IX WISPS CONFERENCE

- Oct. 31st & Nov. 1st 2008
DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY

CALL FOR PAPERS WISPS IX ANNUAL CONFERENCE

• Registration form (PDF 20K)
• Accommodation Information (PDF 33K)
• WISPS (Women in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin-American Studies) website

Papers are invited for the forthcoming WISPS conference to be held in Dublin City University on the 31st October and 1st of November 2008.

TRANSCULTURAL ENCOUNTERS CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: DORIS SOMMER AND ANA GARCÍA BERGUA

Cultural encounters are more than a coming together of equal and common ideas that meld and produce new ideas. The experience leads to both positive and negative results. Conflicting or complementary cultures can share the same space and inhabit the same national boundaries. What happens when cultures collide, come into conflict or fashion new relationships through encounter? The intention of this conference is to ask contributors to consider the experience of transcultural encounters in any period, space or cultural form. Proposals are welcome from those interested in studying women and gender issues or academics interested in addressing these questions as they pertain to male producers of cultural products.

Possible areas:

• Are transcultural encounters polyphonous or exclusive?
• How can the multiple strands that co-exist in societies be represented?
• The blending of cultural strands
• Who produces culture, where is it produced, out of what blends and mixes?
• Power struggles
• Cultures in conflict
• Changing paradigms and new approaches
• Feminist or Queer theory applied to works outside their usual domain
• The translation and/or interpretation of cultural references
• Canonical versus popular culture
• Heterogeneity

We look forward to receiving proposals for papers of 20 minutes duration and also ideas for panels or possible workshops. Please send 250-word proposals in Spanish, English or Portuguese, including title of paper, and name and full contact details of presenter(s) by May 16th 2008. Papers are welcome from both members and non-members and from both male and female academics.

Please forward proposals to Pat O’Byrne or Niamh Thornton

NOTE: There is a proposal to publish the proceedings from the conference as the WISPS tenth anniversary volume.