(Please circulate.)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Sea Changes:
Historicizing the Ocean, c. 1500 - c. 1900
An interdisciplinary conference
to be held at the University of Greifswald, Germany
20-23 July, 2000
The aim of this international conference is to explore material and
methodological sea changes in the cultural history of oceans, ships,
and mariners. Contemporary debates about globalization,
transculturation, transnationality, contact zones, the multiplicity
and non-synchronicity of cultures and histories invite us to regard
the ocean as a historical location whose transformative power is not
merely psychological or metaphorical. The sea, whether as the
Black Atlantic, the quasi-arcadian Pacific, or the mediterranean
omphalos, has been the site of radical changes in human lives and
national histories. It has been crossed by vessels of discovery, by
immigrant ships, slave ships, pirates, merchant ships, warships, and
notorious pleasure steamers, many of which have left their mark on
the bottom of the sea but which - more importantly - have decisively
shaped human history.
We invite papers that emphasize this transformative historical
function of ships, their crews and passengers, and of the ocean
itself. We encourage submissions from scholars of various disciplines
(both 'before' and 'behind the mast') who seek to combine, in an
interdisciplinary fashion, various aspects of the general theme.
Topics could include (but are by no means limited to) the links (and /
or contradictions) between the material and metaphorical uses of ships
and oceans; the sea as a historical site of cultural confrontations
and displacements, of different forms of travel, of voyages of
exploration and of colonial conquest; the representational functions
of ships and the sea in literature, culture, and science; the
cartography and cultural geography of maritime spaces; the diverse
communities of seafarers; etc. Despite the temporal boundaries
expressed in the conference title, themes may include 20th century
historical imagination in film and literature; and we are particularly
interested in papers that offer a gender-critical view of the subject
matter (e.g. the feminization of ships, homosociality on shipboard,
female tars, etc.).
The conference, jointly organized by the universities of Greifswald
and Dortmund, will be hosted by Greifswald. Located at the Baltic Sea
near the Polish border, this small and ancient Hanse town and former
haunt of the famous pirate Klaus Stoertebecker offers a fascinating
maritime atmosphere.
Key note speakers will include Peter Hulme, Greg Dening, Marcus
Rediker, and Susan Bassnett. Proposals are welcome from anyone
interested in the topic, from established academics to research
students. Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words, by 30
September 1999, to either:
Bernhard Klein
Institut fuer Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Fachbereich 15
Universitaet Dortmund
44221 Dortmund
Germany
Fax: +49 (0231) 755 5450
email: klein@mail.fb15.uni-dortmund.de
or
Gesa Mackenthun
Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik
Universitaet Greifswald
Steinbecker Str. 15
17487 Greifswald
Germany Fax: +49 (03834) 863366
email: mackgesa@rz.uni-greifswald.de
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Full Information at
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or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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