Forthcoming Events

International Symposium:  Performing Identities and Utopias of Belonging in American and British Contexts

Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

3-4 Dezembro 2010

Call for papers

This multidisciplinary symposium seeks to explore the many ways identities are constructed, performed and negotiated in a variety of cultural artifacts, from literature to the visual arts. In particular it aims to problematise the theories, strategies and practice of identity ascription, its ontological valence, and the mechanisms of desire and recognition that ground social identification and the resulting communities of belonging. It also welcomes reflections that hypothesize alternative utopian concepts of rootedness and group membership.

Papers are invited on a wide range of fields, namely Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Utopian Studies, Gender Studies, Black Studies, White Studies, Ethnic Studies, Performance Studies, Film Studies, Visual Culture, Ethics, Philosophy and Sociology, with reference to North American and British cultural contexts, in particular focusing on the following domains:

Literature and identity: Literature of passing, multi-ethnic, multiracial literature, gender and literature, utopian and dystopian approaches to identity construction in literature

Visual arts and identity:  representations of gender, ethnicity, identity passing and transgression in cinema, painting, photography and other arts. Utopian and dystopian imaginings of identity, and communities of belonging.

Drama and theatre: dramatization of gender, ethnicity, utopian performatives, performance and identity.

Theories of performativity, theories of race and ethnicity.

The Symposium welcomes proposals from post-graduate students to be presented at a Graduate Student Panel.

A selection of papers will be published in Spaces of Utopia, an international refereed ISSN electronic journal.

Abstracts not exceeding 250 words, accompanied by a brief biographical note should be sent to the email address below. Submissions to the Graduate Student panel should indicate that intention.

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The deadline for submissions is the 15^th of October 2010. Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged via email and participants will be informed of the committee's decisions by the 30^th of October.

Guest Speakers

Prof. Antonio García Gómez, Department of Modern Philology, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid

Prof. Gayle Wald, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, George Washington University, Washington DC

Prof. Diane Negra, Head of Film Studies, School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin

Organizing Committee

Teresa Botelho (Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, New University of Lisbon)
Iolanda Ramos (Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, New University of Lisbon)
Teresa Castilho (Faculty of Letters, Porto University)

Conference Secretary and Coordinator of Graduate Student Panel
Susana Costa (Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, New University of Lisbon)

Further Information

Registration
Symposium Programme
Accommodation
Travel Information

CETAPS/Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas