CFP: "Re-Visioning Terrorism" (3/20/11; 5/8-10/11)

RE-VISIONING TERRORISM
An Interdisciplinary and International Conference
SEPTEMBER 8-10, 2011 - Purdue University

Funded by the College of Liberal Arts Enhancing Research in the Humanities and the Arts Grant and by the Purdue University Office of the Vice President for Research
Papers and/ or panel proposals are invited for a three-day conference on re-visions and re-presentations of Terrorism from antiquity to the present, to coincide, roughly, with the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack directed at the World Trade Center in New York on September, 2001. Proposals for panels and individual papers (250-word abstract) are due by March 20, 2011. Refereed proceedings will be published.
The attack against the World Trade Center Towers was tragic for its victims and traumatic for our nation. We all watched those horrifying images time and time and time again. We now all know what terrorism is given, the clear images we have in our mind's eye of the airplanes crashing into New York's Twin Towers. And we all know what terrorists look like. Or at least we think we do. For the past decade we have seen the pictures of Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda followers on countless TV shows, newspapers, and magazines. Those are the visions we have. It has not always been thus. The fortunes of terrorism have waxed and waned over the centuries. While established governments have always railed against "terrorists," frequently at least significant portions of local populations have sympathized with them. With the attack on the Twin Towers on what has come to be known as 9/11, suddenly terrorism came to be considered the manifestation of evil incarnate. It was no longer a subject which could be studied objectively and dispassionately. Its destruction, whatever it was and is, became, as President Bush called it, a "crusade" and as such warranted the expenditure of limitless resources and the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of lives, most of which were unquestionably innocent. After a decade of war against an enemy we are no closer to being able to identify today than we were in 2001 and having achieved none of our original stated objectives, with the exception of the removal of Saddam Hussein and the Bath party in Iraq, it is perhaps finally time to "re-vision" terrorism.
The aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to look at terrorism to see how it has been perceived and represented over the centuries in literature, art, theater, and most recently, in the audio-visual media in the hope of arriving at a better understanding of this phenomenon. While we do not expect to find a unitary definition of and/or explanation for terrorism, we do hope to begin a discussion with scholars from across the humanities and social sciences which will encourage a more flexible response to one of the most serious problems confronting the world today.
For further information please contact Elena Coda and Ben Lawton (Conference Co-Directors) at lawton@purdue.edu or visit our website: http://www.cla.purdue.edu/fll/main/news/Terrorism/
Correspondence MUST include ReVisioning Terrorism in the subject line.

Fellowship: TASI 2011, "Violence Across the Mediterranean to Northern Europe: Theory and Practice" (4/8; 7/17-29)

"Violence Across the Mediterranean to Northern Europe: Theory and Practice"
Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute in European Studies, July 17 - July 29, 2011
University of Minnesota

The DAAD Center for German & European Studies at
the University of Minnesota invites applications to the 11th
Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute in European Studies (TASI). The
Institute will bring together 12 German or other European, and 12 North
American advanced graduate students for an intensive two-week seminar on
the campus of the University of Minnesota. The 2011 topic is "Violence
Across the Mediterranean to Northern Europe: Theory and Practice."

The
2011 multi-disciplinary faculty leaders are Patricia Lorcin (History;
University of Minnesota) and Aberrahmane Moussaoui (Anthropology;
University of Provence, France). They will be joined by guest speaker
Ruth Mandel (Anthropology; University College London, UK). The Institute
offers a diverse mix of seminar discussions of key readings, research
presentations by guest faculty and fellows, and informal discussions of
fellows' research projects. The international faculty team encourages
applications from young scholars in the social sciences and humanities
who are eager to situate their own projects at the intersection of the
four main strands in the scholarly literature on violence. All selected
students will receive fellowships. A reading knowledge of French is
required. Application deadline: April 8, 2011.

Full details and application materials at:

http://www.cges.umn.edu/fellowships/tasi.htm

CFP: Photography, Gender, Representation (3/1/11; 4/22-23/11)

**Call for Papers**

BEND! Photography, Gender, & the Politics of Representation

An Interdisciplinary Symposium
Princeton University, April 22-23, 2011
Keynote Speaker: Professor George Baker, Department of Art History, UCLA


The past decade has witnessed widespread institutional and scholarly efforts to historicize the relation between art and feminism, and between art and identity politics. These efforts unfold in a present that is often characterized as "post-gender" and/or "post-racial." Just as categories of identity seem to lose traction in cultural discourse, so boundaries between artistic media become unfixed. Yet photographic representation is increasingly pervasive, and increasingly bound to the performance of subjectivity.
This symposium aims to consider the interrelated production of gender and photography, along with their dissolution as stable categories of inquiry. An interrogation of photography today requires looking within as well as beyond the boundaries of traditional art-historical frameworks. It compels us to account for the political and social dimensions in which photography participates, and demands that we re-consider the mise-en-scène of photography's production as art.
How has the evolution of photography--from b/w to color, from analogue to digital, from mass media to social media--served to articulate or blur aesthetic and subjective differences? What politics of representation emerge when the individual can be both agent and object of photographic voyeurism, exhibitionism, and surveillance? Might photography's expanded field offer the potential for reshaping feminist politics today?
We invite participants to explore historical, existing and possible relationships between photography and the (re)production of gender, from the perspectives of visual culture, philosophy, (art) history, and art practice. Papers might consider photography in relation to:
gender bending - histories and politics of sexuality - performance and/or portraiture - the construction of masculinity - women artists - representations of gender, race, and class - advocacy, activism, and political practice - feminist politics, ethics, and aesthetics - medical and biological discourses - capitalism, terrorism, and war
We welcome submissions from graduate students and emerging scholars in all fields and disciplines. Please submit a CV and 300-word abstract for a 20-minute paper by March 1, 2011 to Frances Jacobus-Parker, Elena Peregrina-Salvador, and Mareike Stoll at princetonphotography2011@gmail.com.

Alliance Française: "La Nuit de la Pub!" (3/7, 7pm)

The Alliance Francaise of Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design will be featuring an evening of French advertisements "La nuit de la Pub" (The Night of the Ad) on Monday, March 7th at 7:00 p.m. Founder and Director of the "media think tank" La Maison de la Pub in Paris, Anne Saint Dreux will lead the evening with screenings of French and International commercials focused on women in advertisements.



This is great opportunity for students studying French language and culture.
*Please note: For student groups of 15+ who have registered by Feb. 25, tickets are only $7 a person.
Event: The Night of the Ad (La Nuit de la Pub): French Women in Advertising
Hosts: Alliance Française de Minneapolis/ St. Paul & MCAD
Location: Auditorium 150, MCAD Campus, 2501 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis
Date: Monday, March 7, 2011
Time: 7:00pm
Tickets: $15; $10 for Members of Alliance Française
Ticket Information: bonjour@afmsp.org or 612-332-0436
Directions: www.mcad.edu
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at communications@afmsp.org or bonjour@afmsp.org .

Alliance Française: "Soirée à La Fontaine des Abeilles" (2/26, 7pm)

The Alliance Française de Minneapolis/St. Paul invites you to "Soirée à La Fontaine des Abeilles". Whether you are familiar with the famous French fabulist, Jean La Fontaine or not, this will be an evening you do not want to miss! Join us at the Alliance for an evening of singing, performances and a presentation by Professor Max Adrien, of Hamline University, on Saturday, February 26 from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Entrance is free and all presentations will be in French. The event is for all ages and we encourage families, students and all Francophiles to attend!




Event: Soirée à La Fontaine des Abeilles
Host: Alliance Francaise de Minneapolis/St. Paul
Where: Grande Salle of the Alliance, 113 North First Street, Minneapolis
When: Saturday Feb. 26th: 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Entry Fee: Free
Performers:
The Chorale of the French Academy of St. Louis Park
Mourad & Hassiba Ammi
Philippe Gallandat
Yvonne Peralta
Presentation: Max Adrien, Hamline University
More information: bonjour@afmsp.org or call (612) 332- 0436

Lecture: Sanyal, "Migrations of the Plague: Albert Camus, The Concentrationary, and Terror" (2/18,)

Join us for a lecture by

Debarati Sanyal, University of California, Berkeley

Friday, February 18th
4-6pm
Nicholson Hall 125



This talk offers a discussion of Albert Camus's competing canonizations as exemplary witness to the Holocaust, as apologist of French imperialism, and as critic of terror. Through a reading of his figure of the plague and its contemporary circulation on both sides of the Mediterranean, the paper explores points of overlap and tension between distinctive legacies of historical violence when these are brought together in allegorical form.

A ne pas oublier: fabula.org!

Quelle mine d'information!



For fellowship and job-seekers, see the appels & postes section.
For inspiration, curiosity, and other opportunities, see actualités, the agenda, or just the homepage!

Lecture: "Hollywood, Pirated Videos and Child Soldiers" Macalester, 2/16

The French and Francophone Studies Dept at Macalester invites you in the context of our lecture series to :

Hollywood, Pirated Videos and Child Soldiers, Dr. Emmanuel Dongala


Wednesday, February 16
4:45 PM
Humanities 401
Professor Dongala, winner of "best French novel of 2010," will discuss his personal experience with child soldiers in the Congo Republic during the civil war, which took place from 1997-2000. Starting from a fateful encounter he had with children at a roadblock they were controlling, he will discuss why and how these kids turned into child soldiers. He will explore the impact of Hollywood movies and satellite TV on child soldiers. He will also discuss the current state of ex-child soldiers.
Dongala received a BA in Chemistry from Oberlin College, an MA from Rutgers University and a PhD in Organic Chemistry in France. Dongala returned to Congo and worked as a teacher and dean of Academic Affairs until 1998, when he was forced to leave after a bitter civil war. Helped by his friend the writer Philip Roth, he now lives in the US. He teaches chemistry at Bard College at Simon's Rock where he holds the Richard B. Fisher Chair in Natural Sciences and leads a seminar in African Francophone literature.
Dongala, who writes in French, has published five novels, a collection of short stories and a play. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. His essays and articles have appeared in major newspapers and magazines including ' Liberation', 'Le Monde', 'The New York Times', and 'Transition'. His novel, Johnny Mad Dog, published in the USA in 2002, was selected by the Los Angeles Times Book Review as one of the best books of the year. The film made from the book was released in 2006. His latest novel, (not yet translated) ''Photo de groupe au bord du fleuve'' published last April was named "best French novel of 2010" by the literary magazine LIRE.

Using the Google Books corpus effectively...

(or at least using it to procrastinate in an interesting fashion)... Try this experiment from Google Labs:

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/info

"French is too important to be left to middle-class Francophiles"

From today's Guardian, one academic's perspective on how French literature has created for him "a new mental landscape..."

The full story here...