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Call for Papers "Intellectual Topographies and the Making of Citizenship" 3rd CECC Conference on Culture and Conflict Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura (CECC), Universidade Católica Portuguesa Lisbon (Portugal) 11-12 November 2010 __________________________________________________ More than a century after the Dreyfuss affaire and Zola’s publication of the open letter “J’accuse!”, the intellectual’s decline in our Western culture has become a common notion. It gained ground after the death of Sartre who, like Voltaire and Hugo before, became emblematical of his century. It acquired visibility with the finalist thematic that pervaded the intellectual debate of the second half of the 20th century (the “end of the subject”, “metaphysical” and scientific truth, beauty and history). Adding to this notion, and along with other factors, are the new technological conditions that altered radically the circulation of ideas, the explosion of information, the democratization of higher education, the appropriation of the “cultural” by marketing, the devaluation of Humanities, and the intellectual’s professionalization and expertise. Since the eighties, attention has been paid to intellectual itineraries, currents of opinion and main trends. Typologies and diagnosis concerning the intellectual’s role, evolution and sociological status emerged. The need for his historical agency, either in the traditional role of supervisor and legislator or as a mere interpreter, seems to linger persuasively, conveying the impression that the intellectual institution is neither dead nor terminal, even though the grand era of thought and intellectual fractures seems by-gone. If our online village, with its nonstop news in real time, recycled repertoires, fast-thinking and cyber-entertainment, responds better to the image and pathos than to the logos, the urgent call for their assistance in shaping a more reflexive modernity is audible. They should help us deal with the discontinuities and caesuras with traditions and ideologies, make sense of the general fragmentation of meaning, cope with relativism, deregulations – financial, ethical and environmental –, the ever-increasing complexities and risks of our post-modern world. Decisive seems to be their authority for the definition of a common ground from which to project standards and combat the abuse of powers. Regardless of the field of their expertise, whether they speak out publically from the arenas of cultural wars, often contradicting the mainstream media opinion-makers, or remain private in the safe-haven of their his academia, we still expect them to stay at once detached from and superior to the sectarian perspectives of particular national and economic interests, ethnic concerns, and religious obligations. Cross-disciplinary submissions are welcome, among others, on the following topics: - assessing the intellectual’s role and output in our technological culture - bridging domains irremediably apart, enhancing continuities within the cognitive, political, ethic and aesthetic spheres of meaning, or overcoming obsolete traditions and creating new values - re-contextualizing science in a humanistic perspective - safeguarding fundamental human rights in a multicultural world where there are still cultural wars - racial, of gender or religious - which require the negotiation of cultural diversity - shedding light on the long-term effects of colonialism, totalitarianism and genocide that burden our contemporary memory, as well as on the manipulation of conflicts and wars - re-thinking Europe’s cultural identity as an intersection of cultural traditions and tensions between the local and the global, between nationalism and cosmopolitanism - Instituting environmental ethics from a broad perspective and within multiple contexts as a condition of possibility for a common cultural front Areas of Studies: Philosophy – History – Sociology – Anthropology – Religion – European Studies – American Studies – Comparative Studies – Culture Studies – Media Studies – Literature – Art Conference Language The conference language is English. Submissions: Proposals for 20-minute papers should be sent to <[email protected]> by 16 August 2010. Submissions should include the abstract in English (200 words), your name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning main research interests, projects and selected publications. The Organizing Committee will return its decision by 16 September 2010. A selection of the papers will be published after the conference. All papers should be sent by e-mail by 30 November 2010. Contact: Rosário Lopes Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura Faculdade de Ciências Humanas Universidade Católica Portuguesa Palma de Cima 1649-023 Lisboa Portugal Email: [email protected] Web: http://intellectualtopographies2010.blogspot.com __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
