The Jefferson Scholars Foundation and the Jefferson Graduate Fellows at the University of Virginia present the second biannual Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue, Sept. 17 and 18, 2010. The Forum is an interdisciplinary conference for students, faculty, and community members from around the globe. The theme for 2010 is Icons and Iconoclasm, and we are pleased to have W. J. T. Mitchell, Professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago and editor of Critical Inquiry, giving the keynote address.
In Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology, Mitchell suggests that a blind listener might notice patterns in the way we interpret images that we are too immersed in our visual culture to recognize. We invite scholars and performers in all fields to submit proposals exploring the many ways in which we transform images into icons and criticize their iconic status. Scholars from different fields might interpret the terms image, icon and iconoclasm in very different ways. We hope scientists can learn from humanists, social scientists from businesspeople, and lawyers from performance artists. Grounded in the theories and politics of our disciplines, we might each serve as a blind observer for another scholars engagement with icons and iconoclasm. Some topics may include: iconic ideas (scholarly theories, religious beliefs and practices, culture) mechanics of icons (construction, transmission, perception, and reception/destruction) iconic images (scientific models, branding, maps, artwork) iconic figures (historical, religious, literary, political) Please submit a 250 word abstract for a poster or 15 minute presentation or performance through the Abstract Submission Web Form by April 01, 2010. Individuals may access the Web Form by going to http://fid2010.wordpress.com/call-for-papers/. Comments and Questions can be submitted via email to: [email protected] . For more information about the Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue, visit http://fid2010.wordpress.com/. To read more about keynote speaker W. J. T. Mitchell, visit http://fid2010.wordpress.com/keynote/ .
