Intersections 2010: "Encounters: Situating
'Relation' in Communication and Culture"
9th Annual Critical & Creative Graduate Student Conference
Submission Deadline: January 11, 2010
Conference Date: March 12-14, 2010
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Intersections 2010: Encounters
Situating "Relation" in Communication and Culture
An encounter implies the unexpected, unplanned,
or unintended meeting of two or
more things: a coming-together of unspecified duration with an unknown
conclusion. Encounters are as likely to be confrontational and hostile as they
are pleasurable or fortuitous. They are open to ambiguity potentially
productive and transformative, as well as offering multiple possibilities for
resistance, struggle, alliance, desire, support, and the assertion of agency.
In many ways the chance nature of an encounter makes it particularly relevant
to the diverse and interdisciplinary fields of communication and cultural
studies. Here, unexpected relations and relationships are often both studied
and forged, transforming existing subjectivities, bodies, identities,
assemblages, spaces, practices, communities, knowledge regimes, and power
relations.
"Encounters" calls presenters to explore the
concepts of encounter and relation.
Many fields are open to new epistemologies, many practices to new encounters
with existing and emerging forms. Where and how have such encounters taken
form? In what space and context and involving what actors? Can we map new
encounters based on past knowledge and experience, or do they defy hierarchy
and linearity? What new understandings or hybridities are generated through
encounters? How have these encounters changed subjectivities, power relations,
or norms? and how have they been reproduced? How do notions of relation solve
or further problematize the turn to relativism? What is the relevance of chaos
and chance? How can communication and culture
uniquely contribute to a critical
engagement with the nature(s) of encounters and with the effects, affects and
relations that may result from them?
We invite graduate students from all related
disciplines to submit proposals for
academic, artistic, and activist presentations and workshops exploring
encounters through social theory, politics, policy, culture, media, pedagogy,
technology, artistic practice, and social activism.
The following list includes topics that people might consider, but is by no
means inclusive; additional topics and specific panel recommendations are
entirely welcome.
Encounters with/through/in:
- Technologies, interfaces
- Creativities, imaginations, materials
- Legislation, regulation, policy
- Identities, subjectivities, subcultures and counter-cultures
- Praxis, pedagogy, activism, community building
- Disciplines, methods, standards, conventions
- Sites, spaces
- Distance, mobility, migration
- Hybrids, networks
- Sensation, sensualities, bodies
- Effects, affects, desires
SUBMISSION FORMAT/DEADLINES
All interested graduate students are asked to
submit a short written abstract or
artist's statement explaining the proposed presentation in light of the
conference themes. Abstracts or statements
should be no more than 150-200 words
(Times 12 font, double spaced) and submitted via e-mail as a .DOC or .RTF
attachment. PLEASE NOTE: Name and contact information should not appear on the
same page as your proposal. Please include a separate page with the following
information:
o Title of presentation as it appears on the abstract
o Your name
o Affiliation: program, university, and level of study (e.g. PhD, 2nd year)
o E-mail address and mailing address
o A / V requirements
o Submission format (paper presentation, creative work).
All information provided to us will be kept confidential. All submissions are
presented anonymously to the conference adjudication committee for peer review
before acceptance or declination. See conference website (link below) for more
detailed submission guidelines.
Workshop facilitators are asked to provide a
tentative timeline highlighting the
duration and one or two general learning
objectives of your session, along with
a clear indication of space and technical requirements.
Artists are also asked to submit a small sample
of their work for adjudication,
by either e-mail or post. If sending creative works by e-mail, please limit
attachment size to 5mb or less. You may also direct us to a URL. Please put
viewing instructions, comments and titles in your e-mail if applicable. If
submitting creative works by post, please mail the proposal, a non-original
copy of the work, and viewing instructions to the following address (well
before the submission deadline):
Intersections 2010 Conference
c/o Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture
3013 TEL Building, York University
4700 Keele Street Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: Monday, JANUARY 11, 2010
Please e-mail submissions (or questions) to: (Intersections2010 /at/ gmail.com)
Conference Website: comcultgsa.com/intersections
Presented by and for graduate student scholars, artists and activists through
the organizing efforts of the Communication and Culture Graduate Students
Association (GSA): http://www.comcultgsa.com
For more information about the Joint Graduate Programme in Communication and
Culture at Ryerson and York Universities: http://comcult.yorku.ca and
http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/programs/comcult/
