[Commlist] Relational Forms VI -- call for papers

Relational Forms VI
Imag(in)ing the Nation:
Literature, the Arts and Processes of National Construction
2 - 4 December 2021

an international conference hosted by the
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, Portugal

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Jeremy Black (Professor Emeritus, University of Exeter)
Roy Foster (Professor of Irish History and Literature, Queen Mary Univ. 
London)
Uta Staiger (Associate Professor of European Studies, University College 
London)

According to scholars, criteria for nationhood have typically involved a 
commonality of ethnicity, language or religion, historically prolonged 
occupation of a stretch of land, frequently linked to the existence of a 
state apparatus, collective experience, and shared memories. Literature 
and the other arts have often been mobilized to support (if not 
altogether participate in the construction of) this sense of belonging 
and identity, which they can also challenge and complicate. Nationalism 
may simply be described as the most extreme form of such engagements and 
allegiances. In his 1945 essay “Notes on Nationalism”, George Orwell 
denounces the characteristic aggressiveness and single-mindedness of the 
nationalist, as well as the peculiar indifference to reality such 
attitudes entail. Orwell’s essay betrays a sense of urgency derived both 
from the hazards of the Second World War and from the perceived 
political and ideological threats of the approaching Cold War – a term 
he would himself coin. More recently, adopting the more poised stance of 
the historian, Jeremy Black has observed that nationalism “is a feeling 
as much as a principle. It manifests powerful emotional elements as well 
as the interaction of the ‘deep histories’ of particular national, or 
would-be national, groups with the contexts and expressions of these 
‘deep histories’ in specific circumstances” (2018). And a pervasive 
tension between accounts of the past and versions of an envisaged future 
often energises the historiographic process; as noted by Roy Foster, 
“The most illuminating history is often written to show how people acted 
in the expectation of a future that never happened” (2002).

Such remarks emphasize the intersecting of ideologies and practices of 
memory, of emotional commitment and institutional constraints. It is at 
these crossroads that literature and the other arts have often played a 
role in presenting, critically assessing and reformulating discourses of 
nationhood that may be seen as either conservative, progressive or 
subversive. This conference is aimed at addressing this vast 
problematic. The conference marks the centenary of the partition of 
Ireland (1921), and, taking place at this time in history, inevitably 
intends to reflect on the meaning of the circumstances leading to and 
arising from Brexit. The focus of the conference is however intended to 
be broad and international, as well as intermedial, in keeping with the 
rationale that has been guiding the Relational Forms research group.

The organisers will welcome proposals for 20-minute papers in English 
responding to the above. Suggested (merely indicative) topics include:
• literature, the arts, and the ideology/ies of nation
• culture and the nation-state
• nation, nostalgia, trauma, exaltation, utopia
• institutions of national memory: academies, museums, libraries, archives
• genres and practices of nation-building: historical fiction, 
historical painting, historiography
• rival discourses of patriotism and identity
• nation(alism), aggressiveness, prejudice and intolerance
• identity, peace and conflict
• nation and class, nation and gender
• the nation, the state and the education of the citizen
• remediating the political imagination: from literature to audiovisual 
to digital media

As indicated by the number in its title, this conference is the sixth in 
a series of academic events that reflect the ongoing concerns of the 
eponymous research group (Relational Forms), based at CETAPS (the Centre 
for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies).

Submissions should be sent by email to (relational /at/ letras.up.pt) 
<mailto:(relational /at/ letras.up.pt)>

Please include RF6 in the subject line of your email and organise your 
proposal into two separate files:
• a file containing the full title and a 250-300 word description of 
your paper;
• a file containing the author’s data: name, affiliation, contact 
address, paper title and author’s bio-note (150 words).
                  Please name these two documents as follows:
Surname_Name_Abstract_RF6
Surname_Name_AuthorInfo_RF6

Deadline for proposals: 20 September 2021
Notification of acceptance: 15 October 2021
Deadline for registration: 15 November 2021

Registration Fee: 80 Euros
Student fee: 65 Euros
Registration details will be posted online in October 2021

All delegates are responsible for their own travel arrangements and 
accommodation.
More information available later at http://www.cetaps.com/events 
<http://www.cetaps.com/events>

Organised by the Relational Forms research area
http://www.cetaps.com/research-areas/relational-forms-medial-and-textual-transits-in-ireland-and-britain/ 
<http://www.cetaps.com/research-areas/relational-forms-medial-and-textual-transits-in-ireland-and-britain/>

Executive Committee:
Rui Carvalho Homem (coord.) | Jorge Bastos da Silva | Miguel Ramalhete 
Gomes | Jorge Almeida e Pinho | Márcia Lemos | Katarzyna Pisarska | Mark 
Wakefield

For further queries please contact:
CETAPS – Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto
Via Panorâmica, s/n
4150-564 PORTO
PORTUGAL (relational /at/ letras.up.pt) <mailto:(relational /at/ letras.up.pt)>


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------