[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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