[ecrea] CFP - Critiquing Culture: The Cultural Studies Graduate Conference at George Mason University

The Cultural Studies Student Organizing Committee at George Mason 
University is currently accepting abstracts for our 8th annual graduate 
student conference Critiquing Culture to be held September 21, 2013 in 
Fairfax, VA. Paper Submissions are due June 15, 2013.


Thank you,

Cultural Studies Student Organizing Committee

(critiquing.culture /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(critiquing.culture /at/ gmail.com)>

Critiquing Culture

The Cultural Studies Graduate Conference at George Mason University

2013

The Cultural Studies Student Organizing Committee (SOC) at George Mason 
University invites paper proposals for our 8^th annual Cultural Studies 
Graduate Student Conference. The conference will take place on Saturday, 
September 21, 2013 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

* *

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

* *

At George Mason University, we acknowledge the need to specify Cultural 
Studies as an academic field with definable features and particular 
modes of methodological inquiry. In our view, Cultural Studies examines 
cultural objects as products of the wider social, historical, economic 
and political conditions that structure their formation, and 
acknowledges the interrelationship between these factors. In particular, 
Cultural Studies focuses on power relations and inequalities, which 
shape the horizon of possibilities for any cultural object at hand, be 
it a political discourse, an economic model, or a mass cultural product. 
As a field, Cultural Studies has expanded both geographically and 
theoretically, building upon its origins in the Birmingham Center for 
Contemporary Cultural Studies through the inclusion of a range of 
critical approaches including Marxist political economy, 
poststructuralism, feminism, critical theory and post-colonial studies. 
While the objects of Cultural Studies vary widely, the field aims at 
political relevance and efficacy.

In an attempt to establish a vibrant community for scholars working in 
precisely this interdisciplinary vein, the Cultural Studies Student 
Organizing Committee at George Mason University invites graduate 
students to submit research papers for a conference specifically 
oriented toward the examination of cultural objects, whether through 
Marxist, structuralist/poststructuralist, feminist, or other critical 
lenses. We encourage the submission of papers related, but not limited, 
to the following broad themes:

   * Political Economy
   * Mass & Popular Culture
   * Gender & Sexuality
   * Race & Ethnicity
   * Representation & Aesthetics

*Abstracts of no more than 300 words and a current CV should be sent to 
critiquing DOT culture AT gmail DOT com ((critiquing.culture /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(critiquing.culture /at/ gmail.com)>) by 15 June 2013. Please include 
presentation title, presenter's name, institutional affiliation, contact 
information, A/V requests, and any special needs required in the email. 
Abstracts should be sent as .doc or .rtf file attachments. *