[ecrea] Imagining 'We' in the Age of 'I': Symposium

Imagining ‘We’ in the Age of ‘I’: Romance and Social Bonding in 
Contemporary Culture
Friday 28th September, University of Warwick
** Our provisional programme is now available *** 
<https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/symposium/provisional_programme_symposium.docx>** 
<https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/symposium/provisional_programme_symposium.docx>** 
<https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/symposium/provisional_programme_symposium.docx>*here* 
<https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/symposium/provisional_programme_symposium.docx> *
*This event is free but please use our **Booking Form* 
<https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/symposium/bookingform/>* to 
reserve your place. *We recommend booking early to avoid disappointment 
as spaces are not unlimited. Booking will close on _September 20th_ or 
when all spaces are filled.
The key aim of this event will be to raise questions about 
conceptualising couples and related social groups. It will achieve this 
through an emphasis on the evolving roles and forms of such social units 
in the cultural imaginary and beyond, taking stock of both novel means 
of engaging with tropes of romance, the family and adjacent forms of 
social bonding and new ways of constructing these that respond to, 
mediate and feed back into shaping cultural trends in this domain. For 
instance:

  *
    What new means of understanding and depicting romance, broadly
    defined, have evolved of late in the multi-media age?
  *
    How do romantic fictions negotiate newly fluid ways of understanding
    gender, the role of technology in courting and work and other
    related, rapidly changing practices in coupling and related cultures?
  * How might modes of imagining children, parenting, family structures,
    friendship and communities generally shift in response to the
    emphasis on cultivation of the self, and the erosion of
    private-public boundaries, potentially catalysed by both
    neo-liberalism and screen technologies?
  *
    How do such new instantiations inflect other trends in imagining the
    couple, for instance in relation to non-normative sexualities?
  *
    Related to this, how does fourth wave feminism – associated with
    online cultures and alliances with marginalised groups other than
    women – engage in dialogue with a genre, romantic fiction, often
    seen as feminine-accented?
  *
    How has #MeToo impacted on romantic courting rituals and
    inter-gender relations as a whole? In turn, how do new
    representations construct contemporary masculinity?
  *
    Finally, how might these questions be nuanced differently in
    specific cultural contexts?

As well as stimulating debate, we hope the event will lead to a critical 
reappraisal of certain common assumptions about couples in particular 
and social bonding in general.
Public Screening & Panel Discussion
Saturday 29th September, University of Warwick.
*Imagining 'We' in the Age of 'I': Screening of **/Her/** (Spike Jonze, 
2013) with expert presentations and discussion with audience, Saturday 
29th September.*
This event is free as part of the "Imagining 'We' in the Age of 'I'" 
project's British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award (see 
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/), 
as well as further generous support from the University of Warwick's 
Global Research Priorities: Connecting Cultures scheme. However,* please 
fill out the **Booking Form* 
<https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/public/bookingform/>* before 
September 25th to reserve your place*.
PROGRAMME
11am - Welcome and '*Approaching Contemporary Romance as/and Social 
Bonding'* - experts Professor Raja El Halwani (School of the Art 
Institute of Chicago), Dr. Maria San Filippo (Goucher College, 
Baltimore) and Dr. Suzanne Leonard (Simmons College, Boston) briefly 
introduce their research in this area.
11.45 - Introduction to /Her/ (Spike Jonze, 2013) by Dr. Lawrence Webb 
(University of Sussex)
For more information on speakers, click here 
<https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/news/events/imaginingromance/public/biogs._for_public_event.docx>.
12-12.45 Lunch break
12.45-2.50 *Screening of **/Her/*
3pm - '*Looking for Mr. Right(-Click): Coupling Cultures Today', *panel 
discussion with Professor Halwani and Drs. San Filippo, Leonard and Webb 
and audience Q&A and comment, on questions raised by the morning 
presentations and/or the film. Chair: Dr. Susannah Wilson (University of 
Warwick)
Followed by tea/coffee and biscuits.
Approximate end time 4.15pm.
Lunch is available from the Arts Centre cafe or other nearby outlets. 
Afternoon refreshments will be complimentary.
Location - Woods-Scawen Room, Warwick Arts Centre (University of Warwick 
central campus, see 
https://warwick.ac.uk/about/visiting/maps/campusmap/CampusMap-onlineCrops-A4_10-17-CENTRAL.pdf_)._
for further questions please contact (m.g.m.harrod /at/ warwick.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(m.g.m.harrod /at/ warwick.ac.uk)>

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