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With apologies for cross posting, I am pleased to invite colleagues and research students to attend the following research event: The Insurgent – Myth and Fiction: An Interdisciplinary Symposium 21 June 2012, Minghella Building, University of Reading This one-day symposium seeks to bring together scholars and researchers working in a range of disciplines to debate the figure of the insurgent. In a post-9/11, post 7/7, post-Iraq and -Afghanistan world, the concept of the ‘insurgent’ has become highly politicized. Deployed repeatedly in British and US political and media discourse in relation to questions of national security, the ‘War on Terror’, and regime stabilization, the concept has often mutated to serve the needs of those who use it. The symposium will invite reflection on the following key questions: · What is the relationship between the realities of contemporary insurgency, and the myths and fictions elaborated by politicians, media commentators, and other groups? · How is the figure of the insurgent constructed in fictional and documentary contexts – in literature, film, art, television, news reporting? · What impulses underlie these multiplying and frequently in some way ‘fictionalised’ constructions of insurgency? We are delighted to welcome two keynote speakers to the event: Professor Martin Barker (author of A ‘Toxic Genre’: The Iraq War Films) ‘Where have all the insurgents gone?’ Dr David Holloway (author of 9/11 and the War on Terror) ‘The Moral Clarity of Perpetual War: Deconstructing the Neocon Insurgency’ Registration is free and we welcome scholars and postgraduate researchers from any discipline who have an interest in the symposium’s subject. Please register for the event by emailing Dr Lisa Purse at [log in to unmask] Visit the symposium website for more information and for the programme, at http://insurgentmythandfictionsymposium.wordpress.com/ There are a small number of travel bursaries for postgraduate students. Please see the symposium webpages for more details. This event is supported by the Faculty of Arts & Humanities Minority Identities: Rights and Representation Research Theme and hosted by the Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading. Dr Lisa Purse Lecturer in Film Department of Film, Theatre & Television, Minghella Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Shinfield Road, Reading, RG6 6BT email: [log in to unmask] tel: +44(0)118 378 4074 http://www.reading.ac.uk/ftt/about/staff/l-v-purse.aspx http://fttreading.wordpress.com http://twitter.com/LisaPurse Recently published: Contemporary Action Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2011) http://amzn.to/JOOsIY Forthcoming: Digital Imaging in Popular Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2013) http://amzn.to/KvUT1k