[ecrea] CFP VCS Graduate Conference, "Drawing Together: Solidarities, Pictures, and Politics"

This is a reminder that submissions to the 10th Visual and Cultural 
Studies Graduate Conference, "Drawing Together: Solidarities, Pictures, 
and Politics", are due on February 15. The conference will take place on 
April 17-18, and we are pleased to announce that Jared Sexton, Associate 
Professor of African American Studies and Film & Media Studies at the 
University of California, Irvine, will be the keynote speaker.

Please take a look at our call for papers and send it along to anyone 
else who might be interested!


/InVisible Culture/
503A Morey Hall
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627

http://ivc.lib.rochester.edu




*Drawing Together: Solidarities, Pictures, and Politics*
10th Visual and Cultural Studies Graduate Conference
University of Rochester
April 17-18, 2015

Keynote speaker:
Jared Sexton, African American Studies and Film & Media Studies, 
University of California, Irvine

"Solidarity" recalls notions of inclusivity, activism, and movement. 
Adopted from the French solidarité in the early 19th century, the word 
continues to indicate the communal union of interests or aspirations, as 
well as collective responsibility. From its use by labor unions to its 
association with socialism and communism, solidarity has historically 
been made to bear a sense of the political. We recognize in the powerful 
images of recent events a renewed need to assess strategies of 
togetherness, both historical and contemporary. We propose this topic 
with the aim of critically engaging pictures and their power to mobilize 
both differences and commonalities. Can we envision solidarity outside 
the pursuit of common political aims? Can we find common ground amidst 
different struggles?

We invite scholars, artists, and activists to draw upon our 
understanding of solidarity and the visual dimensions in which 
solidarity is organized in social movements, represented in art and 
activism, and studied in and out of the academy. Possible topics might 
include, but are by no means limited to:

· Artistic practice in political movements (labor, civil rights, climate 
change)
· Tactics and strategies of historical and contemporary grassroots movements
· Media images, hashtag #solidarity, spectacle
· Protest songs, union anthems, "The Internationale," "Solidarity Forever"
· Armchair activism, "slacktivism," and the ethics of involvement
· Documentation of collectivity, alternative journalism
· The politics of love and kinship

We invite individual submissions as well as pre-constituted panels (of 
3-4 presenters) in the form of 300 word abstracts (for 20-minute paper 
presentations) and 100 word bios for each presenter, to be sent to 
(vcsconference /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(vcsconference /at/ gmail.com)> by February 15, 
2015. Please see our website for the most up-to-date information: 
http://humanities.lib.rochester.edu/vcsconference

Select presenters may be invited to revise presentations for publication 
at InVisible Culture: An Electronic Journal of Visual Culture 
(http://ivc.lib.rochester.edu)
.

About the Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the 
University of Rochester: http://www.rochester.edu/college/vcs