__________________________________________________
Call for Papers "Politics of Fear, Fear of Politics" 5th International Interdisciplinary Conference Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE), University of Brighton Brighton (UK) 15-17 September 2010 __________________________________________________ We live in a world that is dominated by fear. We are increasingly afraid to walk in our city streets, populated as they are by feral youths, drug-dealers and surveillance cameras. The threat of global warming and climate change is ever-present, and accompanied by the even greater fear that we’ll be too late to do anything about it. Then of course there’s terror: frightened of a Taliban invasion, apparently, we are still fighting in Afghanistan after eight years and pursuing a worldwide “war on terror”. And if that’s not enough, we are becoming ever more afraid of alcohol, of food, of being too fat, of being too thin; and afraid even of sex. In this climate of fear, it is not surprising that we should also have become terrified of politics, in case we suddenly have to think about an idea, let alone act on it. Our politicians appear as afraid of politics as we are: which is one reason they’re privatising everything in sight, so as to evade responsibility for it. As for ideas, they really are terrifying, and our young people have to be protected from them at all costs. In short, the “anti-ideological” determination to take the politics out of politics is closely related to the social, cultural and intellectual dominance of fear as the leitmotif of our everyday lives. This avowedly interdisciplinary conference seeks to do two things: to describe and analyse what might be termed the contemporary spheres and roles of fear as it is played out both in social, cultural and intellectual life and in day to day life; and to offer ways of escaping those fears. Likely themes might be the following, although the conference is by no means limited to these: - The history of fear as an organising principle of social life. - The ideological role of fear. - The fear of ideology. - Fear of the other; fear of ourselves. - Surveillance, anti-social behaviour orders and the “underclass”. - “Food fascism” and the fear of pleasure. - Medicine and the inculcation of fear. - Anti-education in schools and universities. - The fear of ideas, in both the everyday and the academic worlds. - Fear of the body. - Fear of the mind. - Fear in the media; in film; in literature; in art. - The sophistical undermining of critical thought and theory. - Fear of radicalism in politics. - Fear of catastrophe. - Capitalism and catastrophe. - Fear of financial collapse. - The representation of fear and the fear of representation. - The architecture of fear. We anticipate that these and related issues will be of interest to people working in, among others, philosophy, ethics, political theory, politics, sociology, social policy, literature, cultural studies, history, art, architecture, photography, geography, psychology, planning, refugee studies, urban studies and area studies. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be emailed to Nicola Clewer by 22 February: [email protected] Decisions will be communicated by 3 March. The conference fee is £210. This includes refreshments, lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a buffet dinner on Thursday in a local venue. There are a limited number of places available for graduate students and for people who have no institutional affiliation at the reduced price of £105. Please indicate if you wish to be considered for one of these when sending your abstract; or contact Nicola Clewer as soon as possible: [email protected] Please note: the conference fee does not include accommodation. Reasonably priced en-suite accommodation in student halls of residence will be available on a first come, first served basis for a minimum of three nights. (Further information regarding university accommodation will be provided at the registration stage.) Otherwise delegates are welcome to make their own arrangements. Please note: unfortunately we are unable to offer travel grants. For updates and further information about the centre please visit the CAPPE website: http://www.brighton.ac.uk/CAPPE Contact: Nicola Clewer Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics School of Humanities University of Brighton 10-11 Pavilion Parade Brighton, BN2 1RA UK Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.brighton.ac.uk/CAPPE __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
