Dear ScotLangLit members,
Please find attached a Call for Papers I hope you’ll find intriguing. The ‘IF SCOTLAND' conference will take place on August 23-24, and is hosted by the Stirling Centre for Scottish Studies. Think of it as an exercise in conjectural nostalgia, looking back on the present debate from two alternative futures (via two divergent posterities).
Full details of the theme and speakers at the website: http://ifscotland.wordpress.stir.ac.uk
Note the very low conference fee for students and others (£20) — please do circulate to those who may be interested.
All the best,
Scott
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IF SCOTLAND is a two-day conference exploring how the referendum on Scottish independence will be remembered, discussed and explained a few decades from now, once the uncertainties of September 2014 have set and hardened into historical facts.
Viewed in retrospect, what happens in 2014 will quickly come to seem mundane, even inevitable. So while the question is still ‘liquid’, uncertain and up for grabs, we mean to imagine how the current debate might appear in 20-30 years’ time – a few decades after either a Yes or No result on September 18. Both possibilities will be explored fully, by a distinguished group of speakers engaged with both sides of the debate.
We aim for an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere, closer to a festival than an academic conference, and registration fees are heavily discounted for postgraduate students and members of the public (£20). The programme will involve a number of plenary sessions from our invited speakers, an evening literary event, and daily set-piece debates with a panel of lively respondents (focused on post-Yes scenarios Saturday 23rd, post-No on Sunday 24th). Invited panels on the future(s) of Scottish Literature and Scottish Politics will be a particular highlight, as will a further panel exploring the comic potential of indyref nostalgia.
Papers are invited from scholars, postgraduates and independent researchers engaged with any relevant aspect of the theme, working in fields including:
• Scottish literature
• Scottish history
• Scottish politics
• Scottish language
• Scottish film
• Scottish media
Panel proposals (for 3 papers) are especially welcome; all papers should be a maximum of 20 minutes. We plan to publish a selection of papers and lectures.
Further information can be found at the conference website: http://ifscotland.wordpress.stir.ac.uk
Please send abstracts of 250 words to [log in to unmask] by 15 June.
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The University of Stirling has been ranked in the top 12 of UK universities for graduate employment*.
94% of our 2012 graduates were in work and/or further study within six months of graduation.
*The Telegraph
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.
Dr Scott Hames
Chair, Stirling Centre for Scottish Studies
Literature and Languages
School of Arts & Humanities
University of Stirling
Stirling FK9 4LA
tel: +44 (0)1786 466205
Latest publication: http://bit.ly/1b5CMvq
Stirling Centre for Scottish Studies: http://bit.ly/1gPuxHX
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