CALL FOR PAPERS
International Conference
The European Fin de Siècle: Gender, Nation, Race
Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, London, 8-9 December 2006
The European fin de siècle has been the focus for a series of ongoing
controversies on the nature of Modernity and the origins of Modernism.
For a long time associated with decadence and decline and considered as
the end of an era, it now tends to be identified as a precursor of
Modernism or indeed its first phase. Indeed, it is during this period
that some of the central concerns of twentieth-century thinking,
especially as regards conceptualisations of gender, nation and race,
came to the fore. Adopting a comparative approach, this conference will
reassess the European fin de siècle from these three key perspectives
and show their radical impact on the emergence of Modernism.
Under the heading of gender, topics to be discussed may include the
late nineteenth-century medicalisation of sex, the debate on
masculinity and femininity, and on feminism and anti-feminism. Under
nation, papers may focus on, amongst others, the construction of
‘place-based’ identities in cultural production such as architecture,
film, music and the theatre, and the interplay between the local, the
regional, the national and the global in the configuration of
identities. Finally, the papers on race may investigate the
intersection between racial science and theories of biological essence,
beauty and the primitive and the theory of eugenics.
The conference will adopt a resolutely interdisciplinary approach.
Contributions that will challenge standard views of the fin de siècle
are invited from scholars in the fields of literature, art history,
architecture, music, cultural history and history of science. Whilst we
expect that participants may wish to focus on the traditional
‘capitals’ of the fin de siècle, Paris and Vienna, we would also
specifically welcome papers that examine the role of regional centres
such as Cracow, Dresden, Munich, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Czernowitz, etc.
Proposals (400 words maximum) for 25 minute papers should be sent to
the conference organisers Peter Davies ([log in to unmask]) and
Marion Schmid ([log in to unmask]) by 5 June 2006.
Dr Peter Davies
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JX
UK
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