[URBANTH-L] CFP: Performing Tangier: Critiquing Postcolonialism and Performing Cultural Diversity

[Angela Jancius]

5th Annual International Conference
Performing Tangier 2009
Critiquing postcolonialism and performing cultural diversity
May 20-24, 2009
http://icpsresearch.blogspot.com/2007/12/welcome.html

Call for Papers

Performing cultural diversity, re-orienting postcolonialism, negotiating the
future

Informed by various theoretical enterprises, postcolonial theory and
discourse for the last few decades have created unprecedented critical
attention to myriads of constituencies victimized by imperialist
representation and colonial rule. Many postcolonial readings have aimed
primarily at subverting the hierarchical colonial dichotomy and rewriting
subaltern histories. Given the status of our current geopolitical
environment, some critics have already started questioning the relevance of
postcolonialism as a representative discourse today. As the site of diverse
historical, literary, cultural, touristic, and artistic convergences,
Tangier has been and continues to be the quintessential postcolonial space
for created hybridities and cultural pluralism. The fifth international
Tangier conference will focus on an evaluation of the diverse discourses
that inform "postcolonial" representations (cultural, political, social,
artistic, theoretical, and literary) of Tangier and their relation to the
city as a historically material presence. What is the relationship between
Tangier as an imagined space and Tangier as a performative space? How do
postcolonial theories of hybridity, cultural nomadism, and transcendental
identities relate to the materially lived experience of Tangerois? While
ample attention has been given to Tangier in its historically global
relations, it is equally important to further investigate, as Hardt and
Negri put it, "the production of locality, that is, the social machines that
create and recreate the identities and differences that are understood as
the local."

The aim of the conference is therefore to interrogate and try to bridge the
chasm between the theoretical and the material, the local and the global,
the past and the present to open new venues for the future. Building on the
themes of the previous conferences, we specifically invite papers and panels
that will continue the evaluations of the voices of Tangier and its
historical and cultural status, and also gesture toward the future to
propose and discuss the cultural, literary, and artistic opportunities that
Tangier will continue to provide and the role it will continue to play in
our ever shifting global cultural map.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

. A critique of postcolonial Theories
. A critique of postcolonial representations of Tangier
. Performance and cultural diversity
. Tangier as a historical site of cultural diversity
. The future of Tangier as world cultural capital
. The status of Tangier within globalism
. Tangier between the word and the world
. Evaluations of individual authors and artists such as: Rachida Madani,
Tahar Ben Jelloun, Mohamed Choukri, Mohammed Azeddine Tazi, Ahmed Beroho,
Souad Bahechar, Moumen Smihi, Farida Belyazid, Anouar Majid, Jillali
Farhati, Mohamed Abdaoui, Zobeir Ben Bouchta, Moukhtar Chaoui, to Khalil el
Ghrib, Badia Hadj Nasser, the author of Nedjma. and many others.

The Organizing Committee invites papers from scholars of all relevant
disciplines - such as Performance Studies, English, History,
Ethno-Musicology, Language and Literature Programs, Cultural Studies,
Communication, Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, Political Science, Gender
and Women's Studies, Philosophy, Psychology - as well as from artists, and
especially encourages papers that focus on a critique of postcolonialism.

A 250 word abstract of proposed papers, along with a brief curriculum vitae,
must be submitted electronically (preferably in Word or Rich Text format) by
31 December 2008 to the Organizing Committee care of  Professor Khalid Amine
(President of ICPS and Conference Convener). Selected conference papers will
be published in a special volume.

Emerging Scholars' Panel: The conference is also a home for graduate
students and emerging scholars from different parts of the world. The
establishment of an emerging Scholars' panel invites new voices to join the
debate. Up to three participants will be selected for this panel, and each
panelist will have fifteen minutes to deliver her/his paper. Graduate
students whose papers are accepted will receive free conference
registration, free admission to conference luncheon, and a one-year
membership in ICPS. To be considered for this panel, please submit your
10-12 page paper by January 15th 2009 to Pr Khalid Amine.

Registration Fee: $ 100 payable upon arrival. It includes 2 gala dinners
conference pack, tickets for public concerts and site-specific performances,
free guided tour of the medina, and the book of published proceedings from
the previous conference.

Attendees: Since the conference is again pulling a very international
public, registered attendees will be welcome too.

ACADEMIC CO-CONVENERS

. Khalid Amine, Coordinator of the Research Group of Performance Studies,
Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tétouan & President of the International
Center for Performance Studies, Morocco khamine at hotmail.com
. Andrew Hussey, Dean of the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP),
nuh at aber.ac.uk
. Allen Hibard, Director of the Middle East Centre at Middle Tennessee State
University, USA, ahibbard at mtsu.edu
. Barry Tharaud, editor and publisher of the international scholarly
journal, Nineteenth-Century Prose; Professor at Doğuş University, İstanbul,
Adjunct Professor, San Diego State University, U.S.A., barrytharaud at yahoo.com
. José Manuel Goï Pérez, Professor at the Department of European Languages,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth,  jsg at aber.ac.uk
. George F. Roberson, Adj Assistant Professer, Department of Geosciences,
University of Massachusetts - Amherst, USA, pelerinmondial at yahoo.com
. Salah M. Moukhlis, Associate Professor of Comparative Studies and World
Literatures, California State University San Marcos, USA, smoukhli at csusm.edu

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

. Nadia Khoumbarek, ICPS Member, Tangier
. Rajae Khaloufi, ICPS member, Tangier
. Alfred Hackensberger, Poet & Journalist, Germany
. Mustapha Hilal Soussi, ICPS member, Tangier
. Yassine Harouchi, ICPS member, tangier
. Badreddine Charab, ICPS member & volunteers, Tangier

Languages: Arabic, Tamazight, French, Spanish, and English.

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR PERFORMANCE STUDIES (ICPS) CONTACTS

Address : Résidence AYA  N° 50, Rue  Mahatma  Ghandi, Tanger 90 000, Morocco
E-mail: khamine at hotmail.com
Tél/fax: (212) 393330466, mobile: 064596791
Web: http://icpsresearch.blogspot.com/2007/12/welcome.html


= = = = = =

George F. Roberson, PhD
Adj. Assist. Research Professor
Cultural Geographer: Human Dimensions Research Cluster
Dept. of Geosciences, UMass - Amherst
Mobile: (413) 212-4141
USA Mailing address: 140 Lenore Drive, Hinsdale, MA   01235

Info: http://interactive-worlds.blogspot.com/2007/12/welcome.html