[Bilimsel Haber] Reminder: Conf. CFP: "MEMORY AND CULTURE, " 5-7 September 2013, Bilkent University, Ankara -deadline extended to 15 January

[Gonul Pultar]

*International conference organized jointly by the Cultural Studies 
Association of Turkey and Bilkent University
*

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


*The 7^th Cultural Studies Conference on Memory and Culture, jointly 
organized by the Cultural Studies Association of Turkey and Bilkent 
University departments of Political Science and of Architecture, will be 
held on September 5-7, 2013 in Ankara, Turkey. The international 
cultural studies conferences that are organized every two years have 
been contributing to cultural studies in Turkey and bringing together 
researchers who work in this area. Since the first meeting in Kemer, 
Antalya (2001), the conferences have been organized, jointly, in Van 
with Yüzüncü Y?l University (2003), in Istanbul with Koç University 
(2005), in S,ile with Is,?k University (2007), in Zonguldak with 
Karaelmas University (2009), and in I.stanbul with Kadir Has University 
(2011).*

*The purpose of this conference 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 literary studies; it also takes 
a gender perspective.  Submissions, both domestic and international, are 
invited on the sub-themes below but the conference is open to a variety 
of themes beyond the suggested ones, as long as these deal with memory 
and culture within the context of Turkey.*

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 may 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 conference 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 to **be submitted** should  not exceed 
200 words, and be 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 
<mailto:semp2013 at kulturad.org> _no later than 15 January 2013_. The 
results will be announced by 31 January 2013. You may refer to the same 
e-mail address for inquiries.*

*Abstracts will be published; and full papers will be distributed during 
the symposium as CDs. Selected articles will be published by an 
established publisher following the conference.*

*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.*

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