[Discussion] CFP: The Wars at Home, The Wars Abroad: Imperialism in Everyday Life (1/5/05; 2/25/05-2/27/05)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

Call for Papers:

The Wars at Home, The Wars Abroad: Imperialism in Everyday Life
Interdisciplinary Conference
University of Victoria
Feb. 25-27, 2004


How can we speak of imperialism today?  What does it mean to resist
imperialism?  What does it mean to reproduce it?

Our goal for this conference is to explore the ambiguous confluence of
everyday life and imperialism.  We want to question the relationship
between the wars at home and the wars abroad -- the relationship between
the local and the global, indigenous and non-indigenous, real and fake.
  One way to engage with this question is to analyze how imperialism is
reproduced and resisted in everyday lived experience. The ways we resist
imperialism depend on how we perceive it. Therefore, part of our project
is to develop working theories of these perceptions.  In addition, an
important component of our work together will be to articulate a set of
shared (dis)understandings that can frame our discussions across the
sessions.

Some argue that we are always fighting the ground that we are standing
on when we attempt to create social and political alternatives to
imperial relations. How is it that we often become that which we resist?
  What are the ways forward or the processes necessary to ensure that
this reproduction is averted?

People on this land and across the world live imperialism in many ways.
  We are looking for discussion papers and presentation ideas to help
think through the following questions:

1. What are we talking about when we invoke =93imperialism,=94
=93anti-imperialism,=94 and =93resistance=94?

2. Can we understand the wars of poverty, military intervention, and
unequal social relations within the same frame? Can we understand Quebec
sovereignty, indigenous self-determination struggles, immigration issues
and identity politics within the same frame?  Is this in itself an
imperial project?

3. Is there a danger of reading the everyday lived experience of
imperialism in such a way that renders it virtually meaningless?

4. Are there different foundations for anti-imperialism and imperialism
(law, religion, land, culture, etc.)? Is there a need for strategic
foundations in order to be anti-imperialist?

5. Can there be non-imperial transversal ethics? What temporal
frameworks might they invoke?

6. What is a Nation?

7. The Business of Imperialism: Has imperialism changed over time?

8. Is there an imperial subject or are there only imperial and
anti-imperial subjectivities? Is there a form of imperial citizenship?

These questions are suggested topics, not an exhaustive list.  Please
indicate when submitting whether your wish to present a 20-minute paper
or a shorter discussion paper in a Roundtable format. Deadline for
submissions is January 5th, 2004. Please send 300 word abstracts to
conf@socialchangenow.ca



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