[csaa-forum] UNSW Postgrad Symposium 12/10/06

[Benjamin Miller]

Call for Papers:

“Contemplating the Void”
Postgraduate Symposium XIII
University of New South Wales 
School of English
13 October 2006
211 Morven Brown Building, UNSW

"Postmodern knowledge is not simply a tool of the authorities; it refines our 
sensitivity to differences and reinforces our ability to tolerate the 
incommensurable." – Jean-Francois Lyotard    

What fills the gap left by the evacuation of the grand narratives? What is the 
value of negative space? Silence? Incoherence?  What are the politics and 
problematics of representation in a world oft marked by political, 
intellectual, and spiritual chaos?  In contemporary society, how can language 
function as a bridge, articulating loss and thereby filling the void with 
significance? 

The conveners of the School of English’s Symposium XIII welcome proposals from 
postgraduate students and early-career researchers that utilize a wide variety 
of critical and creative approaches to this year’s theme.  Works that 
contemplate the void enact a crucial negotiation at the outer limits of 
representation and originate from disciplines as diverse as cultural studies, 
creative writing, critical theory, trauma theory, post-theory, performativity, 
as well as interdisciplinary realms.  Key words that may characterize your 
proposal include:

 
Absence
Abyss
Censorship
Chaos
Death
Desert/Deserted
Discontinuities
Emptiness
Erasure
Ethnocide
Holocaust
Idleness
Incoherence
Lack
Le Différend
Loss
Meaninglessness
Nihilism
Originality
(Public) Secrets
Separation
Silence
Space
Unintelligible
Unpresentable
Void
Writer’s Block
 

To register your interest in presenting at this forum, email a 250-word 
abstract to Heather Moritz (heather.moritz at student.unsw.edu.au) no later than 
1 September 2006. Please include a working title for your presentation, your 
name, institutional affiliation, email address and contact details. Proposals 
for academic papers or creative works are welcome.  All presentations are 
limited to 20 minutes.  Notice of accepted proposals will be conducted via 
email by 8 September 2006.

The Symposium provides an ideal forum for postgraduates and early-career 
researchers to share their ideas and receive constructive feedback.  
Registration is free and lunch, morning and afternoon tea will be provided.