[ecrea] Call for Ph.d. Summer School of Cultural Transformations

Call for participation in PhD-course:


2nd Ph.D. Summer School of Cultural Transformations:

Cultural Im/materialities: Contagion, Affective Rhythms and Mobilization

International PhD course, 23-27 June 2014, Aarhus University, Denmark

The summer school is funded by the Ph.D. programmes Art, Literature and 
Cultural Studies and ICT, Media, Communication and Journalism and by 
Centre for Sociological Studies Aarhus University (all Aarhus 
University). The event is part of a cultural studies summer school 
network with Warwick University, University of Southern Denmark, 
Södertörn University and Aarhus University as partners. The first 
event in 2013 was hosted by Warwick University.

Organisers
Associate Professor, PhD, Britta Timm Knudsen; Associate Professor, PhD, 
Mads Krogh; Assistant Professor, PhD, Carsten Stage; Associate 
Professor, PhD, Anne Marit Waade

Partners: Warwick University, UK, University of Southern Denmark, DK, 
Södertörn University, SE, CESAU, DK, Copenhagen Business School, DK

Confirmed keynotes
Professor Georgina Born (Music and Anthropology, Oxford University), UK
Reader Tony D. Sampson (Digital Culture and Communications, University 
of East London), UK
Professor John Protevi (Philosophy and French Studies, Loyola University 
Chicago), US
Senior Lecturer Luciana Parisi (Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths), UK

Lecturers / workshop organizers / discussants
Jenny Sundén, Södertörn University
Nathaniel Tkacz, Warwick University
Christian Borch, Copenhagen Business School
Representative from University of Southern Denmark
Anne Marit Waade, Aarhus University
Carsten Stage, Aarhus University
Mads Krogh, Aarhus University
Britta Timm Knudsen, Aarhus University
Christoffer Kølvraa, Aarhus University
Louise Fabian, Aarhus University
Camilla Møhring Reestorff, Aarhus University

ECTS: 5 ECTS

Time: June 23-27 2014
Room and Place: Aarhus University
Cost/ Policy: No cost fee, each participant covers travel & accommodation.
Max. number of participants: 30

Description
The summer school wants to explore the role of affect, suggestive 
rhythms and contagion for the somatic mobilization of agents across a 
range of socio-cultural situations (e.g. protest events, dance halls, 
online forums, catastrophes), practises and processes (e.g. political 
mobilization and engagement, school bullying, youth loneliness, 
xenophobic/nationalist panics). In recent years an increasing interest 
in materiality, space, technology and embodiment has developed in the 
humanities and social sciences combined with an ëaffective turní 
(Clough, Massumi, Thrift, Seigworth and Gregg, Ahmed) to immaterial 
dimensions of these phenomena.
This has re-actualised early sociological theories about affective 
suggestion, contagion and imitation (e.g. Gustave Le Bon and Gabriel 
Tarde), which offer valuable insights to the analysis of a contemporary 
cultural landscape characterised by for instance viral/memetic 
phenomena, mediated/networked/rhythmically coordinated crowds, affective 
online communication and political modulation of citizen affects 
(Blackman, Borch, Gibbs, Sampson, Butler). During the summer school we 
wish to collectively explore the immaterial dimensions of the material 
social world and vice versa, discuss the potentialities, implications 
and risks of such analysis in an open interdisciplinary environment.
The event will attract PhD students from a range of academic fields 
(anthropology, geography, media, cultural studies, aesthetics, 
sociology, political science etc.) interested in, and doing research on, 
the affective turn, processes of imitation/suggestion/contagion, the 
rhythmically attuning mobilisation of bodies, and the im/material 
dimensions of culture and the social world.
Possible areas/topics:

    * The affective dimensions of materiality, space, technology and things
    * Aesthetics and affectivity, sensual design
    * Mobilization within public and private spheres of action
    * Viral communication, virality in the media, memes, social media
    * The methodological challenges of analysing cultural materialities 
and immaterial processes
    * Theoretical legacies to the ëaffective turní and new 
materialist orientations within the humanities and social sciences; 
early sociologies of contagion, suggestion and imitation
    * Moral, media and financial panics
    * Music culture, sound, dance and rhythm
    * Industries of affect, affective consumption
    * Tourism, black spot/dark tourism
    * Artistic agency, idols and fandom
    * Crowds, protest culture, social movements, (creative/eventful) 
activism, political events
    * Depression, loneliness, bullying, affective exclusion
    * Charity, empathy and sympathy
    * Affect, emotion and power, war and affective modulation
    * Xenophobia, nationalism, the strategic production of fear and hate
    * Atmosphere, aura, prestige
    * Sexuality, porn, love and care
    * The affectivity of catastrophes
    * Blasphemy, fanaticism and provocative politics

The Ph.D.-summer school will be based on keynote presentations, 
workshops and studentsí own project presentations and organized 
feedback sessions.

Exam
The examination will consist of three parts: 1. Full paper hand-in 
(deadline May 15); 2. Attending workshops and doing group assignments; 
3. Paper presentation and discussion of papers.

Deadline for submission
Deadline:       March 1 2014
Send an email to: Marianne Hoffmeister (mho /at/ adm.au.dk)
Attach a description of your research topic and project (max. 300 words).
March 15:       You will get to know if you participate, and you will be 
asked to confirm your  participation.

Preparation for PhD students
April 1:        The organizers will form groups out of the participants 
(5 in all) and each group has to        organize a slot of one hour each 
with a social and/or academic content (e.g.    academic speed-dating, 
guided tours in Aarhus for strangers by strangers, exercises     between 
the slots).

May 15: Deadline for submitting a full paper (10 pages)

Preparation for teachers
March:  Organizers must read the abstracts and form participants groups.

Medio May:      The group of teachers will be responsible for 3-4 
papers, that he/she has read  carefully in advance in order to 1) place 
the paper within the theme of the     summer school 2) to be a 
discussant of the paper and to give an open and        constructive 
feedback at the summer school

About the summer school network (SSCT)
The series aims at creating an international environment of constructive 
academic discussions in the field of cultural studies in order to 
strengthen this discipline in our respective academic communities and to 
develop the discipline of cultural studies according to actual 
developments and new theoretical paradigms. The series aims at improving 
teaching in cultural studies through a meticulous work on theoretical, 
methodological and empirical challenges. It is also our intention to 
build stronger research relations and exchange opportunities between the 
involved institutions and participants. Network coordinator: Carsten 
Stage ((norcs /at/ hum.au.dk)).


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