NEW DEADLINE! Submit by June 30!
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Conceptualizing the Human in Slavic and Eurasian Culture
Princeton University, October 18-19, 2013
An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference
Princeton University Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Mikhail Iampolski, NYU
Conceptualizing
the Human is an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to the changing
concept of the human in Slavic and Eurasian culture. While scholars,
including Slavicist Mikhail Epstein, have recently devoted much
attention to the “crisis in the humanities,” our conference will turn to
the many ways in which “the human” has been perceived, re-imagined,
interrogated, and critiqued.
The 1917 revolution induced a
radical re-evaluation of what it meant to be human among Russian
intellectuals. In the Soviet Union, writers like Platonov, Bulgakov, and
Zamiatin envisioned how the human being might transform itself under
changing social conditions. New technologies influenced Gastev’s and
Vertov's close scrutiny of the mechanics of human action. In the first
Czechoslovak Republic, Karel Čapek posed the question of what it means
to be human in physical and cognitive terms in his science-fiction
prose, as well as in terms of ethical judgment and the pursuit of truth
in his mid-1930s trilogy. Earlier, thinkers such as Fyodorov,
Chernyshevsky, Dostoevsky, and the Decembrists incorporated fantasies or
critiques of the “new man” into their thought, while contemporary
writers like Sorokin and Pelevin have used images of physical violence
to challenge traditional notions of human dignity.
In keeping
with the wide-ranging possibilities of this topic, we welcome proposals
from scholars working in all relevant sub-fields of Slavic, East
European, and Eurasian Studies, such as literature, anthropology,
history, political science, cultural studies, film studies, philosophy,
and theology.
Paper topics could include, but are not limited to:
− Humans, animals, and the environment
− Humans, machines, cyborgs, and biomechanics
− Encounters with the non-human, e.g., in Stanisław Lem’s Solaris
− The influence of gender on human identity
− The New Soviet Man
− Human development: experiences of childhood
– Central and Eastern European depictions of 20th-century history as narratives of the failure of humanity
− 19th-century philosophies of freedom, individualism, and human dignity
− The problem of the human in Russian religious thought
− Psychiatric narratives of mental illness; the sick body
− Embodiment in the theater; “playing” human onstage
– Deconstructing the human; posthumanism
Conference Format
The
goal of the conference is to provide graduate students with the chance
to present their work to senior scholars in the field and to receive as
much constructive feedback as possible. All papers will be made
available prior to the conference through the conference website. At the
conference each presenter will be given 5-10 minutes to introduce his
or her paper, followed by commentary by the panel discussant and open
discussion.
Submission Details
Submit abstracts (around 300
words) to princeton.slavic.conference[at]gmail.com. In addition, please
include your CV, departmental affiliation, email address, and the title
of your proposed paper. The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2013.
We
will be able to provide travel subsidies for the conference presenters,
as well as lodging for the nights of October 17 and 18.
Any questions should be addressed to princeton.slavic.conference[at]gmail.com.
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