[Discussion] Cultural Analysis Summer Academy

[sule tarakcioglu]

Call for Papers

Cultural Analysis Summer Academy (CASA): Acting & Spectating

July 2-5, 2004

The CASA meeting invites a discussion of the relationship between 
academia and society, between theory and practice, and of the policies 
that shape the conditions of research, teaching, and the role of 
academia within society. The meeting invites views and perspectives from 
academia, society and social movements.

Since the early 1990s, a number of international developments have made 
it increasingly obvious that citizens' opinions, their critical thinking 
and application of knowledge, have not been taken into account by those 
who make political decisions. Global opposition against the recent war 
in Iraq is the newest instance to prove the presence of a world-wide 
discontent. Simultaneously, we are witnessing, on an economic and social 
level, the imposition of a system that is based on an exploitation of 
the many by the few, one that removes by way of privatization citizens' 
influence on, and responsibility for, public life. Common to all these 
developments is the feature that those in power seek to "objectify" 
people by depriving them of the very agency that a democratic system 
strives to implement. At the same time, these overall changes on 
international and national levels show once again that agency is a 
problematic: people find themselves confronted with an unresolved 
tension between what they see/think and what they do/want to do. After 
all, decisions are not only susceptible to mistakes, but necessarily 
always have to be made from within a particular perspective, be it that 
of a white Western Christian male or a black Eastern Hindu female. Thus, 
any alternative to the present situation leads us eventually to choose 
between two wrongs: for in righting a wrong, we might end up doing a new 
wrong - how, then, should and do we act? In the quest for alternatives 
to a system that favors the few over the many, this "dilemma of agency" 
has become ever visible. How can we remain agents and act on individual 
and collective levels in today's culturally diverse world and 
pressurized societies?

The Cultural Analysis Summer Academy seeks to provide a space in which 
these issues can be discussed from different viewpoints:

    * How does the privatization of education systems affect the
      conditions of research and teaching? On what philosophies is it
      based and what are the consequences of its implementation?
    * What is the place of academics in today's society? Which
      responsibilities can or should they assume? How can the
      communication between academia, social movements and society be
      improved?
    * Under the headline of the concepts Acting - Spectating CASA seeks
      contributions that address the aforementioned "dilemma of agency".

CASA is inviting submissions for papers and workshops on the above and 
related issues to be discussed at the CASA meeting which will take place 
from July 2-5, 2004, in Amsterdam. The meeting will be organized in a 
workshop format. Contributions can thus come in the form of workshops, 
papers, presentations or other projects. For the sake of coherence, 
contributions should engage with the meeting's topics and can integrate 
several key texts, which will be put up on the website as a reader.

Please submit a one-page synopsis of your intended contribution, 
accompanied by some biographical information, by *May 24, 2004*, to 
casa-contribution@casa.manifestor.org , or the address below. 
Contributions in languages other than English are not excluded per se, 
and will be taken into cosideration individually, depending on the 
meeting's expected attendants.

For more details, please see our webpage, or contact the address below.

CASA - Cultural Analysis Summer Academy
c/o Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA)
Spuistraat 210
1012 VT Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Email: contribution@casa.manifestor.org 
<mailto:contribution@casa.manifestor.org>
Visit the website at http://www.casa.manifestor.org