[ecrea] CFP The West: Concept, Narrative, and Politics

CONFERENCE

The West: Concept, Narrative, and Politics

8.-9.12.2016

University of Jyväskylä, Finland

What are, and have been, the shifting meanings of the West? Does the 
West exist, and if so, how – in action, identity, politics, thought, 
popular culture, imagination, rhetoric, and academic texts?

During the past decade, we have witnessed a proliferation in studies 
focusing on the West (or Western society/culture/countries/people). 
These studies have discussed the West as a concept, narrative, 
civilization, identity, unit in international relations, and as a both 
real and imagined community. We have seen critical and constructive 
studies, and the emergence of a still unsettled framework called 
Occidentalism.

And yet it seems that the idea of the West remains as elusive as ever. 
Why certain geographical/political/cultural areas are called the West, 
which countries or groups belong to the West, and what socio-cultural 
elements make a society Western? Answers to these questions appear to 
depend on the speaker and the discursive context. Sometimes the concept 
refers to a certain geopolitical formation, political system, values or 
ideologies; often it connotes to a high level of technological 
development or scientific progress; at other times it simply refers to 
the populations who are the richest and consume the most. In the 
historical imagination, the Western world is based on a series of 
interrelated phenomena including Christianity, the Enlightenment, the 
scientific and industrial revolutions, colonialism, and Cold War. Still, 
despite of it being fuzzy, contested, and criticized, the concept of the 
West continues to be current. It is evoked in a variety of situations 
all over the world as a convenient shorthand expression taken for 
granted by both speakers and listeners.

The aim of this conference is not to repudiate the concept, nor to 
produce conclusive definitions of it. Instead, we aim to problematize 
the idea of the West even further, explore its functions, and thus to 
enlarge our understanding of it. We also wish to bring together 
researchers, united by their interest in the idea of the West, to share 
their latest findings and thoughts.

We welcome abstracts from all disciplines within human and social 
sciences to discuss the past, present, and future of the idea of the 
West. Possible topics for the papers include, but are not limited to:

* International relations, politics, and geopolitics

* “Western” culture, society, tradition, history

* “Western” philosophy, science, rationalism

* “Western” values, morality, ideologies

* Christianity, neo-religions, New Age, secularism, atheism

* Capitalism, consumerism, socioeconomic West

* Racial, ethnic, minorities’ West

* “Western” modernity

* The West as an imagined community

* “Banal Occidentalism”

* Antipodal narratives, Orientalism/Occidentalism, “the West and the rest”

* Images/representations of the “West”, “Western countries”, or “Western 
people”

* How to study the West? Theories and methodologies.

Abstracts: 200–300 words, deadline August 31st, 2016. Send your abstract 
with your name and affiliation to: (westconf2016 /at/ jyu.fi)

Venue: Agora Center, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Keynote speakers: TBA.

Participation fee: 40 €.

On behalf of the organizing committee,

Jukka Jouhki & Henna-Riikka Pennanen

Department of History and Ethnology

University of Jyväskylä, Finland

More information on the conference: https://thewestnetwork.wordpress.com.

Follow us:

- Facebook: www.facebook.com/westcom

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thewest2016

- Instagram:  www.instagram.com/westconf2016

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