contact Chunfeng Lin: [email protected]

Call for Applicants:
UK-China Humanities Alliance - British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Symposium

Always Different, Always The Same: A Symposium on The Fall, NOVEMBER 9TH 2019 Limerick, Ireland.

The Popular Music and Popular Culture Research Cluster at the University of Limerick, Ireland, will convene a symposium on The Fall on November 9th 2019 to examine their significant and prolific contribution to popular music and culture. An edited collection of essays is planned following the Symposium.

The PMPC Cluster invites scholars working across a range of disciplines and approaches (such as, cultural studies; ethnomusicology; musicology; media studies; literature; popular music studies; fan studies, sociology of music etc) to propose papers on the lasting cultural/musical legacy of The Fall. A maximum of 30 minutes will be allocated to each paper (20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for questions). Panel proposals (three presenters - 90 minutes) are also welcome. We also welcome proposals for workshops, film screenings, performances etc.

Papers, for example, might consider:

The Fall and the creation of a distinct Manchester Soundscape
Fall Iconography (Album and single sleeves, promotional photographs etc)
The lyrical/musicological/performance analysis of specific songs
The Fall and Fandom
The visual analysis of specific videos/live performances
Influences on Mark E. Smith and The Fall


If you are interested in taking part, please submit:

A Word document containing your paper title, a 250 word abstract, and author information including full name, institutional affiliation and email address.
A 50-word bio to [email protected] by June 1st 2019.
Panel Proposals should include a 150 word overview and three 250 word individual abstracts (plus author information listed above).
Notifications regarding acceptance will be sent by July 1st 2019.

Further information on the Popular Music and Popular Culture Research Cluster at UL at

University of Limerick A major collection of essays on the critically acclaimed Manchester band Joy Division will be launched on Thursday January 17th at the Kasbah Club, Dolans at 8pm.

Starring Asia: a Three-Day International Conference on Asian Stardom and Celebrity

Date: 2-4 December 2019

Venue: Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Conference and Event Organisers: Shenshen Cai (Swinburne University of Technology), Glen Donnar (RMIT University), Koichi Iwabuchi (Monash University), Vikrant Kishore (Deakin University), Sean Redmond (Deakin University), Jian Xu (Deakin University)

Key date: 150-250 Word Abstracts due by 5 May 2019

A selection of the best conference papers will be published in a confirmed Special Edition of Celebrity Studies in 2021

In this three-day conference we will explore the varied ways through which stardom and celebrity emerges in and across Asia. We understand Asia as a geographical location and a geopolitical set of interfaces, both interconnected and divided by a number of distinct National imaginaries and transnational vectors. Stardom and celebrity is understood to be a central part of the Asian attention economy; wrapped up in questions of representation and identity, democratic and demotic articulations; and utilised in various nationalist and transnational discourses. The relationship between binaries, core and periphery, major and minoritarian cultural forms will also be addressed.

The questions that energise this call for paper are:

What does stardom and celebrity mean in Asian regions? How has it been conceptualized?

What impressions, economies and desires does it elicit? What problems and concerns does it provoke?

What is its complex, diverse and multifarious relationship to Western experiences and practices, and global celebrity culture more generally?

Alongside the conference will be a free public screening event which will include the showing of four seminal ‘star vehicle’ films: from China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Each film will be introduced by a leading screen expert and will be followed by an industrial panel with leading star figures from those industries.

Topics to be addressed, complicated and critiqued could include:

Theorizing Stardom and Celebrity in Asian regions – textual and contextual approaches and provocations

National star and celebrity case studies

Digital Asian celebrity cultures

Asian political celebrity

Asian star and celebrity fandom

Asian global care ambassadors

Do-good Asian stars

Marketing Asian stardom and celebrity

Online Asian celebrity

Attention economies

Regulating desire – patriarchy, sexuality, religion

Asian star brands

The Asian celebrity influencer

DIY Asian celebrity

East to the West, the West to the East: transnational star passing

Race and ethnicity in the Asian star and celebrity context

Asian pop stars and belonging

Asian star and celebrity aesthetics

National and nationalist star Asian bodies

Empirical research on Asian stars and celebrities

Trans-Asian pop stars and fandom

Q***r and transgendered Asian celebrities

Asian celebrity-turned-activists

Asian celebrities and public diplomacy


150-250 word abstracts for individual paper presentations or 750 word pre-constituted panel abstracts should be sent as a Word document to [email protected] by 5 May 2019

For enquiries, please contact any of the organisation committee members:
Glen Donnar [email protected]
Shenshen Cai [email protected]
Jian Xu [email protected]
Vikrant Kishore [email protected]
岩渕功一 [email protected]
Sean Redmond [email protected]

CALL FOR PAPERS

Intellectuals Across Borders: Writers, Artists, Activists

5-6 September 2019

University of Münster and University of Lisbon

Across Europe, the critical engagement with the history of colonialism and its significant ongoing legacies has gained purchase – not least because of the critique, pressure, and demands of postcolonial intellectuals from, or with ties to, Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia. Matters of postcolonial justice, such as reparations to former European colonies, the restitution of human remains and cultural artefacts, and calls for the removal of national symbols and monuments that reproduce racist ideology have gained increased public attention in recent years. From the reopening of the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa, and the French government’s decision to return colonial artefacts from its museums and collections, to the public debate stirred over plans to build a Museum of Discoveries in Lisbon as part of the mayor’s campaign (alongside the support of Lisbon residents to erect a memorial honouring the victims of slavery): controversies abound – and with them the public visibility of postcolonial intellectuals and activist collectives. Likewise, German debates about reparations for the Herero and Nama in today’s Namibia, the upcoming opening of Berlin’s Humboldt Forum, as well as the celebration of Black Pete in the Netherlands have caused a significant outcry against colonial amnesia.

These and other examples from Portugal to the Netherlands, from France to Germany, from Denmark to Italy raise essential questions: How has the role of the postcolonial intellectual developed since it evolved in the eighteenth century with public figures such as Olaudah Equiano or William Cuffay? Which kinds of public intellectuals are emerging today? And what is the relationship between postcolonial intellectual work and specific geopolitical spaces? How do digital media influence what we consider public and intellectual work? What is the relationship between activism and creative work, and how is fiction used as intellectual, activist work? What marks intellectual work as ‘postcolonial’? And do recent defences of Western colonialism by some scholars and public figures, in turn, constitute neo-colonial intellectual work? Do such instances of colonial nostalgia point to an urgent need to develop critical paradigms that expose how the West seeks to perpetuate neo-colonial power dynamics? Which forms of resistance against neo-colonialism have evolved in the 21st century?

Organized in the context of the NWO Internationalization in the humanities project: PIN – Postcolonial Intellectuals and their European Publics Network, “Intellectuals Across Borders” explores the dynamic formations of intellectual work in diverse European public spheres. The conference works with the idea that writers, artists, and activists – like migrant academics and political representatives – can embrace the role of postcolonial intellectual through intervention and public impact. As racism works vigorously across national borders while right-wing groupings across Europe are connected and cross-fertilize each other, critical intellectual work is called upon to make national, cultural, and disciplinary borders porous. In fact, it is the postcolonial intellectuals’ transgressive potential for inquiring and intervening – spatially, epistemologically, ideologically – which we consider vital for their relationship with European public spheres.

“Intellectuals Across Borders” therefore asks how postcolonial intellectual interventions across boundaries challenge the divides between public and private, inclusion and exclusion, citizen and migrant, and create counter-publics where sexual, ethnic, religious, and other minoritized groups stake their claims and play out their actions. The conference thus brings into focus the manifold, productive, and often unexpected ways in which public intellectuals engage in postcolonial European societies. Possible areas of inquiry range from, but are not limited to:
Writers, activists, and artists as postcolonial intellectuals
Porosity and intellectual border-crossings
Working-class, feminist, or LGBTQQIA intellectual labour
Transnational public discourses of restitution and reparation
Postcolonial intellectuals and translocation
Alliances between activism and theory
Intellectual legacies in theory, art, and activism
Activism in literature and literature as activism
Screening activism, documentaries, and filmmaking
Postcolonial intellectuals and new media (e.g. streaming platforms, blogosphere, twitter)
Neo-colonial intellectuals and their European publics

We welcome abstracts, panels, and creative pieces that engage with the topics and questions addressed above. Please e-mail your abstract (250 words), bio (150 words), and possible questions to: [email protected]

Your abstract should provide the following information, contained in a single MS Word file:

1) your name, postal address, email address, and contact telephone number; 2) your institutional affiliation (if applicable); 3) any media requirements for your presentation. Proposals for full panels should include a panel description (300 words) as well as three abstracts of the individual papers (250 words each), along with the bios of all involved (150 words). If your submission is a creative piece, please also include an example of your output, such as a 500-word writing sample, a 2-page portfolio (for visual art), or a film sample.

Deadlines and web:

Abstract submission: 15 May 2019; notification of acceptance: 5 June 2019

ptts.wwu.de/IAB2019

The conference will take place in Münster. The conference opening is on the evening of 4 September 2019. The conference is organized as part of the NWO Internationalization in the humanities project PIN – Postcolonial Intellectuals and their European Publics Network and it is co-hosted by

Postcolonial, Transnational and Transcultural Studies (PTTS), English Department University of Münster, Germany ([email protected])

University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies (CEAUL-ULICES), School of Arts and Humanities Portugal ([email protected])

Conveners: Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University), Mark U Stein (University of Münster), Ana Cristina Mendes (University of Lisbon)

PTTS -IAB2019 © J. Wacker"Misala ya silent"© Mbajani G. NyanguluThe second PIN Network Conference "Intellectuals Across Borders: Writers, Artists, Activists" will take place in Münster/Germany, co-hosted by the University of Münster and the University of Lisbon. The opening event is scheduled for the eveni...

CFP: Against the Grain: The Ethics, Poetics and Politics of Contrarian Speech

Against the Grain: The Ethics, Poetics and Politics of Contrarian Speech

Symposium at the University of Amsterdam, 5th – 7th June 2019

Keynote speakers: Sarah Clancy, Jim Hicks, Frank Keizer

Deadline for proposals: 15th April 2019

Dates: The event will commence in the late afternoon of 5th June and end by early afternoon of 7th June

A collaboration of ‘Contemporary Poetry and Politics’ (FFI2016-77584-P), The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, The Amsterdam Center for Globalization Studies, and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis.

Organizers: Cornelia Gräbner (Lancaster University), Joost de Bloois (University of Amsterdam).

Contrarianism gains momentum whenever a hegemony consolidates itself to such an extent that there is no longer space for the possibility of alternatives. The aims and the character of contrarian movements show themselves through the interplay of ethics, politics and poetics in concrete examples of contrarian speech and contrarian practices. With the symposium ‘Against the Grain: The Ethics, Poetics and Politics of Contrarian Speech’ we open up a space for the analytical exploration of this interplay, and for a sharing of practices that oppose both the status quo of corporatism and neoliberalization, and the contrarian movements appropriating ‘free speech’ from the populist right, the alt-right, and neo-fascism.

Contrarianism can be a mode of getting to know the opponent from a committed position or perspective and, through this analytical practice, can produce dissident knowledges. Contrarianism can be a form of expression; in the face of a stifling hegemony, its poetics can nurture desires and open up new horizons. Contrarian practice can take many forms, among them opposition, resistance, dissent, non-cooperation, contestation, subversion, or sabotage. It can be practiced from within a system, from its margins, or from an outsider position. Today, contrarianism is also weaponized as a rhetorical strategy by political movements that seek to consolidate or radicalize existing power structures (be it regarding class, gender or race), or obfuscate their ruthless pursuit of their economic interests. The contrarian defiance of supposed ‘political correctness’ and the left-liberal ‘elite’ in no small measure has contributed to the success of such movements. This symposium, a collaboration between the research project ‘Contemporary Poetry and Politics’ (FFI2016-77584-P) and the University of Amsterdam, approaches contrarian speech by bringing together the poetic and the analytical, ethics and politics.

We specifically (but not exclusively) invite attention to the interplay of poetic and political sensibilities with discourses and practices of contrarian speech in the discussion of five thematic areas:

Dissent, Disobedience and Free Speech: We invite contributions that explore the notion of ‘free speech’ in contexts where free speech is turned into a means of pacification, or where it is weaponized against minorities or by economic elites against imagined cultural elites. What does ‘contrarian speech’ mean in such contexts, how might its boundaries be defined and set?
Austerity and Precarity: In the wake of the 2008 economic crisis and the subsequent ‘austerity’ measures that have been rolled out all over Europe, class differences and socio-economic precarity have increased substantially. Tremendous social suffering has been inflicted, and structural violence against vulnerable populations has been escalated, and the TINA (There Is No Alternative) ideology has strangulated the political imagination. The emergence of movements such as ‘Occupy, the Indignados or Nuit Debout indicates increasing resistance to neoliberal TINA (There Is No Alternative) ideology. We invite explorations of social justice and opposition to class privilege, contrarianism and right-wing populism, and even the alt-right and extreme right.
Crisis: Hand-in-hand with the creation and perpetuation of social and political crisis comes the resurgence of discourses of security which appropriate and manipulate fear. We invite critical analyses of such discourses, and the role of contrarian speech in opposing these, whereby the analyses account for the consequences of social injustice, legal and political surveillance, and precarization.
Ecocriticism and Infrastructure: We invite engagements with the ideologies of progress and modernity, with the practice of corporate power and the ideology of corporatism, with the ways in which infrastructures embed habituation and complacency into everyday life and perception, and with the expressions, practices and ecocritical approaches that go contrarian to it.
Creative Criticism: This practice of knowledge and of writing goes contrarian to the ever more stringent, restrictive, constraining, disciplinarian and secretly ideological practices of academic writing that are being imposed on academics. Creative criticism gets to know its opponent progressively and, while opposing and subverting them, creates ‘Other’ writing practices that subvert the binary of creativity and criticism and create space for dissident knowledges.
Anti-Fascism, the Alt-Right, and Right-Wing Populism: Anti-fascist movements and anti-fascist artists and cultural organizers have always had to go against two opponents at the same time: the right-wing, populist and /or fascist movements and individuals that go contrarian to the status quo, and to a status quo that is often marked by social injustice, that is usually hostile to anti-fascists and often, tolerant of fascist and right-wing populist movements. We invite explorations of such doubly contrarian practices and explorations, as well as of the ways in which fascist movements, the Alt-Right and right-wing populism pose as contrarian to the status quo.

Contributions may cover (but are not limited to):
Contemporary political movements/events
Contemporary political art (i.e. poetry, literature, visual art, cinema)
Media representations of contrarian speech
Cultural/artistic representations of crisis/precarity/austerity
Ecocritical dissidence
Contrarianism, hegemony and conjuncture
Far-right discourse on/as contrarianism
Free speech, sexism and heteronormativity (i.e. online sexism and heteronormativity)
Media representations of ‘free speech’
Free speech, contrarianism and the construction/limits of the public sphere
‘Contrarian’ and ‘free speech’ as political trope
Contrarianism as Foucauldian parreisia
Contrarianism, dissent and social media
Contrarianism and/as privilege
Contrarianism as noise
Class and contrarianism (i.e. class analysis, class struggle as contrarianism)
Artistic and philosophical/theoretical responses to free speech controversies
Contrarianism/free speech and anti-terrorism (i.e. Erri de Luca’s work, the ‘Tarnac affair’)
Free speech and racialized exclusion
Contrarianism and sabotage
Free speech, surveillance and contemporary governmentality
Artistic and creative practices of ‘contrarianism’
Poetry and crisis
Assembly as contrarian practice (i.e. Nuit debout, Occupy)
Contrarianism as ethics
Contrarianism as crisis discourse (i.e. ecocritical voices, eco-politics, movements concerning climate change/extinction)
Contrarianism and gender formation (i.e. on social media forums)
Contrarianism and negativity
Contrarianism as ethics of refusal and inoperativity
Contrarianism as affirmative ethics/politics
Contrarianism as -ism

To submit a proposal please send a title, an abstract of 250 words and a short biography of 100 words by 15th April to [email protected]