In a climate dominated by the resurgence of nationalism and the proliferation of populist discourses it is extremely important to keep the debates on transnationalism and multiculturalism open. This will help dispel the fear of the other that is at the core of the aforementioned phenomena and ultimately contribute to the creation of more inclusive societies.
This interdisciplinary conference is designed to address the above challenge. It aims to explore the relationship between space and culture, focusing in particular on the circulation of ideas and the interaction of different cultural forms in a globalized world. This conference will add to recent debates on transnationalism and multiculturalism. More precisely, the conference addresses the relationship between space, culture, identity and power from the intersection of language studies (including English and Anglophone studies), cultural studies, cultural geography, political studies, and area studies.
The conference will be held on 7-8 September 2017 at York St John University (7 September) and University of Hull (8 September). To submit a presentation, please send a short abstract in English (250-300 words), along with a biographical note (100 words) to Dr Victoria Carpenter (v.carpenter@yorksj.ac.uk). The deadline for abstract submissions is 1 June 2017. The presenters will be notified of the outcome by 20 June 2017.
The following principal themes frame the academic debate envisioned for this event:
• National/transnational/global spaces and identities
• Culture and space to cultural space
• Cultural translation
• Transcultural space
• Fragmentation of power loci and the impact on culture
• Rethinking the ‘popular’ of popular culture
• Space as politicised territory
• Transgressing traditional spaces of culture
• Community cohesion
• Cohesive communities
The conference will build upon the existing expertise in the above themes and invite cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary engagement with the themes, which are reflective of the current contribution by the Arts and Humanities researchers (including scholars of Modern Languages) to tackling global challenges and helping build cohesive communities in the face of the changing global cultural landscape.
The conference will be of interest to the representatives of multiple disciplines and the publications to follow will include the best contributions. The conference will present an opportunity for networking and establishing connections across disciplines to undertake more in-depth investigation into individual themes. Following the contribution from the keynote speakers (described above in Section 6), the two respondents will open up interdisciplinary possibilities between Modern Languages and, respectively, English Studies broadly understood as well as Cultural Geography.
There are plans to produce two types of publications. First, a collected volume (co-edited by the conference organisers) will be published on the theme of global spaces and identities. Secondly, several special issues with area-specific perspectives on the themes covered by the conference can be proposed by guest editors to high ranking academic journals in relevant fields.