[Bilimsel Haber] UPDATE: New and Erratic Inquiries into the Nature of Pop (grad) (1/31/06; 3/3/06-3/4/06)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

From: Jens Stephen Schellhammer <jss93@cornell.edu>

CALL FOR PAPERS

We have extended the deadline (to January 31, 2006) for the submission 
of paper
proposals for the Cornell Graduate Student Conference hosted by the 
Department
of German Studies, March 3-4, 2006, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. 
All Pop
enthusiasts are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts. The theme of the
conference is

Amusement total Sans regret?!
New and Erratic Inquiries into the Nature of Pop

With a keynote address by Dr. Eckhard Schumacher (LMU Munich)

"The only reasonable way to talk about Pop is to point, captivated, at the
captivating, hey, super." So claims German Pop writer Rainald Goetz with
apodictic aplomb in his 1986 essay collection "Brainā." What if this 
statement
were literally true, this claim that the mode of blissful affirmation is the
only appropriate register of speech regarding all matters Pop? Should we 
despair
because there is no room for an analytical position inside or outside of 
Pop? Or
should we simply be content to celebrate that Pop is the most beautiful 
thing on
earth? But what if Pop were only graffiti on a prison wall, as Dick Hebdidge
famously insinuated? How could we verbalize such a notion? It seems as if we
still lack the language necessary to vivisect Pop, as if to analyze Pop 
would
mean killing its essence, thereby turning the word into a lifeless and
meaningless shell. Part of the purpose of this Graduate Student 
Conference is to
explore ways to overcome the position of ecstatic incommunicability that 
Goetz
seems to postulate, but without falling prey to dry theoretical reductionism
either.

The concept of Pop has been pervasive throughout the 20th century and 
into the
21st, nonetheless all attempts at giving a concise definition of the 
term have
been surprisingly futile. That might be because Pop knows no article, 
there is
no such thing as "Pop" or "the Pop" and, consequently, we shouldn't 
waste our
time trying to invent what doesn't exist. Instead we should play with 
the word,
apply it, probe its promise and limitations. This conference is intended 
as a
two-day journey in pursuit of the secrets that lie behind the veneer of 
Pop/art,
/music, /literature, and /culture. Of course, at the end of that journey we
might find ourselves in the sad position of the child who cuts open and 
destroys
a concertina in order to discover the source of its sounds, only to 
realize that
there is nothing inside. Participants in this conference are warned that 
they
should be willing to take this risk.

We invite graduate students from all fields of study to submit paper 
proposals
exploring all aspects of Pop, in any of its national or international
manifestations. Papers may address art, music, literature, or any other 
aspect
of Pop culture.

The primary language of the conference will be English. Presentations 
should not
exceed 25 minutes. Please send an abstract of 250-400 words in either 
English or
German as a Word attachment by January 31, 2006, to <jss93@cornell.edu. On a
separate cover sheet, please list the proposed paper title, author's name,
affiliation, and e-mail address. Please indicate whether you will require
technological support (i.e., overhead, slide projector, etc.)

Conference participants may choose housing with Cornell graduate 
students or be
referred to affordable hotel accommodations near the Cornell campus.

Please pay attention to future CFP update that will announce the URL of the
conference website.

This conference is sponsored in part by the Graduate and Professional 
Student
Assembly and the Departments of German Studies, English, Government, 
Music, and
Theatre, Film, and Dance, Cornell University.



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