7th NECS Graduate Workshop

The deadline for submissions has been extended:

7th NECS Graduate Workshop
What is Meant by What is Meant? Negotiating the Conventions of the Moving Image
18-19 June 2013, Prague.

Call for Papers
Notions of what is conventional, in and of the moving image, is more than ever contested. Ways of representation, depiction, simulation and remediation disrupt and contest what are regarded as historically acceptable or hegemonic modes of moving image production. Against a background of increasing democratisation in the ways moving images are produced, disseminated, shared and used, notions of non-professionalism (and even anti-professionalism) challenge and undermine concepts of expertism and what it means to be conventionally competent in contemporary media culture. A host of possibilities, conventional or otherwise, now exist for the production and consumption of imagery that incorporates movement, duration and time in its construction. It is often assumed that arriving at the meaning within a film is like solving a puzzle with a singular and pre-decided solution. Is this so, or do certain conditions of our experience of various kinds of moving images infer multifarious or indeterminate meanings? Is what we mean by the meaning of a moving image independent from our understanding of it, and who encourages us in these processes of sense-making?
We invite papers and presentations that address the Workshop theme from many directions including, but not limited to, the following interpretative frameworks:

ACSIS: On the Move: extended deadline 19 April

On the Move: ACSIS Cultural Studies Conference 2013

Norrköping, Sweden 11-13 June 2013

The general call for papers and sessions for the conference On the Move closed April 1^st. However, we are searching for additional papers on the following themes to complement accepted papers:

       

       regulation of mobilities, forced  migration, dislocation and displacement

the transformation of everyday lifes by migration, intensive travel, transport and tourism

the micro scale of bodily mobilities in everyday life, sports and dance

visual culture and mobility

unsettled norms in and for cultural production, music, literature and the arts

Furthermore, the following three sessions are accepting additional proposals:

Theorizing the Becoming-heritage

Den rör(l)iga (barn)kulturen

Publicistiska rörelser

Please submit abstracts for individual papers (250 words or less) addressing these themes by e-mail to acsis-konferens@isak.liu.se, by 19 April 2013. There are no fees for participating in the conference. Please note, however, ACSIS is unable to defray travel or other expenses.

 For more information on the conference, please visit https://www.isak.liu.se/acsis/konferenser/cfp?l=sv (Swedish) or https://www.isak.liu.se/acsis/konferenser?l=en&sc=true (English)

The Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden is a national centre for interdisciplinary cultural studies dedicated to strengthening the cultural studies field of research by building bridges between academic institutions, subjects and perspectives.  ACSIS is a coordinating and galvanising resource for Swedish cultural studies scholars.

CFP: 16 Culture and Power Conference

The 16th International Culture and Power Conference ‘Spaces’ will be
held on October 2, 3, and 4, 2013, and hosted by IBACS (the Iberian
Association for Cultural Studies) and the English Department at the
University of Murcia, Spain.

The Conference’s special topic will be SPACE.

The 16th Culture and Power conference seeks to respond to the growing
importance of space, spatial analysis, and localization in cultural
studies. While locating cultural practice in concrete geographical and
social coordinates has been a constant in the field, the last two
decades have witnessed an extraordinary expansion in the ways space
has been explored and made to signify in relation to such different
social categories as: gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity;
region, nation, and globalisation; the real and the virtual. Likewise,
location and ground have become central to such temporal categories as
public and private memory; history; deep and slow time; cultural and
media archaeologies; storytelling.

We are currently inviting 20-minute papers that will deal with the
theory and representation of space in any of its manifestations, or
that, in the process of studying particular texts or media, will take
into account space in a significant manner. We are especially
interested in proposals addressing—but not limited to—any of the
following themes:

- (Post)modern configurations of space
- Urban and post-urban spatialities
- Spaces of control, discipline and surveillance
- Spaces of dissidence and transgression
- Border spaces
- Transnational spaces
- Locations of intimacy
- Sexuality and space
- Queering space
- Rethinking the rural
- Spaces of (de)(neo)colonialization and Empire
- Grounding memory and history
- Spaces of fiction and fictional space
- Media(ted) spaces: the specific spatialities of cinema, video,
radio, television
- Outer and Inner space
- Acoustic space
- Interactive space
- Gaming, virtual locations, and the making and unmaking of identity
- (De)territorialization
- Spacial materialisms

The following keynote speakers have confirmed their participation:

Professor George McKay, Director, Communication, Cultural & Media
Studies (CCM) Research Centre at the University of Salford.
Professor John Storey, Director of the Centre for Research in Media
and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland.
Professor Jane Rendell, Vice Dean of Research for the Bartlett Faculty
of the Built Environment, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Professor Chris Weedon, Chair of the Centre for Critical and Cultural
Theory, Director of Postgraduate Studies and Head of the Centre for
Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff University.

Papers should be presented in English. A selection of conference
papers will be considered for publication after the conference.

Proposals of 400 words should be submitted by 8th of April, 2013 and
should be submitted electronically through the IBACS web site

http://www.cultureandpower.org/conference/index.php/conf/spaces

Notification of acceptance will be by the 8th of May.

35th Annual Conference of the Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies

The Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies (ACIS) holds an annual three-day conference which is noted for the variety and scope of the papers presented: they normally cover such themes as politics, economics, geography, regional identities, international relations, feminism, media analysis, television, cinema, linguistics, teaching methodologies and so on.

35th Annual Conference of the Association for Contemporary Iberian

Studies to be held in Lisbon, September 2013

For papers and/or panels, please send, preferably by e-mail, a title

and abstract (approx. 150 words) by Friday 22nd March 2013 to:

Dr Mark Gant

E-mail: m.gant@chester.ac.uk

http://www.iberianstudies.net/wp/

International Conference: “The Future of Hispanoamerican Studies”

The International Conference “The Future of Hispanoamerican Studies”
will be taking place on the 29th-30th April 2013 at University College
London.

This is a reminder that the deadline for the submission of abstracts
(200 words max) is 15th February 2013. Proposals are invited from
doctoral students from the second year onwards, as well as from early
career researchers who are within two years of the award of their
Ph.D. PROPOSALS AND PRESENTATIONS MAY BE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH.

POSSIBLE THEMES
 Present and Future of Hispanic Studies
 Digital Humanities
 Visual Culture and Cinema
 Gender Studies
 Fictional Worlds
 New voices
 Travel Writing
 Translation
 Political and Cultural Studies

http://futureofhispanism.wordpress.com/

Call for Papers: Crisicism, The Cultural Discourses of Crisis

Diffractions - Graduate Journal for the Study of Culture

Call for Articles

Crisicism – The Cultural Discourse of Crisis

Deadline for submissions: February 28 2013


At the end of 2012, “Crisis” has become a widespread buzz word. As
moments of disruption, crises challenge and subvert the existing order
of things, creating uncertainty and altering daily life. Occurring
both at a personal or socio-political level, as in the case of
catastrophes, financial meltdown, environmental disasters,
institutional turmoil or political instability, crises are turning
points that call our foundations into question and suggest the need
for change. On the other hand, as fractures in time, crisis can
trigger a renewed understanding of the past and cast a new light on
the needs and demands of the present. Indeed, Reinhart Koselleck went
so far as defining crisis as the “signature of the modern era”,
acknowledging its diagnostic and predicative meaning which underlies
modern society’s self-consciousness and critical awareness.

Yet, if crises may be seen as system disturbances, as interruptions of
the normal order, as critical moments that promote self-reflexion and
generate change, they seem nevertheless to have become the new order
of things, a condition that morphed into norm. This noun has grown
from the grammatical nominative to be a symbolic adjective, signifying
a permanent state (of crisis). As Agamben argued about the new
governmental state of exception, the recurrence of crises over the
last century and particularly over the last few years (in response to
various circumstances ranging  from 9/11 to global economic recession)
has turned the exception into norm, into what he designates “[…] the
dominant paradigm” of global politics (Agamben, 2005: 2). And as
Slavoj Zizek has also pointed out, crisis ceases to be regarded as an
intermission and becomes naturalized into a “way of life” (Zizek,
2010).

Indeed, at a time of generalized disorder and insecurity, crisis seems
to have become the dominant discursive paradigm, threatening to turn
into the master narrative of the 21st century. This issue wishes to
engage in a critical assessment of the rhetoric of generalized crisis
– or “crisicism” – and discuss its impact and effects in the field of
culture.  Crises are interwoven into both ethical and aesthetical
reality, are given sustenance and channeled socially and culturally.
At the same time as the disruptive character of crisis defies previous
models of understanding, every new crisis is anchored in cultural
imagination and in a shared reservoir of behavioral and
representational patterns from which, in turn, societies will draw to
face and process them. This issue aims precisely at gauging the
effects of crisis upon the cultural structure and the way
representations not only articulate and sublimate collective meanings
of crisis, but also shape our understanding of crises and the way
societies negotiate, come to terms and remember them.

Themes to be addressed by contributors may include but are not
restricted to the following:

• The rhetorical dimension of crisis
• Crises as turning points
• Crises as exception and norm
• Crises and catastrophe
• Crisis, trauma and memory
• Politics, policies and crisis
• Crisis, globalization and mobility
• Crisis and space
• Artistic and literary representation of crisis
• Media framings of crisis
• The technocultural dimension of crisis
• Crises and post-humanism
• Agency and resistance

We look forward to receiving proposals of no more than 20 A4 pages
(not including bibliography)  and a short bio of about 150 words by
February 28 2013 at the following address:
submissions@diffractions.net. DIFRRACTIONS also accepts book reviews
that may not be related to the issue’s topic. If you wish to write a
book review, please contact us at reviews@diffractions.net.

DIFFRACTIONS is an online, peer-reviewed and open access graduate
journal for the study of culture, publsished bi-annually under the
editorial direction of graduate students in the doctoral program in
Culture Studies at Catholic University of Portugal/Lisbon Consortium.
DIFFRACTIONS wishes to constitute a platform where graduate students
and junior researchers can showcase their current research as well as
reviews of the latest books of interest in the field. DIFFRACTIONS
aims at publishing innovative and critical scholarly work at the
intersection of disciplinary fields and make it accessible and
available to the international community.

Find us online at www.diffractions.net and facebook.com/diffractionsjournal.

Call for papers - Third International Congress of Cultural Studies

Call for papers

Submissions are now being accepted for the Third International Congress of Cultural Studies, which will take place on the 28^th and 29^th of January, 2013, at the Department of Language and Culture, University of Aveiro, in association with the Doctoral Programme in Cultural Studies, between the Universities of Aveiro and Minho (Portugal), the University of Deusto (Spain) and the University of Fortaleza (Brazil).  The deadline for submissions is December 7^th, 2012.  

For more information read the following information or go to http://ociocultura.web.ua.pt/?lang=en 

1.   Leisure Studies and Culture

The primary objective of this congress is to promote discussion regarding Idleness, Leisure and Free Time in Contemporary Culture. The importance of these reflections relates to the fact that work – which occupies a central position in the context of contemporary society – is a fundamental factor in the context of leisure studies, as work may almost exclude or devalue other forms of human pastimes. Due to the increase in theories related to social pastimes, the concepts of leisure studies and free time require investigation and should be explored in the context of contemporary culture.  

Recent research in this area has found that nowadays, we are immersed in a paradoxical chaos – due to our complex daily routines, which involve a multitude of tasks which frequently overlap and appear endless, there emerges a desire to liberate ourselves from this accumulation of obligations in which we are submerged.

We must also consider that to possess free time is to experience full and autonomous time.  However, the modern values which we have inherited do not encourage individuals to believe that there exists time in which to “do nothing”, but rather promote the idea that a reduction in working hours – which would result in more free time – simultaneously creates problems in relation to the adequacy of our contribution to society.  

The World Leisure and Recreation Association (WRLA) recognises leisure time as a human right, an area specific to the experience of the individual, in terms of their human liberty and according to their personal and social development, health and well-being. From this perspective, leisure is related to core human values and has significant meaning. Thus, idleness gains new dimensions and perspectives, whilst constituting a significant and (re)creative experience, and providing an outlet for personal development. Idleness can also prevent participation in negative leisure (self and hetero destructive leisure), which is particularly common in times of crisis.   

Therefore, considering that, in the history of creation and the organisation of industrial society, work has been the activity that plays a central role in the organisation of social temporality, this Congress aims to debate the following issues:

-Will idleness replace work as the activity which will occupy post-industrial technological societies?  

-Do we know what constitutes ‘idleness’?

-Why do we feel guilty at the prospect of “doing nothing”?

-Is our free time truly “free”, or is it merely a liberation from obligations?

-Is our leisure time compromised as a result of our choice, or has it been adversely affected due to our fast-paced society?

Thus, we invite all researchers with an interest in these possibilities, interpellations and perplexities to send their contributions, as the Congress aims to discuss the principal dimensions of Idleness in Contemporary Culture from multi and inter-disciplinary viewpoints.

2. Organisation

The Third International Congress in Cultural Studies: Idleness, Leisure and Free Time in Contemporary Culture accepts three forms of presentations: Conferences, Round Table Discussions and Group Works

Conferences

The Conference sessions will primarily offered by invitation to those who have published their scientific research in recognised national and international scientific journals. 

Round Table Discussions

The Round Table Discussions will unite three presentations, each with a different perspective on a central, shared theme of investigation, which may be proposed by lecturers, researchers or professionals from fields central to the issues under consideration. The tables will be co-ordinated by one of the participants from each group. The co-ordinator of each group must be identifed in the proposal. The proposal must also include the complete texts of each presentation and the abstract (between 200-300 words) for the round table discussion. The duration of the discussion should be 50 minutes in total. The deadline for submissions of round table discussion proposals, with complete texts, in Portuguese/Spanish and English, is November 30th, 2012.  

Scientific Communications in Research Groups

The ‘Research Groups’ consist of brief accounts of scientific investigations, in groups of four to five participants. Thus, complete Research Groups may be proposed (which must be indicated to co-ordinator involved), or individuals may send their contributions, which will be analysed and grouped by the Congress’ Organising Committee, which is this case, will be  suggested by the co-ordinator. The deadline for submission of proposals, with complete texts in Portuguese/Spanish and English is November 30th, 2012. Works may be presented by professionals, lecturers, or researchers in the field (including doctorate students). Each session must last no longer than 15minutes.  

Each proposal for presentation in Research Groups must indicate one of the following themes under which their research may be categorized:

GT 1 –Reflections and Appropriations on the Concepts of Idleness, Leisure and Free Time;

GT 2 –Contemporary Cultures, Subjectivities and Social Time

GT 3 - Contemporary Acceleration and Lifestyles

GT 4 - Free Time, Identities and Subjectivities

 GT 5 - Free Time and the Appropriation of Space: Rethinking the City as a Place to Live

GT 6 - Tourism: The free time between consumption and contemplation

GT 7 - Popular Culture, Celebrations and Leisure

GT 8 - Free Time and the Pleasures of Culinary Leisure Activities

GT 9- Idleness, Creativity, Arts and Books

GT 10- Free time and the Life Cycle

The minutes of the works presented at the Round Table Discussions and within the Research Groups will be available in CD format through the Congress organizers. A number of works may be selected for publication in a special edition of the Doctoral Programme’s Academic Journal in Cultural Studies - Estudos Culturais – Revista Lusófona published by the Universities of Aveiro and Minho.

The official languages of the congress are Portuguese, Spanish and English. However, congress participants may present their research in any language they wish. The Organizing Commission requests that all participants send an English version of their presentation which may be projected during the presentation, in order to reach the widest possible audience.  

Call for Papers to 12th Nordic Youth Research Symposium (NYRIS 12)

Una nueva convocatoria, de nuevo fuera de España y de nuevo en inglés.
Esperamos que sea de vuestro agrado e interés:

12^th Nordic Youth Research Symposium (NYRIS 12)

Changing Societies and Cultures: Youth in the Digital Age

12-14 June 2013, Tallinn University, Estonia

Organised by the Institute for International and Social Studies, Tallinn University

The organising committee for the 12^th Symposium is pleased to announce that the Call for Papers is now open!

NYRIS 12 focuses on cultural and social changes in the digital age. In the conference programme there are 30 sessions in 16 streams, covering youth-related topics from different perspectives:

    Youth participation and political activities

    Online youth activism

    Youth and digital games

    Youth and online identities

    Youth and media

    Transitions to adulthood

    Youth memory and digital age

    Youth and sexualities

    Subcultures

    Socialisation and generations

    Educational transitions

    Youth inequalities

    Youth migration and mobility

    Alcohol and drug cultures

    Methods in youth studies

    Youth unemployment

For more detailed information about sessions and streams see http://www.tlu.ee/nyris12sessions

Researchers who would be interested in presenting abstracts on topics not covered by these streams are encouraged to submit their abstract in the category of “Other or uncertain”. Abstracts, written in English, should be submitted online before 31 January 2013. Go directly to the submission form: http://www.tlu.ee/nyris12submissions

The registration will open in January 2013 and will continue until May 2013.  

The official language of the conference is English.

For more information about NYRIS 12 and the Call for Papers please see http://www.tlu.ee/nyris12 or write to nyris12@tlu.ee.

Organising Committee for NYRIS 12

2nd ACS Institute -- 22-26 July 2013, Klagenfurt, Austria

Amigos y amigas, 

Os reproducimos a continuación una convocatoria que nos ha llegado a nuestro correo electrónico, en concreto la del Segundo Instituto de la Asociación de Estudios Culturales, a celebrarse en Austria el verano de 2013.

El texto está en inglés y así os lo reproducimos:

The Association for Cultural Studies (ACS) is delighted to announce the second  ACS Institute, which will be held from 22-26 July 2013 at the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Faculty of Cultural Studies, of Alpen Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt in Austria. The theme of the 2013 Institute is "The Sights/Sites of Cultural Studies."

The ACS Institute will be a forum for critical discussions of important perspectives on cultural studies today.  Our paired theme is intended to forge productive and provocative conversations between two related, yet distinct, sets of issues.  On the one hand, we will explore the question of where cultural studies can (and should) best be practiced in the 21st century, and what (if any) meaningful common ground exists between the different existing formations of cultural studies.  On the other hand, we will engage in a special focus on visual culture, and the question of what cultural studies can contribute to a deeper understanding of a world dominated by images.

The Institute will provide an intense and rewarding pedagogical experience for postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers who will have the opportunity to spend the week learning from lectures and seminars delivered by five keynote speakers and a faculty staff of leading cultural studies scholars from around the world. The following keynote speakers have been confirmed: Ien Ang (University of Western Sydney, Australia), John Clarke (Open University, UK), Lothar Mikos (University of Film and Television, Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany), Nicholas Mirzoeff (New York University, USA) and Constance Penley (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA).

Following on the great success of the inaugural ACS Institute in 2011 (at the University of Gent (Belgium)), the 2013 edition of the Institute will bring together people from a wide range of disciplines to explore what it means to conduct cultural studies. We invite and encourage participation from researchers who work in disciplines such as cultural studies, visual studies, film studies, media studies, cultural sociology, cultural anthropology, literary theory and criticism, discourse analysis, new literacy studies, educational studies, rhetorical criticism etc.

Those interested in participating are invited to take notice of the above mentioned dates. The website for the Institute --http://acssi2013.aau.at -- is currently under construction, but will soon be fully operational. Email inquiries can be addressed toacssi2013@aau.at. Practical information about registration and a full list of Institute keynotes and faculty will be disseminated in due course.

The Association of Cultural Studies  is the premiere international association of cultural studies and hosts the biennial Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference.

Report from the Pop Line: On the Life and Afterlife of Popular

¡Buenos días a todos! Aquí os dejamos un nuevo call for papers que tiene muy pero que muy buena pinta. Ideal para todos aquellos interesados en los estudios culturales, la cultura popular, los medios de comunicación, etc.

A ver si nos vemos por allí!

CALL FOR PAPERS

CECC – The Research Centre for Communication and Culture announces:

3rd Graduate Conference in Culture Studies

December 3-4, 2012

Faculty of Human Sciences – Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon

Report from the Pop Line: On the Life and Afterlife of Popular

At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, popular culture finds itself at a crossroads: has the concept been drained of its meaning because of its overwhelming popularity? After the euphoria around the popular, what afterlife can be expected from it? Should we still be discussing the popular as opposed to high and folk culture? And where and how do pop art forms intersect with the current notion of the popular? This conference wishes to address the complexities surrounding the debate around the notions of both pop and the popular and discuss the possibilities of their afterlife.

Papers are welcome on the topics listed below, amongst others:

§  Popular Culture in Theory

§  Life and Afterlife of Popular Culture

§  Popular, Power and Politics

§  Popular Culture: Globalization, Centres and Peripheries

§  Material Culture

§  Popular Arts

§  Celebrities and Fans: The Dynamics of Popularity

§  Representation, Mediation and Mediatisation of the Popular

§  Cultures, Subcultures, Scenes and Tribes

§  Pop and Popular: Overlap, Dissemblance and Divergence

Confirmed keynote speakers:

§  John Hutnyk (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

§  Luísa Leal de Faria (Catholic University of Portugal)

Speakers should be prepared for a 20-minute presentation followed by questions.

Please send a 300-word abstract, as well as a brief biographical note (100 words), to email popline2012@gmail.com by July 15th, 2012.

Proposals should list paper title, name, institutional affiliation and contact details.

Successful applicants will be notified by July 31^st, 2012.