[Discussion] Marxist Literary Group - Institute on Culture and Society

[Gonul]

Call for Papers/Participation

Marxist Literary Group  -  Institute on Culture and Society

June 16-23, 2003

University of California
Davis, California


"Marxism in an Age of Endless War"


“The conditions of bourgeois society are too narrow to comprise the
wealth
created by them.  And how does the bourgeoisie get over these crises?
On
the one hand by enforced destruction of a mass of productive forces;on
the
other, by the conquest of new markets, and by the more thorough
exploitation
of the old ones.  That is to say, by paving the way for more extensive
and
more destructive crises, and by diminishing the means whereby crises are

prevented.” (Marx & Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party)


The Marxist Literary Group announces the 25th annual summer Institute on

Culture and Society, conscious of doing so at an extraordinary and
urgent
historical moment. The words cited above, declared obsolete once and for
all
a decade ago by those now, as this is call is issued, raining down
terror
and death on the people of Iraq, take on an even more precise and
terrible
new meaning. Clearly, the question before us is no longer whether such
words
require intellectual defense.  Historical circumstances, and ‘bourgeois
society,’ have obviated such a question on their own. The question is
how to
give this transparency new political and historical meaning in the work
that
we do, intellectual and otherwise, inside--and outside--the classroom
and
the university.


The Institute began as a three-week seminar featuring Fredric Jameson
and
Terry Eagleton, among others, as faculty. Over the years, it has evolved

into a roughly week-long event that remains different from the usual
academic conference. While papers are presented at many of the sessions,

others are structured as week-long study groups or workshops, dedicated
both
to classics in Marxist theory and to contemporary and topical questions.

Film and video screenings, as well as poetry and fiction readings are
often
included. Participants are encouraged to stay for as much of Institute
as
possible. While we try to accommodate all participants who want to
present a
paper, many participants choose not to present and merely to participate
in
panel discussions, workshops and study groups.

This year's Institute will take place from June 16-23 at the University
of
California at Davis.  (Davis is located 15 miles west of
Sacramento--nearest
airport--and approximately 70 miles northeast of San Francisco).  All
participants with an interest in discussing and/or presenting work on
the
relationship of Marxism(s) to broad questions of culture and society are

urged to attend.  The emphatic, but non-exclusive theme of the
Institute-given the extremity of the times--is "Marxism in an Age of
Endless
War."    Likely participants include Jamie Owen Daniel, Paul Smith,
Justin
Paulson, Philip Goldstein, Rich Daniels, Barbara Foley, Daniel Shea,
David
Shumway, Grover Furr, Philip Goldstein, Modhumita Roy, Neil Larsen,
Nicholas
Brown, Steve Martinot, Douglas Kellner and many others.  Those wishing
to be
included on the program should submit a proposal by May 15 (preferably
by
email) to Neil Larsen (nalarsen@ucdavis.edu) and/or Febe Armendáriz
(farmendariz@ucdavis.edu). A MLG-ICS website with regular updates on the

Institute will be available shortly.

Approximate (full) cost of the Institute, for those choosing to use the
Conference Center Facilities at UCD, is 60$ a day (includes lodging and
two
meals provided at UC Davis Conference Center), plus a registration fee
of
80$ (full week), 40$ (partial week).  However, the MLG traditionally
does
whatever it can to subsidize costs for graduate student participants.


Institute sponsored by: the Marxist Literary Group (a caucus within the
Modern Languages Association); the Program in Critical Theory,
University of
California, Davis; the Davis Humanities Institute, University of
California,
Davis.