Of interest. Terrell
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ECPR STANDING GROUP, POLITICS AND THE ARTS,
CALL FOR PAPERS
Politics and the Arts Group Symposium:
"Politics and the Arts: Making Connections in Theory and Praxis"
at the Finnish Institute, Berlin 23-25 May 2002
Organised by Kia Lindroos and Maureen Whitebrook
The core theme of the symposium will be an investigation of the ways
in which politics and the arts can be combined from the perspective of
political theory, raising questions of method and praxis, and
exploring how the combination challenges different ways of
understanding of the political.
FORMAT OF THE SYMPOSIUM:
A small-scale intensive format with a maximum of 25 participants,
exploring combinations of the basic concepts of 'politics' and
'art/aesthetics' and the connections between them.
PLENARY SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Professor Frank Ankersmit (University of Groningen, The Netherlands),
Professor Peter Osborne (Middlesex University, UK), Professor Michael
Shapiro (University of Hawaii, USA) The plenary lecturers will also
contribute to discussion in workshop sessions of predistributed papers
selected for their relevance to the plenary sessions and to core
issues of the symposium.
PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS:
Proposals are invited which address the following issues:
1. How should we conceptualise the ways in which politics and arts
combine in political theory (the historical/theoretical scope)? - the
interrelationships between art, aesthetics and politics in political
theory/history; - what is/has been political in art? The political
aspects of art as highlighting aspects of power/critique of political
power, questions of propaganda and censorship.
2. The contention that the understanding and scope of politics can be
redefined through looking at/reading/reflecting on art - but how can
this be done, in practice? - the methodological scope - e.g. broad
definitions of the concepts of art and politics - how they are
redefined/to be rethought in meanings expressed in terms such as
'aestheticised politics' 'politicised aesthetics'; - political
artistic criticism - how to undertake political analysis of and with
art works.
3. What is the kind of understanding of 'the political' that is
affected by artistic innovations? - the interrelationship of politics
and the arts in praxis e.g the arts as bringing a comprehensive
dimension into international relations; the nature of 'politics and
the arts' as distinct from 'cultural studies', political rhetoric in
the era of electronic information - images and/as texts.
These themes are suggestive only: to reiterate, we are interested in
general in the interactions and in how the different themes also
contribute to each other, how the historical formations are to be
theorised in the light of changes in the understanding of the concepts
of art and politics in interrelationship, and the present stage of
such theorising.
We look for papers which are not solely theoretical and/or conceptual
but which show how each concept ('politics' and 'art/aesthetics') is
to be understood when taken in the context of, or in conjunction with,
the other, and in political and artistic practice.
Studies concentrating on particular art works - films or novels, for
instance, are welcomed, but should be related to the general
questions.
We have preliminary interest from a major publisher for a collection
of essays resulting from this symposium, and we will be discussing
this and other future developments related to our core themes during
the meeting.
Further conference details will be provided early in 2002.
Proposals (maximum 250 words) should be submitted by Friday 25th
January 2002 at the latest to BOTH conference organisers:
Dr Kia Lindroos ([log in to unmask])
Dept. of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, 40351. Jyvaskyla, Finland.
Tel: + 358-(0)14-260 3565/Fax: + 358-(0)14-260 2535
and
Dr Maureen Whitebrook ([log in to unmask])
Dept. of Politics, University of Sheffield
Elmfield, Northumberland Road, Sheffield S10 2TU
Maureen Whitebrook
Chair/Convenor Politics and the Arts Group
Dept. of Politics, University of Sheffield
Elmfield, Northumberland Road, Sheffield S10 2TU
phone +114-222-1700/fax +114-273-9769
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