15th March - 17th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
Hitler. Spitzer. Torquemada. Weiner. Genghis Khan. Lucrecia Borgia. Ronald Reagan. Ivan the Terrible. Bill Clinton. What do all these people have in common? They are all considered “evil” by a few, some, many, or all others who know anything about them. Why? What makes them evil? Or even just plain old “wicked?” What makes them not-evil or not-wicked? How does the label “evil” or “wicked” change our estimation of them? How has the use of those labels for these folk — and others — changed over time? How will the use of these labels continue to evolve?
Further, is evil an all-or-nothing term? Is some one either evil or not evil? Is it a term reserved for use in relation to ’special cases’? Serial killers? Paedophiles? Mothers who kill their children? Children who kill other children? Is it only people who can be evil? Can animals be evil? Can countries or nations be evil?
Papers, presentations, reports and workshops are invited on issues on or broadly related to any of the following themes:
1. Wrestling with ‘Evil’
- does the language of ‘evil’ make sense in the 21st Century?
- what is ‘evil’? What is the concept of ‘evil’?
- when we use the term ‘evil’ what do we seek to convey?
- understanding the language of evil
- ‘evil’ and other possibilities: morally objectionable; morally wrong; bad; immoral; iniquitous; reprobate; sinful; wrong; depraved; diabolical; heinous; malevolent; wicked
2. The Nature of Evil
- the contexts of evil; the ‘meaning’ of evil as context dependent
- the roots of evil
- what counts as evil? Evil, Evils. Is there such a thing?
- the boundaries of evil; the forms of evil; types of evil; instances of evil. Universal evil?
- the practices of evil
- taking evil seriously; enjoying evil; satisfying evil
3. Explanatory Frameworks
- what are we looking for? The possibility of explanations
- what is an explanation?
- what does or should an explanation seek to achieve?
- is evil capable of explanation?
- explanation as evil
4. Understanding Evil
- from the perspectives of the disciplines indicative examples: anthropology, art, art history, criminology, cultural studies, history, legal studies, literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and theology
- from the perspectives of professions indicative examples: accountants, architects, diplomats, doctors, engineers, lawyers, pharmacists, planners, teachers, vets; people working in economics, forensics, medicine, nursing, politics, prison services, psychiatry
- from the perspectives of vocations indicative examples: people working in altruistic vocations,
professional vocations, voluntary vocations, religious vocations, humanitarian campaigning and activities
- from the perspectives of ngos indicative examples: United Nations, international ngo’s, business oriented ngo’s, governmental ngo’s, quango’s, civil society ngo’s; people working with interest groups, lobbying activities; charity organisations; relief organisations; occupational organisations; not-for-profit networks
5. Representations of Evil
- art, art history, visual culture
- cinema, tv, theatre, radio
- music; metal
- media
- technological and multi-media representations
- video games and on-line communities
- subcultural formations and identities
- fashion and evil
- gothic subjectivities and Othering
6. Confronting Evil
- how is it possible to confront evil?
- can evil be resolved? Should evil be resolved?
- the work of Truth and Reconciliation commissions; the International Criminal Court; the role of law and local criminal justice procedures
- the work of international organisations
- the role of charities
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 1st October 2010. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 4th February 2011.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Stephen Morris
Hub Leader (Evil)
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in the Perspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2011).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
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