[Bilimsel Haber] CFP: Spelling Disaster (2/10/06; 4/29/06-4/30/06)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

From: Leerom Medovoi <medovoi@pdx.edu>

Announcing a Call For Proposals

"Spelling Disaster"  Conference
Portland, Oregon.  April 29-30, 2006

Proposal Deadline: February 10, 2006

Keynote Speaker:
Ann Cvetkovich  (Department of English, University of Texas, Austin)

The Portland Center for Cultural Studies invites proposals for its upcoming
conference "Spelling Disaster" on April 29-30, 2006. The conference seeks to
investigate the meaning of "disaster" and the political stakes involved in
defining it. What counts as a disaster? What does not? Who decides and 
how? How
are disasters reported or represented? What do they express or conceal 
about the
society that experiences the disaster? How might disasters constitute 
symptoms
of systemic relations or their crises? How do we distinguish between 
"natural"
and "social" or "man-made" disasters? How and why does that distinction 
become
important? What is the relationship between disasters and states of 
"emergency,"
"war," or "exception"? How does disaster translate into trauma, and 
vice-versa?
What roles do remembrance and forgetting respectively play in the 
processing of
disaster?

The conference will also address important ancillary questions, about 
the stakes
of adequate preparation or anticipation, about displaced and migrant
populations, about social movements that seek disaster relief or 
redress, and
about the relationship of human rights to disasters. It also draws 
attention to
the role of media, reportage, and publicity in the declaration of disaster.

We invite both empirical and theoretical considerations of disaster, 
historical
studies of all sorts as well as contemporary examples (the current wars,
hurricanes, tsunamis, genocides, and famines of our times). Proposals 
from all
academic disciplines are welcome in any format (papers, panels, 
roundtables, or
alternative presentations).

This conference is part of an ongoing project by the inter-campus Portland
Center for Cultural Studies to deepen intellectual community across the 
colleges
and universities of the Pacific Northwest. Housed and supported by Portland
State University, the center includes over 60 participating faculty 
members from
nearly a dozen institutions in the region.

Proposals may be sent via e-mail to: osf@pdx.edu

They may also be mailed by February 10th to:
Oscar Fernandez
Program Committee Chair
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
PO Box 751
Portland, OR 97207-0751
USA




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