[URBANTH-L]CFP: AIDS in Culture (Mexico City)

Angela Jancius jancius at ohio.edu
Sat Feb 3 10:00:51 EST 2007


Call for Papers:

AIDS in Culture IV: Explorations in the Cultural History of AIDS
México City, 9 - 13 December 2007

the 4th conference cycle of "Aids in Culture: Explorations in the Cultural 
History of Aids: Aids and Otherness and Aids in Narratives of Identities

Deadline for abstract Submissions: August 15, 2007
Conference Languages: English, Castilian, German, French and Nahuatl
Homepage: http://www.aidsinculture.org


AIDS is not simply an illness or a biomedical phenomenon. "AIDS in Culture," 
organised by Enkidu Magazine in Mexico City and the International Society 
for Cultural History and Cultural Studies (CHiCS), in cooperation with 
CENSIDA (The National Mexican AIDS Council) and CNDH (The National Human 
Rights Commission in Mexico), seeks to examine cultural responses to AIDS in 
different cultures and societies across a wide range of perspectives. The 
conference will explore the processes by which AIDS is constructed as a 
cultural phenomenon and how different societies in their encounters with 
AIDS attempt to create meaning in health, illness and disease. The 
conference aims at bringing together academics working in all relevant 
disciplines as well as activists, artists and other professionals, and 
promoting innovative multidisciplinary and multicultural exchange and 
dialogue.

AIDS in Culture has already developed into an annual tradition and will be 
organised for the fourth time in 2007 in Mexico City. In 2004 Aids in 
Culture took place in the National Center for Human Rights (CNDH) in Mexico 
City and had artistic and aesthetic responses to AIDS/HIV as a special 
focus. The Artist of the Conference was Rolando de la Rosa -Mexican sculptor 
and painter-. In 2005 AIDS in Culture II was held in the Archivo Histórico 
Santamaría in the city of Papantla in the Mexican Federal State of Veracruz. 
The second edition of the conference cycle had Indigenous knowledge and 
conceptions of AIDS in Latin America, Africa and New Guinea as its core 
theme. The Artist of the Conference was Morgan Alexander -American 
photo-ethnographer-.
In 2006 AIDS in Culture III returned to Mexico City. The conference was 
organised in a large number of special thematic sessions covering a diverse 
series of topics extending from "The History of AIDS Activism", 
"Representations of Aids in Literature", "Aids in Education" to "The 
Politics of Aids and Aids in Politics" and "Perceptions of Aids in Lesbian 
Sub-Cultures in Mexico". The artist of the conference was Arturo Ramirez 
Juárez, Mexican painter, who died of AIDS in 1987.

This year the conference will have a special focus on Aids and Otherness and 
Aids in narratives of identities. Papers addressing related issues as well 
as translations between cultures and re-negotiations and re-constructions of 
cultural identities in one way or another in relation to AIDS and HIV are 
particularly welcome. However, also in 2007 the conference will follow a 
similar model as in the previous year with several different thematic 
sessions addressing several different issues. Papers are welcomed on 
virtually all related topics and themes, independently of time, period and 
space, as well as interdisciplinary perspectives. Also papers of comparative 
phenomena will be considered.

Among the themes of interest are the following:

-AIDS and Cultural Texts: Power and Representation.
-Representations of AIDS in art, movies, music, poetry, religion and 
literature from the 1980s until today.
-Silences and taboos in discourses on HIV/AIDS.
-Aesthetic responses to the challenge. Rituals, customs, and fetishism.
-Cultural practices that influence the spread of HIV/AIDS
-AIDS and collective and individual identities: Race, Class, Gender etc
-AIDS and Politics, Lobbying and Activism: Power, Representation and 
Activism.
-Constructions and reconstructions of AIDS in political, faith and ideology 
based discourse, legal issues and
       policy-making  throughout the world: Who has the authority to speak 
and who is silenced?
-AIDS and theory: Cultural Studies, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, 
History, Anthropology, Sociology, Literary
       Studies and all related disciplines. How do we theorize and analyse 
experiences and the meaning of illness?
-The ,significance' of AIDS for individuals and communities; the cultural 
factors influencing our perceptions of health
       and illness experiences.
-AIDS and psychosocial affects and effects. Cultures of silence.
-Indigenous knowledge and responses to AIDS
-Stories and Histories about AIDS
-AIDS and Oral History

Papers will be considered on related themes and topics from a wide range of 
perspectives. Interdisciplinary perspectives are especially welcome since 
all these topics in themselves stretch across several disciplines: history, 
literary studies, linguistics, psychology, political sciences, pedagogy, 
ethnology, anthropology, sociology...

Graduate and postgraduate students are encouraged to attend and present 
papers. Selected papers from the conference will also this year be published 
in book form.

DISABLED PARTICIPANTS
We are pleased to announce that printed conference materials that will be 
distributed during the conference, also will be available in large print or 
Braille on request. If you require sign language interpretation during your 
session, or you would like to distribute handouts or other materials in 
Braille during your presentation, please indicate this in the registration 
form.
Registration Form for Participants with disabilities: 
http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/aidsinculture/disca.htm
Participants with disabilities are recommended to fill in this form if they 
require any special support or assistance during the event or during social 
and cultural activities before or during the conference.

PAPER AND PANEL PROPOSALS
500 word abstracts should be submitted to the organising committee in 
English, Castilian, German or French by 15, August 2007. The conference 
languages will be English and Castilian. Interpretations of the conference 
theme ranging from the predictable to the surprising are encouraged.

Papers should be of approximately 20 - 30 minutes duration (circa 8 - 10 
pages). Other forms of presentation, for instance workshops, panel debates 
and poster sessions will be considered on request.

PROPOSALS FOR PANEL SESSIONS
Typically, a panel of academic papers should include 3 (maximum 4) speakers 
and 1 moderator (session chair). Each session will last for 2 hours allowing 
for 30 minutes for each speaker and a further 30 minutes for questions and 
discussion.

Proposers should submit:
(1) Session title and a session intro (ca 100 words),
(2) Paper titles,
(3) Abstracts for each paper (500 words),
(4) Short biography for each participant and the panel chair (ca 100-150 
words),
(5) Institutional affiliation and address for each participant,
(6) Audio-visual and other technical requirements.
If you would like to propose a panel session, and want assistance in finding 
speakers and/or a session chair, we can publish a call for papers for your 
panel session on the conference web site and distribute it in our 
newsletter. If you have an idea for a thematic panel session and would like 
us to publish a call for papers on the conference website, please send us a 
proposal by e-mail to info at enkidumagazine.com

PROPOSALS FOR INDIVIDUAL PAPERS
Abstracts are to be submitted by 15th of August 2007, along with the 
presenter's name, address, telephone, email, and institutional affiliation. 
It is recommended to use the form here: 
http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/aidsinculture/registration_en.htm when 
submitting an abstract. However, abstracts will also be accepted as e-mail 
attachments to info at enkidumagazine.com.
All correspondence for this conference will be conducted via email. You will 
be notified by the 15th of September 2007 whether your proposal has been 
accepted or rejected. Full conference papers should be submitted by the 1st 
of November 2006. Abstracts and summaries of the conference papers will be 
made available at the conference web page from August 2007.
Email: info at enkidumagazine.com

Visit the website at 
http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/aidsinculture/intro_en.htm 



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