[Bilimsel Haber] CFP: Cultural Memory and Canonization Processes (Switzerland) (12/1/06; 5/31/07-6/2/07)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

MOMENT TO MONUMENT

Conference at The English Department of Basel University (Switzerland)
May 31-June 2, 2007


Keynote speakers:
Aleida Assmann (Univ. of Konstanz)
Péter Dávidházi (Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest)
David Morley (Goldsmiths College, Univ. of London)
Ann Thompson (King’s College, Univ. of London)


MOMENT TO MONUMENT

 From the momentary event in time to the seemingly timeless monumental
presence
and back to oblivion: the ways in which cultural memories are produced,
transformed and lost, turning space into time and time into space, have
been observed in many areas. Inquiries into literature, architecture,
the visual and performing arts, the media and the everyday have
frequently focused on the problem of monuments, canons and myths and
their legitimization. The need to reform them is increased and
complicated by revolutionized communication processes, the global
dimensions of mass media and the different meanings which concepts such
as ‘community’, ‘identity’ and ‘belonging’ are acquiring through
(post)modern transformations of space and time. These shifts raise the
interest of research that does not just discuss canons as desirable or
undesirable givens, but also the processes by which changes have taken
place and can be brought about.

Questions that need to be addressed include:
How do everyday objects or works of art achieve cultural significance
for a community?
How do they lose it? How, for example, can works considered classics
disappear from the canon?
What kind of performative practices (ritual or other) are involved in
this process?
Why would some works of art lend themselves better to monumentalization
than others?
Are there periods in history that stimulate or facilitate monumentalization?
How do writers/artists take into account the phenomenon of
monumentalization, resisting or pursuing it?
In how far has the media revolution changed our sense of belonging to
places and traditions?
How does mobility affect the relationship between the global and the local?

Call for Papers:
We are interested in proposals for 20-minute papers that offer
case-studies trying to establish general patterns.

Proposals, not exceeding 500 words, along with a brief biographical
note, should be sent by 1 December 2006 in the body of an email to:

Dr. Regula Hohl Trillini
Department of English, Basel University, Switzerland
Email: r.hohl at unibas.ch
www.unibas.ch/anglist

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