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               CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
                      Third International Conference
                   June 21 - 25, 2000, Birmingham, U.K.
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FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

After two very successful conferences in Tampere, Finland, Crossroads in
Cultural Studies has moved to Birmingham.  The first and second
conferences attracted over 500 participants from all continents proving
how important it is to meet each other in these ‘virtual’ times!  We have
much pleasure, therefore, in inviting you to the Third International
Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference.
 
The conference aims to be a meeting place for people within cultural
studies to make contacts, exchange views and gain
inspiration from each other on all topics that interest such a diverse
international community. Thus, we encourage participation from different
countries, disciplines and cultural backgrounds, and from a wide range of
research interests.  We are following the model for the last conference,
by inviting you to propose and organise your own sessions.   We found that
this system produced more cohesive sessions and allowed more time for
useful discussion.

At this point we invite proposals from Session Organisers on topics of
interest.   Sessions would usually comprise five individual papers.  We
assume that concepts such as:

cultures of everyday life                      social and cultural theory
media                                                        difference
and identity
globalisation and diaspora                  power and knowledge
new technologies                                    the city
culture and economy                             cultural policy

will be tackled in the sessions and plenaries, but again
it is up to you to make this a conference that will indicate
where cultural studies is going next.
I hope to see you all in Birmingham!

Yours sincerely,

Ann Gray
Chair of the Organizing Committee


SPEAKERS
---------
In the first and second Crossroads conferences, the plenary speakers
included Ien Ang, Barrie Axford, Catherine Belsey, Antony Easthope, Paul
Gilroy, Jostein Gripsrud, Lawrence Grossberg, Joke Hermes, Patricia Hill
Collins, Johan Fornas, Eeva Jokinen, Sonia Livingstone, George Ritzer,
Steven Seidman, Soile Veijola, Philip Wexler, Paul Willis, and Handel K.
Wright,  and a great deal of key figures in the field of cultural studies
gave their papers in the sessions. It is premature to announce what the
names will be in 2000, but we will again do our best to introduce to you
the current and
most interesting people and themes.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR OWN SESSION?
---------------------------------
If you would like to organize a session, just send us a title
and an up to 150 words description of the theme (a session
abstract), along with your complete contact information.
Session proposals must be sent to us by September 30. Names of
the sessions that are accepted by the conference organizer
will be listed in the Invitation Programme published in
November 1999. You may also want to look for others sharing
your areas of interest in the Crossroads list. The acceptance
of a session in the final programme is provisional until the
session organizer has sent us the abstracts and registration
forms of at least five participants, and made sure that they
have paid their registration fees. In November, the session
organizers will be sent a session organizer's manual to inform
them about the details.

ORGANIZERS
----------
Crossroads 2000 is organised by the Department of Cultural Studies and
Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham, supported
by a cross-disciplinary organizing committee.   
We are grateful to the the Department of Sociology and Social Psychology,
University of Tampere, and Network Cultural Studies, who did such a good
job in organizing the first two conferences and for sharing their
experience and expertise with us.  

CONFERENCE TOWN AND VENUE
--------------------------
At this stage we assume that the conference fee will be about £140 - 150. 
There will be an early bird registration.  Detailed information on
conference fee and associated conference costs, including accommodation,
will be listed on the website in the coming months.   

INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET

The Conference Home Page with several useful links to other websites:

http://www.bham.ac.uk/crossroads/

REGISTRATION OF INTEREST 

Those wishing to receive information on the Conference should register
on-line.   Your name and e-mail address will be retained and you will
receive our Invitation Program which will be published in November 1999.

Please complete the form and return it (preferably by e-mail) to:

Crossroads in Cultural Studies 
Department of Cultural Studies & Sociology
University of Birmingham
Birmingham
B15 2TT
U.K.
e-mail: [log in to unmask]


-----------please remove all text above this line if possible--------------

Name:

Organization:

Postal address:

City:

Country:

email:
tel:
fax:

Please send me an Invitation Programme.


Title of paper:

I am willing to organize a session called (title of the session):
Description of the session (of up to 150 words):
















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