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Forwarded message from Stuti Khanna <[log in to unmask]>: > > Deadline: 31 January 2006 > > Post-Colonial Victorians? > A Conversation across Borders > Linacre College, Oxford, 2 June 2006 > > CALL FOR PAPERS > > The shaping force of Empire on nineteenth-century British and colonial > cultures, as well as on the developing cultures of post-colonial states, has > been the subject of much of the most exciting recent work in both Victorian > and Postcolonial studies. The heavy traffic in themes and motifs, and in > genres, narratives and plots between the metropolis and the colonies that is > evident across the nineteenth century, and which persists in residual and > reactive ways in post-colonial cultures suggests that there are multiple > points of overlap and interaction, of historical continuity and contrast. > Despite much shared ground, however, the current constitution of the academic > fields of the historicist and British-focused Victorian studies and the more > theoretically self-conscious and globally oriented Postcolonial studies has > meant that conversations between the two areas have sometimes been difficult > or disrupted. In this one-day symposium on metropolitan, colonial and > post-colonial cultures, we wish to stage a conversation between Victorian and > Postcolonial studies at the present time, to consider areas of overlap and > indebtedness, as well as points of contest and disavowal. What are the > points of recognition and misrecognition? > > At its most obvious level then, we want to address the question, how does > Victorian culture look under the lens of Postcolonial theory? In what ways > do critical concepts regarding, for instance, race, hybridity, marginality, > cosmopolitanism, etc., add to our understanding of Victorian literature and > culture? But we also want to reverse the question and interrogate the > Victorian colonial legacy in Postcolonial studies: for instance, to what > extent do the critical vocabulary and the political strategies of > Postcolonial studies draw on concepts which originate in a > nineteenth-century colonial context? How far is the analytical work of > Postcolonial studies framed by nineteenth-century literary and scientific > discourses? How useful has the notion of 'writing back' to the Empire been > as either a political tactic or an analytical tool? > > We are looking for 250 word proposals for 20 minute papers on any topics > relating to the interrelationships between Victorian and Postcolonial > Studies. Specific topics might include, but are not restricted to > > a.. Repression and resistance within nineteenth-century colonial discourse > b.. Post-colonial rewritings of nineteenth-century literary texts > c.. Body, sexuality and/or health in colonial and post-colonial contexts > d.. Race and/or class in colonial and post-colonial contexts > e.. Colonial/post-colonial cities / spaces / maps > f.. Decolonisation and the Victorian heritage > g.. Migration / mobility / diaspora / settlement / home > h.. Media / book circulation / networks / reception > i.. Colonial and post-colonial visual cultures > j.. Language/ translation > > The event aims to bring together scholars from literary, cultural and > historical studies, and other disciplines, at different stages of their > career. We welcome proposals from established academics as well as graduate > students working in these fields. The conference programme will leave ample > room for discussion and debate. > > Please send proposals to [log in to unmask], or > [log in to unmask] > > Deadline for submission: 31 January 2006. > > Conference committee: > Stefano Evangelista, Stuti Khanna, Bianca Jackson, Josephine McDonagh, Emma > Reisz