Polish Association for American Studies

Theory That Matters: What Practice after Theory?
University of Lodz
Department of American Literature and Culture
7-9 April 2010

“Theory is practice.”

– Michel Foucault

In his 1995 book-length introduction to literary and cultural theory, Peter Barry observed that while the 1980s “saw the high-water mark of literary theory,” the 1990s spawned much more critical approaches, and formulated both some radically skeptical responses and various ‘postscripts’ to the broadly understood field of critical theory. According to Barry, the mid-1990s brought a realization that the “moment of theory” had probably already passed. Well over a decade after his reflection, we would like to return to the “ticklish subject” of theory during an interdisciplinary conference that would serve as a platform for addressing the present-day efficacy of theory, its limits, uses, or, possibly, abuses.

Since 1960’s, the term “critical theory” has widened its scope. The changes taking place over several recent decades have introduced a shift in the understanding of the status of the literary text, the critical text, the function of the critic, and the ability of texts, and genres, to exchange identities. Such confluence may have been inspirational and enriching. Judith Butler claimed: “Theory is an activity that does not remain restricted to the academy. It takes place every time a possibility is imagined, a collective self-reflection takes place, a dispute over values, priorities, and language emerges.” For others, however, the burgeoning of theory may have invaded reading practices with academic dryness. In his 1992 essay, Richard Rorty complained that, in an anthology of critical readings of Heart of Darkness, “none of the readers had been enraptured or destabilized by [the novel].”

In relation to such conflicting perspectives, we are interested in how theoretical approaches and formations have been affecting the work of literary critics, writers, academics, scholars and practitioners who focus their research on texts, not only literary. We welcome presentations on the usefulness of theory. When confronted with the work of writers, artists, film directors, or with phenomena or processes of culture, is theory a revealing tool or does it sometimes appear as a too limiting professional frame? Does theory allow the critic to do justice to the object of the study, or does it abuse it, by depleting the text’s energy? Another question is whether engagements with theory help develop some new, specific approaches? Perhaps in the interpretive encounters of texts and “theory” new energy is released: textual, formal, artistic. If the theoretical moment at its most intense is now past, are there practices in our critical interactions and activities that have evolved from theory?

Please send a paper proposal and 200 word abstract, by 10 January 2010, to Dr Malgorzata Myk and Dr Kacper Bartczak.

W nadchodzacym roku przypada dwusetna rocznica urodzin wielkiego amerykanskiego pisarza Edgara Allan Poego i dla jej uczczenia Zespol Filologii Angielskiej Instytutu Neofilologii Uniwersytetu Warminsko-Mazurskiego pragnie zorganizowac konferencje poswiecona temu genialnemu tworcy, pod haslem:

“Edgar Allan Poe - artysta i wizjoner”. Odbedzie sie ona w dniach 6-8 maja 2009 w Bibliotece Glownej UWM w Olsztynie.

W dziedzinie prozy proponujemy nastepujace obszary badawcze:

• konwencje gatunkowe;
• strategie narracyjne;
• organizacja literacka tekstow;
• semantyka czasu i przestrzeni;
• kategorie odbioru i odbiorcy;
• intertekstualnosc, czyli echa literackie.

W dziedzinie poezji chcielibysmy skupic sie takich aspektach jak:

• fonosemantyka tekstu poetyckiego;
• uklady dzwiekowe;
• paronomazja, czyli zwiazki brzmienia i sensu.

Przewidujemy rowniez jedna sesje poswiecona adaptacjom i przekladom utworow Poego, jednak z uwagi na zdecydowanie literaturoznawczy charakter naszej konferencji liczba przewidzianych referatow w tym obszarze jest ograniczona.

Wszystkich zainteresowanych prosimy o zgloszenie checi uczestnictwa na adres e-mail:poe2009@uwm.edu.pl. Termin nadsylania gotowych referatow uplywa 31 marca 2009. Jednoczesnie zastrzegamy sobie prawo nieprzyjecia referatow niemieszczacych sie w ustalonych ramach badawczych. Na stronie internetowej http://human.uwm.edu.pl/poe2009 bedziemy umieszczac dalsze wazne dla uczestnikow informacje.

Transatlantic Encounters: American Studies in the 21st Century
University of Lodz, Poland
27 - 30 September 2008

Program

Sessions

We are pleased to announce an upcoming international conference, entitled “Transatlantic Encounters: American Studies in the 21st Century” to be held September 27-30, 2008 in Lodz, Poland. The conference is organized in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of American Studies and Mass Media (ASM) at the University of Lodz. The conference will offer a forum for discussing issues related to American Studies as seen from the perspective of transatlantic and interdisciplinary research.

We invite proposals from individual scholars as well as groups of three to five presenters on topics including, but not limited to:

• media and society: film, radio, TV, the press, and the new media
• multiculturalism: approaches to and representations of
• globalization, regionalization, political leadership
• terrorism: military and intellectual responses to
• national identity, migration, and representation
• popular culture and its national and international contexts
• interdisciplinary American Studies/Transatlantic Studies pedagogy

Key-note speakers:
Emory Elliot (University of California, Riverside)
Alfred Hornung (University of Mainz)
Zbigniew Lewicki (Warsaw University)

Deadline for the submission of title and abstract of 200-250 words and proposals for panels (350 words, including names of presenters and titles of their presentations) is May 15, 2008.

Please submit abstracts electronically or by mail to the following address:

TRANS 2008
Department of American Studies and Mass Media,
University of Lodz
Skladowa 41/43,
90-127 Lodz, Poland
E-mail: trans2008@uni.lodz.pl

A selection of papers will be published by Peter Lang Publishers (Germany) in “American Studies and Media” Series. General Editors: Elzbieta H. Oleksy and Wieslaw Oleksy.

An International Conference organized by American Studies Center, University of Warsaw
May 19-21, 2008

The aim of the conference is to provide a space for an interdisciplinary and international conversation about nationalism. Theoretical perspectives, as well as case studies from various locations and fields, including sociology, politics, media studies, literature and the arts, are welcome. We invite original papers concerning both the history of nationalism(s) and its various present manifestations. Comparative perspectives are encouraged.

Examples of themes include:

Theories of nationalism and ethnicity
Religious contexts of nationalism
Hybrid identities
Colonialism and postcolonialism
Gender, sexuality and the nation
Collective memory and the politics of history
The idea of the chosen nation
Nationalism and civil religion
Nationalisms after 1989
Nationalisms and the European Union
Anti-Americanism and European identity
Minority rights in multi-cultural contexts
The visual culture of nationalism
Nationalism in age of globalization
Transnationism and nationalism

Presentations should be limited to 15 - 20 minutes to allow time for discussion.
Deadline for submission of abstracts (up to 500 words): February 29, 2008.

Proposals will be considered as they arrive with final notification of acceptance by 15 March.
Proposals should be sent to William R. Glass, conference co-ordinator, at nationalisms.conference@gmail.com