While discussion on culture has resulted in clearer understanding of one another in the global village that we are now living in, it has also led to clashes where culture has been used for suppression and domination. The discussion is nonetheless necessary if we are to achieve some level of tolerance and acceptance.
This is the underlaying drive to a call for papers and participation in the 4th Global Conference that will take place in March 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 1st October 2010 and papers to be considered can deal with thematic concerns that include Contemporary Rediscoveries and Redefinitions of Culture and Cultural Boundaries, Peoples and Nations.
In the Cultural Boundaries, Peoples and Nations theme discussants will focus on sub- topics like what does it mean, today, to be part of a culture, to be part of multiple cultures? Assimilation, integration, adaptation and other forms of ‘forcing’ cultures on migrants among others.
Other thematic areas Cultural Formations and they could tackle issues like what are the dynamics and processes that define the central tenets of a culture? How are cultures defined and redefined? Who participates in the social and political task of defining and redefining culture? What is shared from cultures? How are cultures shared? Who has access to the sharing of cultures? Symbols and significations that connect people to cultures other than ‘their own’; Culture and the construction of identities: destiny, choice and politics.
Other thematic areas are Politicizing Culture and centre-around political battles over the principles and core values of a culture, the dynamics of cultural recognition and misrecognition; what is the place of cultural claims in today’s forms of social and political membership? Art and Cultural Representations that will focus discussion on media and the construction of cultures and identities; production and reproduction of cultural recognition and misrecognition. Crossing Cultural Boundaries and focus discussion around languages, idioms and new emerging forms of bridging the ‘invisible’ divide of cultures, conceptualizations that foster the breaking down of rigid cultural boundaries, equalizing cultures; recognition and respect across cultures; how to revamp historically old concepts like tolerance, acceptance and hospitality? and an ethics for cultural relations.
Jointly organized by Alejandro Cervantes-Carson and Rob Fisher, the Inter-Disciplinary.Net, Hub Leader and Network Leader respectively, this multi-disciplinary project seeks to explore the new and prominent place that the idea of culture has for the construction of meaning and identity, as well as the implications for social political membership in contemporary societies. In particular the project will assess the larger context of major world transformations, for example, new forms of migration and the massive movements of people across the globe, as well as the impact and contribution of globalization on tensions, conflicts and the sense of rootedness and belonging. Looking to encourage innovative trans-disciplinary dialogues, we warmly welcome papers from all disciplines, professions and vocations which struggle to understand what it means for people, the world over, to forge identities in rapidly changing national, social and cultural contexts.
The conference is part of the ‘Diversity and Recognition’ research projects, which in turn belong to the ‘At the Interface’ programmes of Inter-Disciplinary.Net. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore discussions which are innovative and challenging. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN e-Book. Selected papers may be developed for publication in themed hard copy volume(s)
