Postmillennial Sensibility in Anglophone Literatures, Cultures and Media III
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Deadlines:
Submission of abstracts: extended deadline till 30 April 2024
Notification of acceptance: extended deadline till 15 May 2024
Registration: begins on 16 April 2024
CALL FOR PAPERS
The rising pressure of environmental problems on the postmillennial globalised world has fuelled the rapid developments in transdisciplinary revisions and transformations of anthropocentric perspectives. Contemporary studies of environmental approaches to literary, cultural, and media texts are rooted primarily in the discipline of ecocriticism with its focus on the relations between social identities contexts and ‘life’s largest relevant context, the biosphere’ (Garrard 2004). By casting a critical light on the excessive postmodernist concern with language and its claims about ‘the end of nature’ (Volkmann et al. 2010), ecocriticism opens up possibilities for examining representations of nature, environmental issues and post-Cartesian concepts of identity, such as the ‘ecological self’ (Naess 1985), the ‘dialogical self’ (Hermans, H.J.M, & Hermans-Konopka 2010) or ‘posthuman subjectivity’(Braidotti 2013) through new, postmillennial theoretical frameworks of metamodernism, performatism, cosmodernism, transmodernism, or hypermodernism. Metamodernist revivals of romantic sensibilities (Vermeulen and Akker, 2010 ) create a basis for explorations of the ongoing influence of the Romantic imagination on the formation of ecological consciousness (Bate 1991; Buell 1996); cosmodernism relates the efforts to overcome environmental problems with the creation of ‘an ecology of relations, that is, another way of thinking about being in the world’ (Moraru 2011); transmodernism points to the emergence, since the 1980s, of a “planetary,” “postpatriarchal” and “postsecular” cultural shift (Ateljevic 213, 203) aimed at “reenchanting” the world, whose perception and analysis require the establishment of horizontal dialogues among different traditions of thought, as opposed to universalism (Dussel 1994, 2008; Grosfoguel 2008) and hypermodernism (Lipovetsky 2005) creates the potential to explore the devastating ecological effects of excessive consumption patterns.
The conference aims to create a suitable forum for discussions about the fruitful intersections among new aesthetic trends, environmental sensibilities, and post-Cartesian identity representations in contemporary literary, cultural, and media texts.
Possible topics include but are not limited to
• environmental aspects of food representation in culture, literature, and media
• food practices, ecology, and identity in culture, literature, and media
• philosophy, consumerism, and human food behaviour in culture, literature, and media
• food, anthropology, and cultural ecology in culture, literature, and media
• culinary practices and communication in culture, literature, and media
• social ecology of food, consumer behaviour, and climate change in culture, literature, and media
• environment, ecology, and cultural heritage in culture, literature, and media
• ecological identity in local and global contexts in postmillennial culture, literature, and media
• environmental issues and the revival of the Romantic imagination in postmillennial nature writing
• the pastoral, anti-pastoral, and post-pastoral in contemporary environmental aesthetics
• environmental crisis in postmillennial dystopian narratives
• ethnic literature and environmental ethics
• ethnicity/indigeneity/transnationalism/eco-cosmopolitanism/globalisation and environmentalism intersections in contemporary literary and media narratives
• environmental problems and social justice
• ‘empathizing imagination’ (Malamud 2003) in literary and media representations of the non-human
• ecofeminism and environmental aesthetics in contemporary women’s fiction
We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers relating to the Conference’s main topic. Submissions will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis.
The conference also aims to provide a platform for PhD students to present their work in progress related to the conference's main topic.
PhD students are invited to submit proposals for ten-minute presentations of their doctoral thesis projects that should include the main topic and issues, defended hypothesis, and the main methodological framework of their doctoral research. Accepted projects will be presented during a special Doctoral Seminar that will provide an opportunity for students to exchange ideas with their fellow students and receive feedback from senior scholars.
Authors of presented papers will be invited to extend their papers for publication in electronic or print format with ISBN.
SPECIAL PANEL PROPOSAL:
Representations of Participation and Withdrawal as Alternative Food Practices in Contemporary Culture
Petra Filipová, Martina Martausová, Silvia Rosivalová Baučeková
In reaction to the compounding crises facing contemporary eaters, which give rise to various concerns around food consumption and production (e.g., environmental, moral, religious/spiritual, social, cultural/ethnic, health-related, and others), there has been a surge of interest in alternative food practices. These fall into two groups. One group of eaters react by refraining from food practices deemed harmful or problematic. These eaters deliberately engage in eating behaviours characterised by withdrawal, such as veganism and vegetarianism, restrictive dieting, or intermittent fasting. The other group is opting for the opposite approach. They adopt various food practices, such as urban or guerrilla gardening, foraging, or homesteading, through which they aim to increase their participation in food production (and consumption). Fuelling these alternative food practices is either a dream of a utopian future or, alternatively, a perceived remembrance of a nostalgic past, in which food systems will be/were more sustainable, fairer, and healthier.
This panel aims to explore how these emerging practices are represented in contemporary cultural discourse. We invite contributions from a wide range of disciplines across the humanities, including literary studies, media studies, films studies, etc., which discuss this topic in a range of fictional and non-fictional texts.
Conference Rooms
forthcoming
Committee
Academic Committee:
María José Coperías Aguilar, University of Valencia, Spain
Eduardo De Gregorio-Godeo, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Raoul Eshelman, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
Ákos Farkas, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Milena Kaličanin, University in Niš, Serbia
Krzsysztof Kosecki, University of Lodz, Poland
Vesna Lopičič, University in Niš, Serbia
María Losada Friend, University of Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
Susana Onega, University of Zaragoza, Spain
José Igor Prieto Arranz, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain
Richard Sťahel, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy, Slovakia
Soňa Šnircová, P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia
Katalin Szlukovényi Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Slávka Tomaščíková, P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia
Michaela Weiss, Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic
Paul Wilson, University of Lodz, Poland
Organizing Committee:
Zuzana Buráková (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Petra Filipová (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Martina Martausová (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Silvia Rosivalová Baučeková (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Július Rozenfeld (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Adriana Saboviková (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Karin Sabolíková (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Soňa Šnircová (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Slávka Tomaščíková (P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia)
Plenary speakers
PLENARY SPEAKERS:
Prof. Dr. Susana Onega, University of Zaragoza, SPAIN
Web profile
Transmodernity and the Ethics of Reenchantment
The view of nature which predominated in the West down to the eve of the Scientific Revolution was that of an enchanted world. The advent of rationalism in the modern era severed the ancestral bond between human beings and nature, provoking a traumatic sense of “disenchantment with the world.” The lecture addresses this phenomenon and its complex socio-cultural and literary effects before presenting the rise of transmodernity, a postpatriarchal and postsecular cultural paradigm emerging in the 1990s that, according to its proponents, inaugurates a new era of spiritual regeneration and renaissance that will put an end to the disenchantment of the world. These ideas are illustrated with examples of the ethics and aesthetics underlying the literary representation of (dis-)enchantment.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Richard Sťahel, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy
Web profile
Concept of Democracy for the New Climatic Regime
Anthropogenic devastation of the Earth System and global social destruction are accelerating. The current state can thus be characterized as a poly-crisis, i.e. a multilevel mutual interaction of climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, and pollution crisis, but also a social, economic, and political crisis. Several scientific discourses such as the Anthropocene, Tipping points, Great Acceleration, or Planetary boundaries are trying to grasp the complex interconnectedness and interdependence of these crisis phenomena. Their cumulative effect is manifested among other things in the crisis of constitutional democracy, which in its current form is not able to face the erosion of its social, cultural, and environmental assumptions. The lecture will focus on the concept of environmental democracy, which is aimed at harmonizing the concept of constitutional democracy with the knowledge of Earth system sciences and the conditions of the New climatic regime. The concept of environmental democracy develops the ideas that arose within the concepts of political and social ecology, the Jonas principle of responsibility, Morrison's concept of ecological democracy as the constitutive idea of ecological civilization, and Latour's concept of politics for the New climatic regime but considers also the most recent update of planetary boundaries concept. The previous effort of the planetary boundaries concept to identify and quantify the planetary cycles important for maintaining the stability of the planetary system in a state that enables the existence of an organized human society is supplemented by the criteria of environmental justice and equity. The concept of environmental democracy tries to formulate a concept of a political system that respects both the concepts of human rights and constitutional democracy as well as the concept of safe and just planetary boundaries.
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER:
Prof. Dr. Raoul Eshelman, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, GERMANY
Web profile
Theories of Post-postmodernism: an Overview
Over the last fifteen years a large number of theories have arisen that address the issue of post-postmodernism. In my talk I will provide an overview of the different approaches to post-postmodernism by distinguishing between sociologically oriented and text-oriented theories. Whereas sociological theories are marked by conceptual and thematic eclecticism and a lack of empirical rigor, text-based theories can be shown to have arrived at a rough consensus regarding questions of subjectivity, ethics, aesthetics and transcendence. In my presentation I will outline the bases of this consensus, and then focus on the differences and similarities between my own theory of performatism and metamodernism as developed by Robin van den Akker and Timotheus Vermeulen.
Abstracts
Abstracts of papers (500 words max.) clearly defining the topic and the objectives pursued in the paper should be submitted by e-mail as WORD attachments to: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soňa Šnircová ( postmil.sensibility.3@gmail.com ) by 30 APRIL 2024.
Authors of presented papers will be invited to extend their papers for publication in electronic or print format with ISBN.
PhD students are invited to submit proposals for ten-minute presentations of their doctoral thesis projects that should include the main topic and issues, defended hypothesis, and the main methodological framework of their doctoral research. Accepted projects will be presented during a special Doctoral Seminar that will provide an opportunity for students to exchange ideas with their fellow students and receive feedback from senior scholars.
Programme
forthcoming
Deadlines
Deadlines:
Submission of abstracts: extended deadline till 30 April 2024
Notification of acceptance: extended deadline till 15 May 2024
Registration: begins on 16 April 2024
Early bird registration fee to be paid before 31 MAY 2024.
Submissions
Abstracts of papers (500 words max.) clearly defining the topic and the objectives pursued in the paper should be submitted by e-mail as WORD attachments to: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soňa Šnircová ( postmil.sensibility.3@gmail.com ) by 30 APRIL 2024.
PhD students are invited to submit proposals for ten-minute presentations of their doctoral thesis projects that should include the main topic and issues, defended hypothesis, and the main methodological framework of their doctoral research. Accepted projects will be presented during a special Doctoral Seminar that will provide an opportunity for students to exchange ideas with their fellow students and receive feedback from senior scholars.
Authors of presented papers will be invited to extend their papers for publication in electronic or print format with ISBN.
Registration
Registration fees
Early bird registration fee to be paid before 31 May 2024: 80 EUR
Early bird registration fee for PhD students and accompanying persons to be paid before 31 May 2024: 40 EUR
Standard registration fee to be paid between 31 May 2024 – 20 June 2024: 100 EUR
Standard registration fee for PhD students and accompanying persons to be paid between 31 May 2024 – 20 June 2024: 50 EUR
Registration of MA and BA students: free of charge
You can register through the Registration Form.
Payment by bank transfer to the conference bank account:
Any fees charged by remitting banks are to be paid by the conference participants. It is the responsibility of the sender to ensure that the conference receives the full amount.
Bank details for transfers:
Beneficiary's name: Slovenská asociácia pre štúdium angličtiny (SKASE – The Slovak Association for the Study of English)
Beneficiary's address: Petzvalova 4, 04011 Košice, Slovakia
Bank name: Všeobecná úverová banka, a. s., Slovensko
Bank address: Hlavná 61, 080 01 Prešov, Slovensko
Account number:
IBAN: SK92 0200 0000 0017 9775 5551
SWIFT/BIC CODE: SUBASKBX
Please ensure that your transfer is identifiable by including the message “SENSIBILITY KOSICE 2024” and your name, e.g. “SENSIBILITY KOSICE 2024 James Jameson.”
Receipts
Reception of payment will be confirmed by e-mail. Printed invoices will be issued and sent by e-mail upon request, or they can be collected at the conference venue check-in.
Cancellation
The registration fee will be refunded for cancellations made before June 1, 2024. No registration fee refunds will be made for cancellations after that date (bank charges to be borne by the participant).
Registration form
Conference proceedings
Authors of presented papers will be invited to extend their papers for publication in electronic or print format with ISBN.
Further information forthcoming.