The Age of Anxiety: Literary Studies in a Culture of Risk
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Con Texte is pleased to be partnering with the University of Ottawa English Department's Graduate Student Conference. Presenters will be invited to submit their conference papers as articles to be considered for a special themed issue of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Journal, Con Texte.
Please submit proposals of 250-350 words along with a brief (150 words) bio to uottawa.conference@gmail.com by December 15, 2018. We will notify applicants of our decisions by January 7, 2019. Deadline for Submissions: December 15, 2018 Department of English Twelfth Graduate Student Conference, University of Ottawa contact email: uottawa.conference@gmail.com Location: University of Ottawa Conference Dates: March 8-10, 2019 Possible Topics Include:
Apocalypse Mental & Physical Health New Social Realities Globalization Imperialism Climate Change Gender & Sexuality Racial Identity & Anxiety Industrialization Poverty & Labour Speculative Futures Migration Racism & The Police State Nationalism Political Unrest & Uprising Colonialism Culture in Crisis War & Terrorism |
“We would rather be ruined than changed” - W.H. Auden, “The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue”
Whether understood as a personal sense of apprehension and uncertainty, or as a broader social affect conditioned by various cultural and political parameters, anxiety has expanded beyond its psychological and psychiatric associations and has emerged as a familiar idiom in cultural investigation. In this digital age of constant media engagement, we are inundated with news of threats from all directions. The risks of ecological degradation, terrorism, crime, pandemic outbreaks, war, and political unrest are increasingly visible, but they are not new. Rather, throughout history, cultures have experienced events and threats that resulted in mass cultural anxiety.
Since Ulrich Beck’s seminal work, Risk Society (1992), sociological inquiry has connected ‘risk’ and ‘risk consciousness’ with discussions of anxiety. Social theorist Iain Wilkinson has argued that risk has created a language for anxiety as “the more we recognize ourselves to be ‘at risk’ the more vulnerable we become towards anxiety” (Anxiety In a Risk Society 5). This dialectic between anxiety, risk, and security, then, necessarily confronts sociological analyses with “cultural narrative” (5). From the recurring medieval narratives of cultural reformation, the idealization of the pastoral in the wake of industrialization, to the rise of contemporary post-apocalyptic fiction, fears of an uncertain future manifest themselves across literary history. This conference will consider how writers in different historical periods have used literary form to respond to various cultural anxieties and the ways literary texts across time and space have both recorded and shaped our perceptions of risk. We hope to explore how literary studies should respond to the ongoing sense of political crisis, to examine the ways that risk has impacted cultures across history, to explore how specific concerns configure themselves as subjects of widespread cultural anxiety, and to consider the place of literary studies in informing the ways that societies navigate these ongoing and recurring threats. We welcome submissions from students, professors, and independent scholars in all disciplines. We also invite submissions for academic posters and creative writing. |
Special Issue on
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Appel de textes pour un numéro spécial consacré au PosthumanismePosthumanisme: état actuel et recherches futures Nous vous invitons à soumettre un article (en français ou en anglais) pour publication dans Con Texte, une revue électronique avec comité d'évaluation par les pairs affiliée au programme de Maîtrise en humanités de l'Université Laurentienne. Ce numéro spécial, édité par Caitlin Heppner, Martin Boucher et Alain Beaulieu, est consacré au posthumanisme. Il inclura, plutôt que de longs articles, des textes relativement courts rédigés par un grand nombre d'auteur.e.s et explorant une diversité de thèmes. Les articles feront entre 10 000 et 12 000 signes (équivalent à 4-5 pages à interligne simple). Ils s'intéresseront à des questions relatives au posthumanisme et à la posthumanité. La date limite pour soumettre un article est fixée au 1 juin 2018 pour une publication à l'automne 2018. |
Special Issue on
Health Care and the Humanities - Fall 2018
Searching for Reason and Accountability in Health Care
Humanities inquiries have been at times met with scorn from the hard sciences and from experts and practitioners in healthcare. While theoretical and ethical approaches in the humanities are often contested and at times inconsistent (just like any approach put forward in any discipline), they remain crucial for adequate and ethical practices in both medicine and care.
There are various foundations of human health, medicine, and care which are increasingly distrusted. The volume and accessibility of information does not necessarily hinder our clarity but, in an age of increasing resources and information, the ability to efficiently sift through and comprehend data is increasingly valuable. The process by which a humanities inquiry comes to positivistic and evidence-based conclusions aids in both knowledge dissemination and in encouraging trust in expert opinion and care. This creative, speculative, critical, and self-reflective type of inquiry can enable us to escape the rigid formulae of scientific methodologies and healthcare practices if these latter become too dogmatic instead of self-critical, or too materialistic instead of humanistic.
With the second issue of Con Texte, we aim to explore human healthcare and healthcare policies through the theoretical frameworks offered by the disciplines in the humanities such as philosophy, religious studies, cultural studies, literature, and music among many others. We seek full paper submissions (3,000 - 7,000 words) from scholars at all levels and seek a variety of theoretical positions, silenced opinions, thoughtful critiques, and strange perspectives about the value of the humanities.
Please send your submission to contexte.journal@gmail.com.
Submission Deadline: May 31st 2018.
Humanities inquiries have been at times met with scorn from the hard sciences and from experts and practitioners in healthcare. While theoretical and ethical approaches in the humanities are often contested and at times inconsistent (just like any approach put forward in any discipline), they remain crucial for adequate and ethical practices in both medicine and care.
There are various foundations of human health, medicine, and care which are increasingly distrusted. The volume and accessibility of information does not necessarily hinder our clarity but, in an age of increasing resources and information, the ability to efficiently sift through and comprehend data is increasingly valuable. The process by which a humanities inquiry comes to positivistic and evidence-based conclusions aids in both knowledge dissemination and in encouraging trust in expert opinion and care. This creative, speculative, critical, and self-reflective type of inquiry can enable us to escape the rigid formulae of scientific methodologies and healthcare practices if these latter become too dogmatic instead of self-critical, or too materialistic instead of humanistic.
With the second issue of Con Texte, we aim to explore human healthcare and healthcare policies through the theoretical frameworks offered by the disciplines in the humanities such as philosophy, religious studies, cultural studies, literature, and music among many others. We seek full paper submissions (3,000 - 7,000 words) from scholars at all levels and seek a variety of theoretical positions, silenced opinions, thoughtful critiques, and strange perspectives about the value of the humanities.
Please send your submission to contexte.journal@gmail.com.
Submission Deadline: May 31st 2018.
Humane Resistance
Issue One - Fall 2017
This issue is available through OJS and Scholar's Portal. Submissions are closed, but we always accept papers on varying topics with a variety of perspectives. Please feel free to submit all completed work.
The Humanities as a Form of Resistance
The first issue of Con Texte, Laurentian University’s interdisciplinary humanities graduate student journal, will explore the various forms of text that ignite revolutionary forms of political and social resistance. Works should reflect the ever present need for political resistance as expressed through the humanities and emphasize the role and importance of text as a means of pedagogy, revolution, and reformation. When politics fall into dangerous and threatening forms, many of us have few alternatives for opposition. This edition will explore the importance of text in maintaining our sense of the world, creating culture and national identity, and centring our communities within their own power.
We are looking for submissions exploring a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:
• feminist literature, philosophy, and all other forms of text
• explorations of intersectionality in terms of art, literature and philosophy
• humour and satire as forms of political commentary
• explorations of empowerment for community and culture through humanities methods
• scholarly reflections on music, poetry and prose as forms of resistance
We invite submissions from scholars at all levels and seek a variety of theoretical positions, differing and silenced opinions, and strange perspectives about the value of the Humanities. Please send your submission to contexte.journal@gmail.com.
The Humanities as a Form of Resistance
The first issue of Con Texte, Laurentian University’s interdisciplinary humanities graduate student journal, will explore the various forms of text that ignite revolutionary forms of political and social resistance. Works should reflect the ever present need for political resistance as expressed through the humanities and emphasize the role and importance of text as a means of pedagogy, revolution, and reformation. When politics fall into dangerous and threatening forms, many of us have few alternatives for opposition. This edition will explore the importance of text in maintaining our sense of the world, creating culture and national identity, and centring our communities within their own power.
We are looking for submissions exploring a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:
• feminist literature, philosophy, and all other forms of text
• explorations of intersectionality in terms of art, literature and philosophy
• humour and satire as forms of political commentary
• explorations of empowerment for community and culture through humanities methods
• scholarly reflections on music, poetry and prose as forms of resistance
We invite submissions from scholars at all levels and seek a variety of theoretical positions, differing and silenced opinions, and strange perspectives about the value of the Humanities. Please send your submission to contexte.journal@gmail.com.