[Discussion] CFP: Diasporic Narrative and the Ethics of Representation (Finland) (5/31/05; 9/30/05-10/1/05)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

Call for Papers

Diasporic Narrative and the Ethics of Representation

Conference at the University of Turku, Finland
September 30 - October 1, 2005

Keynote Speakers:
- Alison Donnell, Nottingham Trent University, UK
- Tabish Khair, University of Aarhus, Denmark
- Maria Olaussen, V=E4xj=F6 University, Sweden
- Justine Tally, University of La Laguna, Spain

The term ?diaspora? has been used to refer to the Jewish diaspora (both t=
he
earlier dispersal and the more recent displacement in the context of the
Holocaust) and the movements of people launched by the era of=20
post/colonialism
and globalization. In recent theoretical debates, diaspora has been=20
connected
with the constructed and transnational nature of identity formation. It=20
has also
been related to concepts like mestizaje, creolisation and hybridisation.
Essentially, the concept of diaspora refers to the voluntary and involunt=
ary
migrations and movements resulting from shifting power structures.=20
Contemporary
ethical criticism, here brought into contact with issues of diaspora, is=20
closely
linked with discussions of otherness. It examines the questions of how
to represent otherness in a text, how to respond to the other and how to=20
bring
the concept of otherness to bear on the experience of reading.

Narrative representations of diasporic communities are fertile ground for
ethically informed analysis. The mixing of different cultures brings to=20
the fore
various ways of responding to encounters with people from various cultura=
l
backgrounds and of constructing narrative strategies that dismantle such
binaries as ethical-political or local-global.

How are power structures represented in diasporic narratives? Can there=20
be an
ethical way of representing these structures? How are scattered nations a=
nd
identities represented in diaspora literature? How are issues of subject
formation and agency represented within this field and what are the ethic=
al
approaches to them? Furthermore, how are issues like belonging, home,=20
community
and locality addressed in diasporic representations? The conference will=20
explore
the above questions in narratives of displacement or belonging, nationali=
st
narratives of exclusion and borderline narratives. We invite proposals th=
at
examine literary and cultural representations of diasporic experience.

Papers addressing questions of diaspora in the contexts of the following
issues are particularly welcome:

-Creolization
-Gender and transnational feminism
-Diasporic subject formations
-Migration and migrant bodies
-Ethics and encounters
-Postcolonialism
-Ethnicity and hybridity
-Queer and the borderlines of sexuality

The language of the conference is English. Please submit an abstract
(max. 250 words) by May 31st, 2005.

Abstracts are to be sent to Outi Hakola (outi.hakola@utu.fi)
For further information, please contact: Tuomas Huttunen (tutahu@utu.fi)
Links to local hotels and other additional information will appear on
www-pages bearing the conference title soon.

The conference is organized by the following research projects funded by
the Academy of Finland:

-Disturbing Differences. Feminist Readings of Identity, Location and
Power, University of Turku

-Fictional Constructions of Cultural Identity, University of Turku

-Fragments of the Past: History, Fiction and Identity in the New English
Literatures, University of Turku

-Reconstructing 'America': Racial, Gendered and Diasporic Identities,
University of Joensuu



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