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[ecrea] Zoontotechnics (Animality/Technicity) conference CFP

Fri Jul 17 14:46:28 GMT 2009



CALL FOR PAPERS

Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory
Cardiff University

20th Anniversary Conference

Zoontotechnics (Animality/Technicity)

12th-14th May 2010

Plenary Speakers

Bernard Stiegler, Director of the Department of Cultural Development at the Centre Georges-Pompidou
and Director of the Institut de recherche et d'innovation (IRI)
David Wills â?¨ (University at Albany-SUNY)
We are also inviting Avital Ronell (New York University) (participation to be confirmed)

Since the founding of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory in 1989, when the prevalent currents were postmodernism, poststructuralism and postcolonialism, new developments have helped reshape the theoretical landscape. Key among them have been cyberculture, the digital revolution in technology, globalization, and the search for critical modes beyond the human. More recently philosophical-ethical revaluations of the 'animal' and renewed reflections on various aspects of technology and technics, both within and beyond the emerging framework of posthumanism, have provided two of the most stimulating developments in critical and cultural theory that might offer new departures. While there have been numerous conferences and symposia on each perspective, none has been organized with a view to encouraging a critical dialogue between researchers in these two usually separate fields. If Aristotle's definition of 'man' was that he is a zoon logon ekhon (animal having speech) and a zoon politikon (political animal), in what ways has he become a zoon tekhnikon? Is this ultimately necessary to ensure the survival of the species or is it conducive to its transformation? With an increasingly globalized 'humanity' installed in the post-9/11 age of a technology-led terrorism and the credit crunch, the conference will consider these overarching
questions, as well as others outlined briefly below.
In planning our 20th anniversary, we decided to address the future, rather than look back nostalgically on past achievements. This seems a more invigorating way of convening a truly celebratory event. With this focus on futurity in mind, we plan to include a round-table work on the Futures of Technology and Culture that will feature the activities interfacing new technologies and culture that are part of the remit of Beaubourg's Institute for Research and Innovation led by Professor Stiegler. Other conference events will feature performance art at the crossroads of the animal and the technical. We very much hope that the conference will prove to be an intellectual
landmark. â?¨
Possible themes for individual papers or panels might include:
?       The relation of animality and/or technicity to posthumanismm
? The critical interface between posthumanism and transhumaniism, 'life sciences',
biotechnology and bioethics, artificiality and hybridization
?       Futures of life, animality and technicity and of 'humanity''
? Man's relation to technics and technology after Heidegger'ss 'The Question Concerning
Technology'
? Man's relation to animality after Derrida's The Animal That Therefore I Am ? Extensions of technology to redefining art and humanities, not just extending man (cf.
Technology, Environment, Design)
? Work addressing concepts such as the prosthetic, the inhuman, the digital, the virtual, etc.
?       Animality, technicity and gender
We are particularly interested in proposals for papers and panels that engage with the interface between the two main strands of the conference theme. Papers are also invited on thinkers who have addressed both aspects, (e.g. the becoming-animal and the machinic in Deleuze). Abstracts for papers (no more than 300 words) and proposals for panels should be sent to
(zoonto /at/ cardiff.ac.uk) by 31st December 2009.

Professor Chris Weedon,
Chair of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory

Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory
School of English, Communication and Philosophy,
Humanities Building,
Colum Dri
ve,
Cardiff
CF10 3EU

tel - +44 (029) 2087 5606
fax- +44 (029) 2087 4502



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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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