Friends and Foes - Friendship and Conflict:
CALL FOR PAPERS

Multi-disciplinary Conference
Queen’s University Belfast
16th-17th November 2007

History and life are filled with stories of friendship and conflict, either
in the realm of personal interaction or political engagements. This research
conference seeks to explore themes of friendship and conflict in the modern
era.

Despite its centrality to our lives, friendship has often been overlooked as
a field of study and academic enquiry. However, as debates about the nature
of the good life and human well-being return to the fore as an attempt to
find common ground – and common good – in an age of uncertainty, interest in
the nature, importance and challenges of friendship is also beginning to
flourish. Also, conflict is central to our lives, from intra-personal
emotional conflicts to group conflicts, to intra-state antagonism or global
warfare.  Are conflicts an integral part of friendship or do they exclude
each other? Does a friendship need conflict to be real? Is it possible to
transform conflict into friendship?   

We are interested in 20 minute papers which explore the concepts of
friendship and conflict (and their interrelation) from a multi-disciplinary
point of view, calling for contributions from philosophers, anthropologists,
political theorists, sociologists, film theorists and theologians.

Some topics to be addressed are:

•	philosophical, sociological, psychological or political theories of
friendship and conflict
•	different types of friendship and conflict as encountered in
contemporary life 
•	the nature of friendship and conflict as it relates to issues of
identity, class, culture, age or gender
•	the difficulties of making, keeping or losing friends
•	the impact of environments and technologies on the nature of
friendship and conflict
•	utopias
•	different representations of friendship and conflict in the media,
films or arts. 

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 
300 word abstracts in Microsoft Word should be submitted by 20th July 2007
to the following e-mail address:
[log in to unmask]
Please, write “Friends and Foes” in the e-mail “Subject” field.
We are planning to publish a volume including all papers accepted for and
presented at this conference at the end of 2007. 

Note that there is a £ 5 registration fee for all panellists and attendees.

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