[Bilimsel Haber] Symposium, Turkey, CFP

[tahire erman]

Dear colleagues:
I am sending the call for papers of the International Symposium organized
by Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey) and the Turkish Cultural Studies
Association. I will appreciate if you could distribute it to the widest
circle of your members / academics who might be interested. I thank you in
advance. Sorry for cross-listing.
Dr. Tahire Erman
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Bilkent University
Ankara, Turkey


Call for Papers

International Conference organized jointly by the Turkish Cultural Studies
Association and Bilkent University

MEMORY AND CULTURE
5-7 September 2013
Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

VIIth International Cultural Studies Symposium – Memory and Culture

The 7th Cultural Studies Symposium on Memory and Culture jointly organized
by the Turkish Cultural Studies Association and Bilkent University,
Department of Political Science and Department of Architecture, will be
held on September 5-7, 2013 in Ankara, Turkey. The International Cultural
Studies Symposia that are organized every two years have been contributing
to cultural studies and bringing together researchers who work in this
area. Since the first meeting in Kemer, Antalya (2001), the Symposia have
been organized, jointly, in Van with Yuzuncu Yil University (2003), in
Istanbul with Koç University (2005), in Şile with Isik University (2007),
in Zonguldak with Karaelmas University (2009), in İstanbul with Kadir Has
University (2011).

The purpose of this symposium is to question existing paradigms in topics
that bring together the concepts of “memory” and “culture”; it aims to
present critical and analytical approaches and to explore new theoretical
and methodological paradigms in cultural studies. It adopts an inter- and
multi-disciplinary perspective that includes such disciplines as
sociology, anthropology, psychology, political science, urban studies,
architecture, design, and literature; it also takes a gender perspective. 
It should relate to issues about Turkey and Turkish cultures. Submissions,
both domestic and international, are invited on the following sub-themes.
The conference is open to a variety of themes beyond the suggested ones as
long as they deal with memory and culture.

Memory is about the retreat to consciousness of experiences, accompanied
by awareness that it has happened somewhere sometime. Culture is its
concrete form; the term goes beyond its everyday connotation with art,
civilization and development; it is used in the anthropological sense
referring to a “way of life.”

The relationship between memory and identity is an important one. The way
the individual remembers his/her own or family’s past determines to a
significant degree what s/he is.  This is “discovering” oneself in a
particular way.

The relationship between memory and space is also important. We remember
everything with its location in space. But this can happen only in
relation to social frameworks, as M. Halbwachs puts it.  Social frameworks
can be broadly classified as the family, religious / ethnic groups and
social classes.  They are the instruments used to reconstruct an image of
the past which is in accord with the dominant ideas of the society in a
particular epoch. Therefore, memory is selective.

Memory is also a question of social and political power. What we remember
depends upon the context and the group(s) that we are part of. 
Accordingly, the depth and contour of our collective memory reflect also
the competitive positions of power groups. Political power usually has the
tendency of reconstructing collective memory to reproduce its legitimacy.

Today the interest in the past and consequently in the collective memory
has intensified. In the processes of globalization, ethnic groups’ claims
of recognition in post-modern societies have brought the need for ethnic
groups to construct their past and hence their collective memory. The
collective memory written during the construction of the nation state as a
political project is today questioned and challenged; and the past, which
is forgotten or rendered forgotten, is today brought to public attention,
creating awareness about new collective identities.  This once again turns
collective memory into a political project, this time of ethnic groups.

As migration movements increase in our globalizing world, migrants tend to
construct their identities in their new societies using their constructed
collective memory, thus ending up keeping their identities based on their
places of origin, i.e., not forgetting who they originally are.

The fact that cities have become important means of accumulation of
capital in the neoliberal economy has sharpened the competition among
cities to attract investment and tourism; and in the endeavor to create
unique identities for the cities, the concepts of cultural heritage and
nostalgia have gained much popularity.  Thus, cities turn into sites of
consumption as their pasts are constructed in particular ways to create
special city images and identities.  Moreover, the increased environmental
problems render important the collective memory constructed about the
issues of nature and disaster.

In the framework given above, the sub-titles about Memory and Culture can
be as the following, which can be differentiated according to personal,
group and social memory:

Identity and memory (Family and memory; Biographical and autobiographical
studies; Migration, diaspora and memory);

Space and memory (Memory and culture in architecture; City, urbanization
and memory; Gecekondu (squatter housing), village, city, neighborhood,
nature in collective memory);

Politics, political power and memory (Memory and culture in modernity /
modernization/ modernism; Construction of memory as a political project;
Nationalism and memory; Ethnic identity and memory; Minorities and memory;
Political trauma and memory);

Memory and culture in everyday life (Traditions, memory and culture;
Rituals, memory and culture; Bodily practices, memory and culture;
Recreation, memory and culture; Disasters and memory; Nostalgia and
memory);

Social institutions / Cultural products and memory (Art/Literature, memory
and culture; Language, memory and culture; Religion, memory and culture;
Media and memory; Internet and virtual memory);

Proposals to be submitted for the Symposium may be in the form of (a)
individual paper presentations, (b) pre-organized panels consisting of 3
to 4 individual presentations, (c) poster sessions, and (d) exhibitions.
Abstracts of individual papers should be submitted not to exceed 200
words, written in Times Roman 12-point font, single spaced.  Also expected
are five keywords, as well as a short CV and contact address.  Proposals
for panels should include individual abstracts as well as an abstract for
the overall panel, and CVs of Chairs and Discussants. Proposals for poster
sessions and exhibitions should also include CVs and contact addresses.

Please send your proposals to <semp2013 at kulturad.org> not later than 15
December 2012. The results will be announced by 31 January 2013. You may
refer to the same e-mail address or the symposium’s webpage
(<http://semp2013.kulturad.org>) for inquiries.

Abstracts will be published; and full papers will be distributed during
the symposium as CDs. Selected articles will be published by a respectable
publisher following the symposium.

Early registration fee (until March 1, 2013) is 100 TL for members of the
association and 150 TL for non-members; and after this date, it is 150 TL
for members and 200 TL for non-members. Accommodation is available on the
university’s campus (75 TL per night in 2012).