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Call for Papers "Identities under Construction" International Multidisciplinary Conference University of Liège Liège (Belgium) 1618 October 2008 __________________________________________________ Objectives Identities, collective and otherwise, have been a source of ardent debates all through the last decades of the defunct century. This state of affairs must be seen against the backdrop of a consistent critique of humanism and its universalist vision of man. The poststructuralist discourse, which articulated this critique, succeeded in obtaining an extremely influential, sometimes even hegemonic position in various disciplines of the humanities at the time. In retrospect, the end of the 20th century now appears as the hour of affirmation of any number of particularisms, differences and positive (sexual, ethnic, cultural, postcolonial, ) identities. This era then provided a context for an important paradigmatic shift, which also found expression in the creation of the anti-discipline of cultural studies. Although the poststructuralist critique of humanism has by now lost a good deal of its urgency and potency, it has left indelible traces in the reflection on who and what we are as human beings, and it is far from having exhausted its potential for intellectual stimulation. Its heritage confronts us with a wide range of fascinating questions, which include: How is the concept of identity to be defined? How do identities come into being? What which discourse(s) does an individual or group identify with, and on what grounds does he or she do so? Is the subject colonized by the discourses identified with or is he/she capable of maintaining a degree of independence from them? Can one resist the pressures of hegemonic discourses? Has all reference to a universalist vision of man become suspect and/or lost its relevance? What are the political (democratic) conclusions to be drawn from this reflection? This call is issued by a group of researchers working at the University of Liège (Belgium) in various disciplines linked to the humanities semiotics, literary theory, linguistics, communication studies, sociology, anthropology and is meant for every intellectual susceptible of feeling interpellated by the subject as outlined above. Since the primary aim of the Identities under Construction Conference is to encourage an interdisciplinary theoretical reflection on the concepts of identity and identification, the scientific committee will privilege contributions focusing on theoretical aspects of the question. Case studies will be taken into consideration as long as they are used to illustrate or buttress a theoretical statement. Submissions Authors are invited to submit, by 1 February 2008, a 2500-character abstract including a title and (if necessary) a bibliography. The abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. As of now, please declare your intention of submitting an abstract, which should reach the Conference secretariat no later than 1 February 2008. Notifications of acceptance will be delivered to authors by 1 April 2008. Languages The official languages of the Conference will be French and English. For communication purposes, Powerpoint presentations should be given in the other conference language than that used in the paper. Conference Website: http://www.id2008.ulg.ac.be Contact: Identities under Construction Conference Secretariat Ms. M. Licata Université de Liège, bât. A2 Place Cockerill, 3-5 B-4000 Liège Belgium Tel: +32 4 3665392 Fax: +32 4 3665721 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.id2008.ulg.ac.be __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
