Call for Papers

Annual International Symposium of the 

Modern Austrian Literature and Culture Association 

 

April 24-27, 2008

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

 

Topic: Cultures of Performance in Modern Austria

 

The theme "Cultures of Performance in Modern Austria" reflects the shift in paradigm in the humanities as well as the social sciences from text-based models of culture to the notion of performance. Traditionally, culture has been described in terms of its textual character and analyzed for its inherent structures as well as for the meaning of its individual elements. By focusing on the performative dimensions of culture, however, it can also be articulated as a set 

of dynamic practices. In such a view, all kinds of exchanges, negotiations, and transformations constitute cultural events. Concepts such as play, masquerade, spectacle, etc., emphasize the interactive dimensions of cultural practices. Performance as an analytic concept should be particularly productive within the Austrian context, given the significance of theatricality in the Austrian cultural tradition. "Cultures of Performance" approaches this tradition in the broadest possible way. Some of the issues that might be addressed in individual papers or sessions are: 

 

--performances in literature, film, art and music

--history of theater and performance

--theatricality of identity (gender, nation, region, ethnicity, sexuality)

--topographies of performances 

--performing medias, medias in performance

--aspects of ritual and spectacle

--relationships between performance and texts

--performativity as a new perspective in cultural studies

--performance in comparative view (literary, musical, artistic)

--analysis of specific performances, performance artists, etc.

--intercultural performances

 

The keynote address will be held by Herbert Blau, Alice B. Lockwood Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English and Drama at the University of Washington, author of The Dubious Spectacle: Extremities of Theater, 1976 - 2000 (Minnesota 2002), Sails of the Herring Fleet: Essays on Beckett (Michigan 2000), Nothing in Itself: Complexion of Fashion (Indiana 1999), To All Appearances: The Ideology of Performance (Routledge 1992), and many other books and essays on drama and performance theory, postmodern literature, cultural theory, and the avantgarde.

 

Proposal deadline: October 15, 2007

Please send 250 word abstracts (email-attachments) and a one paragraph bio to: Heidi Tilghman [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>  referencing "MALCA 2008 proposal" in your subject line. It is also possible to propose entire sessions (1 chair + 3 paper presentations of 20 minute each). Conference languages are English and German.

 

The conference committee is planning to select outstanding papers as basis for peer-reviewed essays that will appear in a special "Cultures of Performance" issue of the quarterly Modern Austrian Literature.

 

Conference organizers: Brigitte Prutti, Heidi Tilghman, Sabine Wilke

The conference is sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities, The Austrian Cultural Forum, the Center for West European Studies, and the Department of Germanics.

 

 

Hinweis für KonferenzteilnehmerInnen aus Europa:

TeilnehmerInnen an der MALCA Jahrestagung werden gebeten, Reise- und Aufenthaltskosten bei ihren jeweiligen Heimatuniversitäten zu beantragen. Wir bitten um Verständnis, dass die Veranstalter gemäß den Gepflogenheiten an nordamerikanischen Instituten für derartige Kosten nicht aufkommen können. Es wird jedoch auf die Möglichkeit hingewiesen, Anträge auf Reiseunterstützung beim Austrian Cultural Forum in New York oder bei der ÖFG Wien einzureichen. Die Tagungsgebühr, die nordamerikanischen Usancen entsprechend von allen TeilnehmerInnen zu entrichten ist, sieht als Gegenleistung einige Essen, die Pausengetränke, das Rahmenprogramm u. ä. vor.