[Discussion] CFP: Finding the Foreign (1/7/05; AIGSC, 3/12/05-3/13/05)

[sule tarakcioglu]

CALL FOR PAPERS

Paper proposals are being accepted for the 13th Annual Interdisciplinary
German Studies Conference, March 12-13, 2005 at the University of
California, Berkeley.  The conference theme is "Finding the 'Foreign'."

This conference aims to explore constructions of the 'foreign' in the
German-speaking context throughout the centuries. Etymology reveals that
'friend' was once related to family; 'foe' was related to strife.
Situated between friend and foe one finds the stranger or the foreigner
- 'der Fremde'- potentially inspiring curiosity or fear, potentially a
friend or a foe, potentially a source of insight about oneself.=20

Who or what is foreign? What tropes or techniques create a sense of the
foreign, and how do they serve to position the foreign on the spectrum
from friend to foe? How have such discourses been countered by minority
voices, hybrid cases, or the uncanny within oneself to destabilize or
re-appropriate these categories? What does the construction of the
foreign reveal about the formation of national, communal, and personal
identities?

We invite scholars from all disciplines to submit paper proposals
responding to these or similar questions related to constructs of
foreignness in modern or pre-modern time periods. Possible topics
include, but are not limited to:
- Cultural identity/ imagined communities
- Ethnic & religious minorities in Germany
- Heimat/ nationalism
- Foreign at home? (BRD/GDR)
- Migration/exiles
- Linguistic approaches to the foreign
- Intercultural communication
- German as foreign language
- Gendered portrayals of the foreign
- Translating or exoticizing the foreign

The primary language of the conference is English, but presentations in
German are also welcome. Please send an abstract of not more than 250
words with a separate cover sheet indicating the proposed title,
author's name, affiliation, and e-mail address by Friday, December 17,
2004 to: Robert T. Schechtman / Suin Shin, Department of German,
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3243 or to
GermanConference2005@lists.berkeley.edu



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