C A L L F O R P A P E R S
The Departments of German Studies, Philosophy, English and American Studies, Media Sciences, Political Sciences and Social Sciences at the University of Erlangen/Nuremberg, Germany, invite young scholars
(postgraduates and assistant professors) to present papers at our
conference:
Ethics and/or justice after postmodernism:
Revisioning media, politics, and the arts in the 21st century
8th Interdisciplinary, International Graduate Conference
at the University of Erlangen/Nuremberg
November 23 - 25, 2007
Keynote address (to be confirmed):
Axel Honneth (Frankfurt)
Poetry Reading by the Austrian-Jewish writer Robert Schindel and ensuing
discussion with Klaus Holz (Dortmund)
The reformulation of ethical narratives may be seen as one of the most
prominent signatures of the current political debate, of mass-media
communication, and of present literary and artistic productions. The
conference will focus on this recent 'ethical turn', observable in these
various and heterogeneous fields. However, does the focus on ethical
questions (as centering on the individual) exclude claims for political,
social, gender or ethnical justice, or are they mutually dependent?
The conference will ask whether the increase in subjects concentrating on
ethical issues indicates a return to traditional and normative positions,
marking the end of postmodern relativity and indifference. In this context, the present hostility to theory could be just as significant as the notable process of re-essentializing reality constructions previously put into question by theories of difference.
Or, on the contrary, is the recent ethically based debate to be seen as a
continuation of postmodern theories, insofar as the implicit question of
justice in poststructuralist thought has now turned into an explicitly
ethical-political discourse, facing the conflicts and challenges of a global and post-capitalist world?
Taking this into account, how can politically just and ethical actions be
constituted and legitimized without the (religious, metaphysical,
anthropologic) grands récits that have traditionally served as their
foundation? How can theorists ground their arguments if they continue to
pursue poststructuralist ideas, when they have been employed to deconstruct the basic assumptions that have anchored western identity?
With our interdisciplinary and international conference we would like to
discuss what space justice and ethics occupy in contemporary everyday life
and in the present academic discourse. In what ways do issues concerning
ethics and/or justice appear:
- in the media and in the arts (as return to narration, as new forms of a
littérature engagée, as remembrance culture)
- in politics (as forms of inclusion and exclusion; as justice of
recognition and redistribution)
- in disciplines such as philosophy and the social sciences, which
theoretically and practically analyse forms of acting ethically and/or
justly
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Ethics of deconstruction/deconstruction of ethics
- Justice between remembrance and history
- Ethics and narration
- Interculturality, intercultural ethics and hermeneutics
- Ethics and (cultural) translation
- Media theory as media ethics
- Governmentality and biopolitics
- Ethical action between subjectivation and technologies of the self
- Gender justice
- Construction of (national) identities
- Self and other; inclusion and exclusion
- New antisemitism
- Borders (political, aesthetic, religious)
- Boundaries of the human
- Religiousness and fanatism, terrorism and fundamentalism
- Trans-marxist critique of culture, post-marxist politics
- Limits to postmodern liberalism
- Global society - global ethics
- Ethics in contemporary art and film
- Concepts of love, hospitality and friendship
Please register using our online submission form at http://www.gradnet.de
The deadline for paper proposals (max. 200 words) is September 9, 2007.
For scholars who wish to attend the conference without giving a paper
the deadline for registration is Friday, 16 November 2007.
Panels with three to five speakers will last two to two and a half
hours. The time allocated for each paper is about 15 minutes to permit
ample time for discussion.
The official languages of the conference are English and German.
You will be notified whether your proposal has been accepted by Friday, 16
September 2007. In the case of scholars travelling from outside Germany, we
shall endeavour to reach decisions earlier in order to facilitate travel
arrangements.
Before the conference, each contribution (approximately 6-10 pages or
3500-4500 words) will be posted on our web page in order to facilitate discussion and
scholarly exchange. The deadline for the submission of these short contributions is October 21, 2007.
Selected papers will be published in the conference proceedings.
The conference fee is 20 EUR.
The University of Erlangen-Nürnberg is proud to be able to offer three
bursaries. The conference fee and accommodation costs will be waived for up to three
scholars whose papers have been accepted and who come from nations whose scholars cannot normally afford to attend conferences in Western Europe. Applications for bursaries,
including a curriculum vitae, should reach us by Friday, 23 September 2007 ([log in to unmask])
For additional information go to our webpage "http://www.gradnet.de".
If you have further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at
"[log in to unmask]".
Academic organizers:
Alexandra Boehm, M.A. (Comparative Literature)
Mark Schoenleben, M.A. (Philosophy)
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Institut für Philosophie
Bismarckstr. 1
91054 Erlangen
Germany
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