[Commlist] Conference call: the Humanities and the apocalypse

THEME: THE HUMANITIES AND THE APOCALYPSE:

Reimagining Utopia, Dystopia and Heterotopia

The 2021 Faculty of Arts Biennial Conference (University of Ibadan, 
Nigeria) invites submissions – papers, performances and posters – that 
critically engage the above stated theme, and the sub themes that follow 
from multiple disciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives.

In 2020, two major global events shattered enduring norms and 
assumptions about our globe. Two of the pillars of modern civilisation – 
ability to assure, promote and sustain good health, and a stable 
democratic system – experienced apocalyptic pressure in ways that had 
not occurred in over a hundred years.
The first of these was the Coronavirus pandemic which had afflicted 
about 90 million and killed nearly two million people by the end of 
2020. The spread, the damage and the consequences of these not only 
stressed and overwhelmed enduring and trusted national health systems 
but also exposed the multilevel fragility hitherto ignored in these systems.

The second is the travail of what had been assumed to be an enduring 
system of government at its very headquarters. The United States 
elections and the steel test to which the institutions were subjected 
shook the basic assumptions about the political stability that that 
global player represented. On the one hand, it exposed the fragility of 
the so-called advanced democracies revealing non-democratic and 
nationalist, even fascist forces often papered over in these 
democracies, while on the other hand it  affirms the resilience of the 
democratic institutions.

In an apocalyptic celerity, these two major foundations of civilisation 
went through a seismic shock, and sites that have been considered near 
utopian became instantly dystopian. In this sudden shift in the human 
imagination of humanity and its achievements and failures, what new 
roles are opened for our understanding of the humanities? In what ways 
can the dystopian elements of the world contribute to the rehabilitation 
of the humanities? How do the humanities enable humans to refocus on our 
humanity and the (re)imagination of our being and our world? How should 
the humanities relate with the utopian, the dystopian and the 
heterotopian? If the global utopia or near-utopia can exhibit such 
sudden fragility, how should developing nations imagine the future, 
development and destiny of their peoples? Should Humanities, peoples and 
governments even conceive of the global west as utopia or should they 
begin the imagining of heterotopia or multiple utopias?

The 2021 Faculty of Arts Biennial Conference invites submissions – 
papers, performances and posters – that critically engage the foregoing 
posers from multiple disciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives.

Subthemes:

·      The humanities and democratic theory

·      The humanities and health

·      Apocalyptic Discourses

·      The Humanities and Africa

·      The humanities and future studies

·      Diseases, pandemics and the dystopia

·      The future of the humanities

·      Religions, spirituality and the Utopian

·      The humanities and political order

·      Humanities and transdisciplinarity

·      The humanities and social imaginaries

·      The humanities and climate change

·      The humanities and pedagogical challenges


·      Fascism, nationalism and the new world order

·      The humanities and conspiracy theories

·      The humanities and the human

·      Humanities and the imagination

·      Humanities and apocalyptic literature

·      Humanities and institutional dynamics

·      The humanities and social (dis)order

·      Writing the Utopian and the Dystopian

·      Re-imagining the Humanities

·      Literary representations of heterotopia


Speakers:

Keynote: Prof Muhammed Haron, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

First Plenary: Prof Felix Enegho, Kogi State University, Nigeria

Second Plenary: Prof Remi Raji-Oyelade, University of Ibadan, Nigeria


Instruction for contributors

·      Contributors should please submit a 150-200-word abstract, with a 
50-word academic biography by 15 March, 2021 to 
(artsuiconference2021 /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(artsuiconference2021 /at/ gmail.com)>
·      Contributors will be notified of acceptance or rejection of their 
abstract by 19 March, 2021.

·      Once their abstract is accepted, they will receive regular 
updates regarding the conference.

·      The conference will combine both offline and online platforms.

·      Conference date: 10-12 May, 2021


Inquiries

Via email: (artsuiconference2021 /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(artsuiconference2021 /at/ gmail.com)>
Via WhatsApp: +2348056414798


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