[Discussion] CFP: Understanding Subjectivity in Culture (2/15/02; 4/13/02-4/14/02) (fwd)

[Gonul Pultar]

UPDATE: Understanding Subjectivity in Culture  02/15/02; (4/13/02-4/14/02)

Understanding Subjectivity in Culture: Psychoanalysis/Ethnography/Cultural=
=20
Studies

Call for Papers: 8th Annual Human Sciences Conference

Our conference can now featured speakers.  We have also widened our focus a=
nd=20
title to include cultural studies as a methodological approach to our subje=
ct.

Hosted by the George Washington University Graduate Program in the Human
Sciences in association with the Washington Psychoanalytic Society and the =
GWU=20
Institute for Ethnographic Research

Saturday, April 13 =96 Sunday, April 14, 2002

Proposal Deadline: Feb. 15, 2002

Plenary  Speakers:
Vincent Crapanzano  Distingusihed Professor Anthropology, CUNY
John Kafka   Training Analyst Washington Psychoanalytic Society
Bobby Paul    Dean Liberal Arts, Emory University,=20
Elizabeth Young-Bruehl  Analyst/Scholar, New York City
Paul Verhaeghe  Analyst/Scholar, University Ghent

How do the theories and practices of psychoanalysis and ethnography challen=
ge,=20
contest, or complement each other? How are knowledge and subjectivity=20
constituted and legitimated within these specific contexts?  How might both=
=20
fields contribute to an analysis of political and cultural formations, in b=
oth=20
the U.S. and international locations? These questions, as they emerge in=20
cultural analysis and social theory across the disciplines, will be the foc=
us=20
of GW's 8th Annual Human Sciences Conference, to be held April13-14, 2002 i=
n=20
Washington, DC.

In an effort to address the multiple points of intersection between these=
=20
perspectives, the conference will be organized around three overlapping=20
themes. We invite paper and panel proposals that engage with these themes i=
n=20
any combination.

THEORIES AND METHODS: What methodological or theoretical adjustments to eac=
h=20
discipline might emerge from a conversation between anthropologists and=20
psychoanalysts? How, for instance, do psychoanalytic insights reshape our=
=20
assumptions about the knowledge gained from fieldwork? How do ethical and=
=20
political issues that arise in the field, especially in cross-cultural=20
settings, challenge theoretical assumptions of psychoanalysis? How might su=
ch=20
a confrontation between these methods modify our understanding of tradition=
al=20
psychoanalytic and ethnographic themes, such as trauma, myth, ritual, kinsh=
ip,=20
fantasy, desire, (counter)transference, and the symptom?

CULTURAL ANALYSIS: As scholars working in areas such as cultural studies an=
d=20
queer studies increasingly turn to ethnographic methods, what hybrid method=
s=20
of cultural analysis are emerging? How, for instance,does attention to oral=
=20
histories or field work resituate feminist theories long engaged in dialogu=
es=20
with psychoanalysis? What new insights are being generated as psychoanalysi=
s=20
and ethnography play off each other in work on communities and diasporas of=
=20
diverse races, genders, sexualities, ethnicities, classes, and nationalitie=
s?=20
How might this work challenge textual "orthodoxies" of poststructuralist=20
theory, including Lacanian psychoanalysis?  For instance, how might it resh=
ape=20
our conceptions of the body/corporeality or of the "Social" and the "Symbol=
ic=20
Order"? Can these hybrid methods help us to think through newly topical=20
issues, such as terrorism, nationalism, cultural mourning, cultural=20
translation, and the war in Afghanistan?

To what degree is it profitable to repond to such questions through
reflections on the contributions of such forerunners as Klein, Freud, Mead,=
=20
Chodorov, Crapanzano, Obeyesekere, Irigaray, Jung, Kakar, Kristeva, Lacan,=
=20
Malinowski,, Ricoeur, Roheim and others?

POLITICS AND POLICY: What are the implications of this conversation for=20
community activism and for work on policy or public health issues, such as=
=20
HIV/AIDS education and transgender health? How are these issues differently=
=20
impacted in U.S. and international contexts? Do psychoanalysis and/or=20
ethnography have a place in such work=97and if so, what is it?

We welcome papers and panels from both established and emerging scholars in=
=20
anthropology and psychoanalytic studies, as well as from (inter)disciplines=
=20
such as: African/Asian/American Studies, Literary and Cultural Studies,=20
Performance Studies, Political Science, Queer Theory/Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual=
,=20
and Transgender Studies, Sociology, and Women's Studies.
=20
We also invite papers or workshops that address the implications of this ne=
xus=20
for public policy, public health, education, or clinical work.

We welcome proposals for workshops, video presentations, or other
nontraditional formats. Graduate student submissions are encouraged.

In addition to topics noted above, panel or paper proposals might address:

 National fantasies
 Ideologies of race, nation and gender
 Diasporias, globalization and cultural imperialisms
 Narrative and narratology
 Rituals, dreams and myths
 Mourning
 Trauma: ritual and ritualizing trauma, repetition and writing
 Misrecognition, meconnaissance, and (counter)transference
 The "real" in field work
 Scenes of the clinic, scenes of the field
 Languages, native fluencies and (m)other tongues
 Translation--across cultures, languages, theories, methodologies
 Problems of interpretation
 Otherness and authority
 Science, technology and subjectivity
 Situated knowledges and privileges of observation
 The ethnographic unconscious
 Identification and desire in the field or the clinic
 Ethics and politics of the case study
 Oral histories and analytic dialogue
 Welfare policy
 Ethnography or psychoanalysis in the classroom
 Ethnography as therapeutic practice

Please send 250 word abstracts, with your name, affiliation, and contact
information by February 15, 2002 to:

Psychoanalysis & Ethnography Conference
Program in the Human Sciences
George Washington University
2035 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

E-mail submissions may be sent to:
alcornma@gwu.edu

For further inquiries, please contact: alcornma@gwu.edu

****************************
Marshall Alcorn
Assoc. Professor English and Program in Human Sciences
George Washington University
Office: Rome 672  phone: 202-994-8434

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