Tag Archives: trauma

CFP: 54th Annual CompLit Conference: “Cultural Memory and Trauma: Literary and Visual Representations”

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The Comparative World Literature Program at California State University, Long Beach, invites abstracts for presentations at its 54th annual conference in Long Beach, California. This year we would like participants to consider the relationship between trauma and memory, both individual and collective memory and their intersections, within a variety of disciplinary contexts. How is a cultural memory formed, or how do cultures remember the past? How do different voices/media contribute to constructing a cultural memory? How does the act of commemorating trauma affect or even alter the way that an experience is remembered?

We invite papers on the following topics, which can include but are not limited to:

between memory and history: cultural memory as representation
in tension with the past: absence and memory
embodied memory: the body as container and conveyer of memory
the role of objects in preserving cultural memory
cultural memory, trauma, and ritual: the role of religion
individual experience and cultural memory: post-colonial approaches
transmitting traumatic memories: the role of culture
the female/trans/queer/etc. body as a carrier of memory
the phenomenon of Holocaust deniers / deniers in general: contesting cultural memory
testimonials / bearing witness: the importance of oral tradition within cultural memory
cultural cognition: how cultural values shape risk perception
the role of culture in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
dealing with trauma through comedy & mediated memory

Proposals for 15-20 minute presentations should clearly explain the relationship of the paper to the conference theme, describe the evidence to be examined, and offer tentative conclusions. Abstracts of no more than 300 words (not including optional bibliography) should be submitted by January 31, 2019. Please submit abstracts as a Word document as an email attachment to comparativeworldliterature@gmail.com. Please do not embed proposals in the text of the email. The conference committee will review all proposals, with accepted papers receiving notification by February 21, 2019.

CfP: Politics of Memory and Trauma

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ICAS 11: Politics of Memory and Trauma
16 – 19 July 2019
Leiden University

The LDE Centre for Global Heritage and Development will organize a panel on the “Contested Heritage and the Politics of Memory and Trauma” as part of the International Convention of Asia Scholars, which will be organized at Leiden University from 16 – 19 July 2019. The panel intends to discuss the notion of “contested heritage”, in light of the politics of memory and trauma.

Wars and conflicts have a direct impact on the tangible environment. Military architectures, war ruins, wrecks and monumental memorials all together form what is known as conflict heritage. In Asia, a significant share of conflict heritage remains absent from the heritage discourse. This may be attributed to many reasons, of which: the lack of a proper recognition of this specific category of heritage. Second, the contested nature of the heritage prevent governments from touching upon the subject, especially in the cases where human causalities were involved. Third, the conflict of interests which results from the economic value of this heritage. For instance, the collection of rare types of aircraft wreckage or the activities carried by metal salvagers. What can we do to safeguard this type of heritage from its biggest threat: oblivion?

With this session we hope to raise awareness on this particular category of heritage, especially with policy makers.

While we welcome all contributions that are relevant to the theme of the panel, we particularly encourage contributions that address the following topics:

. New theoretical approaches to defining conflict heritage, with respect to the Asian context.
. Case studies from Asia that investigates the politics and dynamics of memory that surrounds contested heritage

Prospective participants may send their abstracts (max. 300 words) and brief bios to Professor Carola Hein at c.m.hein@tudelft.nl and John Hanna j.m.k.k.hanna@tudelft.nl by 01 October 2018.

For any inquiries about the panel and the conference, please write to c.m.hein@tudelft.nl

For further information on the conference, see here.

CFP – Close encounters, displacement and war

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Close Encounters in War Journal – n. 1
Call for articles
Thematic Issue: “Close encounters, displacement and war”

Close Encounters in War Journal is a peer-reviewed journal aimed at studying war as a human experience, through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches ranging from the Humanities to the Social Sciences. The second issue (n. 1) of the journal will be a thematic one, dedicated to the experience of displacement as a consequence of war and conflict, and titled “Close encounters, displacement and war”.

Wars in general are cultural phenomena, among the most ancient and deeply rooted aspects of human cultural evolution: investigating their meaning, by reflecting on the ways we experience wars and conflicts as human beings is therefore essential. Conflictis deeply intertwined with language, culture, instincts, passions, behavioural patterns and with the human ability to represent concepts aesthetically. The concept of “encounter” is therefore fundamental as it involves experience, and as a consequence it implies that war can shape and develop our minds and affect our behaviour by questioning habits and values, prejudices and views of the world.

Displacement is one of the most affecting consequences of war. Armed conflicts move people from one place to another, often trigging extensive phenomena of mobility that can influence societies in depth. The United Nations estimate that in the last few years 65 million people have been displaced by war and prosecution, whereas Malcom Proudfood famously calculated that no less than 60 million people were displaced from their homes during the Second World War and in its aftermath. Among them, there were those who had been forcibly deported by the Nazis, the soldiers who had moved with the armed forces and, most notably, a mass of civilians who became refugees.

Today, the refugee crisis represents one of the most urgent problems internationally, and it has a deep impact on political choices especially in Europe. Fleeing from combat zones has always been the only chance of survival for non-combatants, and refugees are among the most vulnerable groups involved in armed conflicts. Nonetheless, displacement can be multifaceted and not always explicit. Long periods of absence from home (e.g. as members of occupation troops or as POWs) may produce significant psychological and social effects on combatants, who would find it difficult to come back to their society, family and cultural environment. Fighting in colonial armies or being involved in civil wars, too, are sometimes perceived as cultural, social and moral displacement. On a broader scale displacement could trigger interesting phenomena of social, anthropological, cultural and transnational mobility capable of affecting national identities and shaping cultures.

Displacement is such a critical problem for modern societies that many institutions, scholarly or otherwise, commit to the study and research of migration from the ethical, legal and humanitarian point of view.

Issue n. 1 of CEIW Journal will aim to investigate displacement by exploring its facets both on a micro-scale, by studying individual testimonies and experiences, and on a broad scale by observing macro-phenomena of displacement throughout history with comparative, critical and cultural methodologies.

We invite articles which analyse the experience of displacement from ancient to modern and contemporary periods, from the perspective of the encounter, reaching beyond the study of military tactics and strategy and focusing on the way human beings ‘encounter’ each other with and within the experience of displacement. Contributions are invited to promote discussion and scholarly research from established scholars, early-career researchers, and from practitioners who have encountered irregular warfare in the course of their activities.

The topics that can be investigated include but are not limited to:
· Social impact of war displacement
· Displacement and transnational history
· Psychological aspects of war displacement
· Violence and trauma
· Cultural encounters and identity
· Displacement and colonial wars, civil wars, international conflicts
· War captivity and other forms of deportation
· Forced displacement, war crimes, ethnic cleansing
· Displacement and transitional justice
· Representations of otherness, race, and gender
· Religion and politics
· Testimonies, personal narratives
· Oral history and memory studies

The editors of Close Encounters in War Journal invite the submission of 300 words abstracts in English by 1st June 2018. Decisions will be made by 30th June 2018 and the completed articles (6000-8000 words including footnotes, bibliography excluded, in English) will be expected by 1st November 2018. All contributions will go under a process of blind peer-review.

Abstracts can be sent to: simona.tobia@closeencountersinwar.com and gianluca.cinelli@closeencountersinwar.com

CfP: The Book as Cure: Bibliotherapy and Literary Caregiving from the First World War to the Present

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This one-day conference, part of the annual programme of the History of Books and Reading (HOBAR) research collaboration at The Open University, will take place in the Gordon Room, Senate House, University of London, on 14 September 2018. It brings together early career researchers and advanced scholars with practitioners, policy makers, charities, and representatives from the culture and heritage industries to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue about the curative power of reading during and after the war. What is the legacy of wartime bibliotherapy? How is that curative power understood now? How was it understood in 1914? How has it been managed since in the voluntary sector and in institutions? In what ways does the legacy of First World War bibliotherapy remain active in contemporary policy-making in the charity sector, and in work with veterans and settled refugees?

Keynote speakers:
Jane Potter (Oxford Brookes University)
Peter Leese (University of Copenhagen)

Led by three members of The Open University’s Department of English & Creative Writing, Siobhan Campbell, Sara Haslam, and Edmund King, this event will contribute to and shape understanding of the therapeutic importance of books across disciplines and help to generate further focused research in the Humanities and beyond.

Proposals of 300 words for 20-minute papers by Friday, 4 May 2018 are welcomed from PhD students, ECRs and established scholars working in the field. Topics include: the healing book; creative and expressive writing interventions; reading, writing and trauma; authorbased studies on literary caregiving of any type; hospital, prison, and asylum reading/libraries and mental health/wellness; curating generative archives; documenting resilience and identifying outcomes.

Contact Info:
Please send abstracts to the conference organisers: Siobhan.Campbell@open.ac.uk; Sara.Haslam@open.ac.uk; and Edmund.King@open.ac.uk

Further information here.

CfP: Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation

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Postgraduate and ECR Conference
Saturday 26 May 2018, 9am-5pm
TORCH, Radcliffe Humanities Building, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG

Keynote Speaker: Professor Marita Sturken
(Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University)

This one-day interdisciplinary conference is the culmination of the Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Series Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation. Over the course of the 2017-18 academic year, the Series has brought together academics, creative practitioners, field-workers and policy-makers to explore textual, monumental and aural commemoration and its role in reconciliation and peace-building. This conference provides an unprecedented opportunity for graduates to contribute to and profit from the Series’ findings. Postgraduate students and early career researchers from all disciplines are invited to share their original research in a conference interested in the purpose, practice, significance and consequences of commemorative acts which respond to and emerge from armed conflict. We are particularly interested in what the future of commemorative practice might look like, and how new technologies and social media are changing the ways in which people remember and heal.

We welcome theoretical and methodological diversity, including critical reflections, and qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Possible topics for presentations include, but are not limited to:

– Textual, monumental and/or aural modes of commemoration
– Digital forms of commemoration
– The future of post-war commemoration, including digital commemoration
– The politics of post-war commemoration
– Post-war commemoration and place/space, ecology and the environment
– Post-war memory and/or trauma
– Commemoration in relation to post-war displacement, migration, settlement and belonging
– Diasporic / exilic post-war commemoration
– Post-war commemoration and the body
– Comparative post-war commemoration

‘Post-war’ can relate to any armed conflict and we welcome submissions addressing commemoration across cultures and time periods. AV equipment will be available and you are welcome to use PowerPoint or other presentation software.

The conference is free to attend and will include lunch and refreshments.

How to apply
Please send an abstract of 250 words for a 20-minute paper and a short biography (max. 150 words) in a single Word document to postwarconference2018@gmail.com by Friday 23 March 2018. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in early April.

Travel bursaries
A number of travel bursaries of up to £300 will be available on a competitive basis. If you wish to apply for a travel bursary, please include a short paragraph (max. 300 words) in your application, detailing how your work fits with the themes of the Series and how your research will benefit from attending the Conference. Please itemise your estimated expenditure.

CfP: Missing Memorials and Absent Bodies: Negotiating Post-conflict Trauma and Memorialisation

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Proposal submissions are welcomed towards this symposium, which will take place on September 20, 2016 at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The event will focus on the impact of absence on mourning work, memorialisation and commemoration, and the implications this bears for effective reconciliation. Drawing on memory, conflict and cultural studies, the area foci will include, but will not be limited to, the Balkans, Central and West Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. In turn, the symposium will consider the following questions:

How is mourning work enacted in the absence of a (complete) body?
How is memorialisation practised in the absence of a memorial site?
How is trauma and postmemory addressed in the absence of mutual acknowledgement?
How is absence represented in the cultural archive?

In addition, proposals should respond to the following themes:

Missing bodies;
Absent sites and ruins;
Acknowledgement and reparations;
Space, place and mapping;
Postmemory and multidirectional memory;
Trauma and post-war recovery.

Submissions from scholars, researchers, art practitioners and activists with a focus on memory, trauma, heritage, and/or transitional justice, will be welcomed equally.

Lastly, funds are available to cover the cost of a return travel ticket and an overnight stay for presenters travelling to and from Amsterdam.

Please submit a title, an abstract of 500 words, and a brief bio, by August 1, 2016 to Luisa Gandolfo (k.luisa.gandolfo@abdn.ac.uk).

CfP: War and its Aftermath: Veteran Treatment and Reintegration in Post-War Societies

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War destroys everything. Even the lives of those who survive the war are destroyed. Financial hardships, trauma, and the demand for reintegration by peaceful societies are burdens for those who return alive from the battlefield of the former war. However, the post-war societies have to struggle to provide sufficient possibilities for reintegration of veterans into the new peaceful life as well. In all periods of human history political entities and states have tried to find a way for such a reintegration without triggering the violent potential that is represented by former soldiers. Despite such attempts, modern nation states and societies still struggle with the task to find a solution for veteran reintegration in post-war environments. The editors of the planed volume want to analyze the historical aspects of veteran treatment and veteran reintegration — without chronological or geographical limitations — and therefore welcome proposals for chapters that deal with, but are not limited to the following topics:

the veteran as a radical force in post-war societies
veteran education in post-war societies
political movements and veterans
paramilitarism in post-war societies
trauma treatments
medical issues and veterans
economic perspectives on veteran reintegration
veterans and memory in post-war societies
veteran rights movements
veterans and the post-war state
veterans and social relations

Proposals (ca. 300 words) and a short CV should be sent to fjacob@qcc.cuny.edu and stefan.karner@uni-graz.at until July 15, 2016. Final chapters, 7,000-10,000 words, using footnotes (Chicago Manual of Style) are due by October 15, 2016.

Contact Info:
Frank Jacob, History Department, CUNY-QCC, 22205 56th Ave, Bayside, 11364 New York