Showing posts with label prague. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prague. Show all posts

Wednesday 10 August 2011

CFP: 1st Global Conference: Sin, Vices and Virtues

18th March - 20th March 2012

Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers:

In 2008, Archbishop Girotti triggered a heated public discussion when he identified new types of sins that wreak the modern world. The traditional list of the Church Fathers was unofficially updated to include social sins prevalent in what he called the era of “unstoppable globalisation”. and not necessarily embracing Christians only. Thus, apart from the familiar, but Christianity specific: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed, Sloth, which individuals were to test their conscience for, the Church now cautions the whole of humanity inter alia about: Genetic modification and human experimentations; Polluting the environment; Social injustice; Causing poverty; Paedophilia, contraception, abortion; Taking drugs; and Financial gluttony. Not only are the ‘new sins’ not necessarily Christian in nature but they seem inter- and transcultural, disregarding religious persuasion. It seems no longer the matter of individual transgression that has spiritual repercussions, but rather the sin whose subject is the entire, global society.

Are we then to talk about a completely new hamartiology, new schematization, or are we just are revising, or adapting the Seven Deadly Sins to fit the secularized world of the 21st century? What are the real changes between medieval, originally Christian hamartiology and today’s religious/moral doctrines preached across the modern world? And what about non-Christian cultures with different categories of religious/spiritual transgressions. May one actually still talk about ’sin’ at all or is it an obsolete word in a multicultural world? Is the concept of religious transgression being secularised as well? Are all Western sins and virtues other cultures’ vices too?

This interdisciplinary conference seeks a new, provocative, intercultural perspective on some enduring truths concerning virtues and vices, sins and transgressions. Do we need a new list of moral commandments in the globalised, multicultural 21st century? Should they be religious or secular in nature? What are the foundations behind morality of the ‘modern (wo)man’. And, finally, is it possible, reaching back to the origins of humanity, to find common denominators between religious/spiritual definitions of vices and virtues of all belief systems?

Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to the following themes:

* The genealogy of the idea of sin or religious transgression in Christian and non-Christian cultures

* Sinful/Transgressive actions and evil thoughts in Christian and non-Christian cultures

* Lexicon of sinfulness/transgression and virtuousness in Christian and non-Christian cultures

* Social functions of sins and virtues

* Modern sins and vices: Individual and social; religious and secular; intercultural

* Social sins: ‘Institutional’ and ’structural’; their social ramifications

* Communal versus individual sins/transgressions: Do societies sin?

* The concept of sin or spiritual transgression/deviation and philosophy

* Sins and vices on the political arena (secular morality or no morality)

* Psychology of sin (’sinful’ or ‘abnormal’?; the concept of sin after Darwin, Nietzsche and Freud)
* Representation of sins and sinners, vices, transgressions and virtues in art, literature, movies in Christian and non-Christian cultures

* Genderization of sins, vices and virtues in Christian and non-Christian cultures

* Ideology of sin/religious transgression and technological progress: G/god or the Machine; 'sins' of productive necessity

* Sins/Vices and/in the Media (ie advertising)

* Medieval crusades and modern (holy) wars

* Sinless, non-transgressive life in 21st century: Possibility or wishful thinking?

* Fear of the confessional or ‘McDonald-isation’ of spiritual life; is confession needed at all?

* Penitential practices across the ages and cultures

* Punishment for sin/transgression and rewarding virtue across the ages and cultures: individual and collective

* Visions of Hell and Paradise across cultures

* Virtues in the modern times; virtues in a modern man

Papers will be accepted which deal with related areas and themes. Papers will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 27th january 2012.

Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both 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

E-mails should be entitled: Sins and Virtues Abstract Submission.

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

Katarzyna Bronk
Independent Scholar,
Poznan,
Poland

Dr Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road,
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR

The conference is part of the At the Interface series of research projects. The aim of the conference is 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 are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.

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.

CFP: 2nd Global Conference: Trauma: Theory and Practice

21st March - 24th March 2012

Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers:

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues surrounding individual and collective trauma, both in terms of practice, theory and lived reality. Trauma studies have emerged from its foundation in psychoanalysis to be a dominant methodology for understanding contemporary events and our reactions to them. Critics have argued that we live in a “culture of trauma”. Repeated images of suffering and death form our collective and/or cultural unconscious. The second global conference seeks papers on a variety of issues related to trauma including the function of memory and trauma, collective and cultural trauma, time and trauma, testimony and trauma, and strategies of dealing with/coming to terms with personal/political trauma.

In addition to academic analysis, we welcome the submission of case studies or other approaches from those involved with its practice, such as people in the medical profession and therapists, victims of events which have resulted in traumas on either an individual or mass scale, journalists or authors (including playwrights and poets) whose work deals with both fictional and factual trauma, and theatre professionals.

Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:

1. Public and Political Trauma
~ War and trauma, both past and present
~ Public disasters and trauma including environmental catastrophes
~ Disease, public health and trauma
~ Political trauma, silencing dissent/voicing dissent

2. Personal and Individual Trauma
~ Bereavement
~ Murder and Assault
~ Domestic Violence
~ Child Abuse
~ Survivor guilt
~ Disability
~ Witnessing Trauma

3. Diagnosing and Treating Trauma
~ Psychotherapy, cognitive psychology and other psychological approaches to treating victims of trauma
~ Psychiatry
~ Other medical approaches
~ non-medical approaches, for example, narrative approaches, music, art

4. Theorising Trauma
~ Trauma and post colonialism
~ Memory and trauma
~ National identity and trauma
~ Trauma studies and psychoanalysis
~ Individual versus Collective trauma
~ Cultural trauma
~ Gender and trauma
~ The body and trauma
~ External and internal trauma

5. Representing Trauma
~ Affect, trauma and art
~ Dramatizing trauma on screen and on stage
~ Vision and Trauma
~ Media images: reality and fiction
~ literature and poetry
~ Eyewitness testimony
~ video games, violence and trauma
~ technology and trauma
~ reporting on trauma
~ the aesthetics and experience of trauma
~ fear, horror and trauma
~ Otherness and trauma

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 27th January 2012.

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

Colette Balmain
Hub Leader (Horror), Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Independent Scholar
United Kingdom

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.

CFP: 2nd Global Conference: Spirituality in the 21st Century: At the Interface of Theory, Praxis and Pedagogy

21st March - 24th March 2012

Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers:

The contemporary study of spirituality encompasses a wide range of interests. These have come not only from the more traditional areas of religious scholarship—theology, philosophy of religion, history of religion, comparative religion, mysticism—but also more recently from management, medicine, and many other fields.

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues surrounding spirituality in regard to theory, praxis and pedagogy. Our first Conference, held in March 2011, was highly successful, with more than 50 presenters from greater than 25 countries around the world participating.

We seek to expand the range of ideas, fields, and locales of Spiritual work for the 2nd Global Conference. Perspectives are sought from those engaged in the fields of Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation, Business, Counseling, Ecology, Education, Healing, History, Management, Mass/Organizational/Speech Communication, Medicine, Nursing, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Psychiatry, Psychology, Reconciliation/Refugee/Resettlement Projects, Social Work, and Theatre. These disciplines are indicative only, as papers are welcomed from any area, profession and/or vocation in which Spirituality plays a part.

Papers, reports, works-in-progress and workshops are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:

* Conceptualizations of Spirituality

* Social and/or Cultural Aspects of Spirituality

* History(ies) of Spirituality

* Interpreting elements and examples of Spirituality

* The Liminal elements and facets of Spirituality

* Research and/or Pedagogical Approaches to Spiritual Work

* Social and cultural aspects of Spirituality

* Spirituality and Children

* Spirituality in Education, Curriculum Development and/or Pedagogy

* Spirituality Compassion and Reconciliation

* Spirituality and Cultural Identity

* Spirituality and Healing

* Spirituality and Addiction, Health Care, Medicine, and/or Nursing

* Spirituality in Counseling, Healing, Hospice Care, Psychology,
Psychiatry, Social Work, Therapy and/or Wellbeing

* Spiritual and Ecological Maintenance of Health and Life of Human
Beings

* Spirituality as Therapy

* Development of Personality as a Process of Spirit Creation

* Cultural Expressions of Spirituality via Art, Dance, Film, The
Internet, Literature, Music, Radio, Television and/or Theatre

* Spirituality and Communication

* Spirituality and the Environment

* Spirituality in Business and/or Management

* Spirituality and Gaia

* Teaching Spirituality

* Theology and Spirituality – use and/or abuse

* Teleology and Spirituality

* Comparisons and/or Contrasts between Spiritual Theory, Praxis and
Pedagogy

The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of pre-formed
panel proposals. Papers will be considered on any related theme.

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 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 27th January 2012. 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. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a 8-10 page full draft paper should be submitted to both Organising Chairs by Monday 27th January 2011.

Organising Chairs

John L. Hochheimer
College of Mass Communication and Media Arts
1100 Lincoln Drive, Mail Code 6609
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL. 62901 USA

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader,
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire, OX29 8HR

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).

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.

Tuesday 17 August 2010

12th Global Conference: Perspectives on Evil

Thursday 17th March - Saturday 19th March 2011

Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues surrounding evil and human wickedness. 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 altruistics vocations, professional vocations, voluntary vocations, religious vocations, humanitarian campaigning and activities)
  • from the perspectives of ngos (indicatives examples: United Nations, international ngos, business oriented ngos, governmental ngos, quangos, civil society ngos; 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 of 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

Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
Hub Leader (Evil)
School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

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 about the project please click here.

For further details about the conference please click here.

2nd Global Conference: Magic and the Supernatural

Thursday 17th March - Saturday 19th March 2011

Prague, Czech Republic

Bewitched. I Dream of Jeannie. The Exorcist. Charmed. Buffy. Dr. Who. Dracula. Dark Shadows. Twilight and The Twilight Zone. Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton. Dresden Files. Harry Potter. The fascination and appeal of magic and supernatural entities pervades societies and cultures. The continuing appeal of these characters is a testimony to how they shape our daydreams and our nightmares, as well as how we yearn for something that is "more" or "beyond" what we can see-touch-taste-feel. Children still avoid stepping on cracks, lovers pluck petals from a daisy, cards are dealt and tea leaves read.

A belief in magic as a means of influencing the world seems to have been common in all cultures. Some of these beliefs crossed over into nascent religions, influencing rites and religious celebrations. Over time, religiously-based supernatural events ("miracles") acquired their own flavour, separating themselves from standard magic. Some modern religions such as the Neopaganisms embrace connections to magic, while others retain only echoes of their distant origins.

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary project seeks to examine issues surrounding the role and use of magic in a wide variety of societies and cultures over the course of human history. People with access to magic or knowledge of the supernatural will also be examined.

Papers, presentations, reports and workshops are invited on issues on or broadly related to any of the following themes:

  • Magic as "paranormal", anything alleged to exist that is not explainable by any present laws of science
  • the distinctions between "magic" and "religion" and "science"
  • Magical thinking and the equation of coincidence with causality
  • Folk magic and "traditional" systems of magic
  • "Magick" and "Wicca" as religious systems in modern society
  • Witchcraft in the European context
  • "Witchcraft" and animism in African or Asian contexts
  • Magic as illusion, stagecraft, sleight-of-hand
  • Magic in modern literature (ex. Harry Potter, Harry Dresden, the saga of Middle Earth, the Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) and in traditional literatures (folk or fairy tales, legends, mythologies, etc.)
  • Magic in art and the depiction of magical creatures, practices or practitioners
  • the association of magic with the "monstrous" or "evil"; does one imply the presence of the other?
  • the portrayal of magic, magical creatures, and magical practices or practitioners on television and in film
  • the roles or uses of magic in video games, on-line communities, role-playing games, subcultural formations and identities
  • the similarities and differences of magical creatures across societies and time periods
  • the interplay of "magic" and "religion" as well as "science"
  • the "sciences" of demonology and angelology
  • the role of divination or prophecy in societies or religions
  • the use of "natural" vs. "supernatural" explanations for world events
  • Magic and the supernatural as coping mechanisms for individuals and societies

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

Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
Hub Leader (Evil)
School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

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).

For further details about the project please click here.

For further details about the conference please click here.