Listers - particularly with interests in zoos and archaeologies of animals
might be interested in this conference in Cardiff:
CALL FOR PAPERS
Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory
Cardiff University
20th Anniversary Conference
Zoontotechnics (Animality/Technicity)
12th-14th May 2010
Plenary Speakers
Bernard Stiegler, Director of the Department of Cultural Development at the
Centre Georges-Pompidou and Director of the Institut de recherche et
d'innovation (IRI)
David Wills _ (University at Albany-SUNY)
We are also inviting Avital Ronell (New York University) (participation to
be confirmed)
Since the founding of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory in 1989,
when the prevalent currents were postmodernism, poststructuralism and
postcolonialism, new developments have helped reshape the theoretical
landscape. Key among them have been cyberculture, the digital revolution in
technology, globalization, and the search for critical modes beyond the
human. More recently philosophical-ethical revaluations of the 'animal' and
renewed reflections on various aspects of technology and technics, both
within and beyond the emerging framework of posthumanism, have provided two
of the most stimulating developments in critical and cultural theory that
might offer new departures. While there have been numerous conferences and
symposia on each perspective, none has been organized with a view to
encouraging a critical dialogue between researchers in these two usually
separate fields. If Aristotle's definition of 'man' was that he is a zoon
logon ekhon (animal having speech) and a zoon politikon (political animal),
in what ways has he become a zoon tekhnikon? Is this ultimately necessary
to ensure the survival of the species or is it conducive to its
transformation? With an increasingly globalized 'humanity' installed in the
post-9/11 age of a technology-led terrorism and the credit crunch, the
conference will consider these overarching questions, as well as others
outlined briefly below.
In planning our 20th anniversary, we decided to address the future, rather
than look back nostalgically on past achievements. This seems a more
invigorating way of convening a truly celebratory event. With this focus on
futurity in mind, we plan to include a round-table work on the Futures of
Technology and Culture that will feature the activities interfacing new
technologies and culture that are part of the remit of Beaubourg's
Institute for Research and Innovation led by Professor Stiegler. Other
conference events will feature performance art at the crossroads of the
animal and the technical. We very much hope that the conference will prove
to be an intellectual landmark. _
Possible themes for individual papers or panels might include:
o The relation of animality and/or technicity to posthumanism
o The critical interface between posthumanism and transhumanism, 'life
sciences', biotechnology and bioethics, artificiality and hybridization
o Futures of life, animality and technicity and of 'humanity'
o Man's relation to technics and technology after Heidegger's 'The Question
Concerning Technology'
o Man's relation to animality after Derrida's The Animal That Therefore I Am
o Extensions of technology to redefining art and humanities, not just
extending man (cf. Technology, Environment, Design)
o Work addressing concepts such as the prosthetic, the inhuman, the
digital, the virtual, etc.
o Animality, technicity and gender
We are particularly interested in proposals for papers and panels that
engage with the interface between the two main strands of the conference
theme. Papers are also invited on thinkers who have addressed both aspects,
(e.g. the becoming-animal and the machinic in Deleuze).
Abstracts for papers (no more than 300 words) and proposals for panels
should be sent to [log in to unmask] by 31st December 2009.
----------------------
A A Piccini
Lecturer in Screen Studies
Drama: Theatre, Film, Television
School of Arts
University of Bristol
Cantocks Close, Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1UP
T: 0117 331-5087
E: [log in to unmask]
Skype: aapiccini
W: www.bris.ac.uk/drama/staff_research/angela_piccini/
--------------------------
contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events
in contemporary and historical archaeology, and
for announcements relating to the CHAT conference group.
-------
For email subscription options see:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/contemp-hist-arch.html
-------
Visit the CHAT website for more information and for future meeting dates:
http://www.contemp-hist-arch.ac.uk
--------------------------
|