CONFERENCE CALL

The Slovenian national research programme Intercultural Literary Studies (research core funding No. P6-0265)
invites you to a conference entitled

Beyond Otherness: Living and Learning in Dissimilitude without Dissonance

which will take place on the 26th and 27th September 2022
at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Slovenia.

Conference theme

Globalisation and digitalisation as the processes inherent in the functioning of the postindustrial phase of capitalism have prompted radical shifts in how individuals experience and comprehend their reality and corresponding identity. These changes were indicative of the formation of a new ontological order marking the advent of the socio-historical epoch of Postmodernity. The metaphysical tenets of Postmodernity are thus inextricably intertwined with the globalizing tendencies of postindustrial capitalism, which were driven by the rapid growth of media industries, and facilitated by exponential development of information technologies. The most paradigmatic effects of globalisation and ubiquity of media are the reconceptualisations of the established notions of boundaries, especially those charting the sensitive categories of other and otherness in contemporary societies and cultures. Literature is by definition bound to words, which means that it is the medium best equipped for the broadening and modifying of the conceptual and semantic fields of current realities. This conference therefore aims to explore the impact of globalisation and digitalisation as the principal momenta of the current socio-historical context on the attitudes to, representations of and the very notions of Other and Otherness in literature.
Proposed papers might therefore pursue, but are not limited to, the following issues:

• Multiculturalism and its aftermath in literature, theory and culture;
• Post-colonial marginalization, hybridity and indigenous identities;
• Postmodern/Inclusive pedagogy;
• Othering the canon/curriculum/university;
• Re-positioning migration; European marginalities;
• Translation from centre to margin and vice versa;
• Intersectionality and fluid identities in literature, culture and performance;
• Virus in the viral paradigm.

Contributions

Please submit abstracts of approximately 300 words together with basic contributor information to
https://forms.gle/vkNzhSLo8RggTQFf6.
Due date for the submission of abstracts: 15th April 2022.
E-mail notifications of acceptance will be sent by 1st July 2022.

Accepted papers will take the form of a 20-minute talk plus a 10-minute discussion session. Please indicate if you need special equipment for your presentation (a computer, an overhead projector, a fire-extinguisher, etc.). Conference programme and abstracts will be available on the conference webpage.

Selected papers will be published in an edited volume, following a peer review process. The papers not included in the volume may be considered for publication in the special issues of scholarly journals ELOPE (Autumn 2023) and Acta Neophilologica (Autumn 2023).

Conference Languages

• English
• Slovenian


The international conference is organized by the Slovenian national research programme Intercultural Literary Studies (No. P6-0265). The organizers acknowledge the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P6-0265).