Call For Papers
"National Trajectories: the nation and its histories"
National Trajectories is an interdisciplinary conference exploring the pasts
and futures of the nation, with an emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. It is
about the possibilities and limitations of the nation as a frame for history;
an exploration of the ideas, activism and identities contained by or exposed
through the performance of nation.
In their germinal works on the nation and nationalism Ernest Renan,
Eric Hobsbawm indicated that the history of the nation is one
of fabrication and invented traditions. 'Getting its history wrong'‚
wrote Renan, 'is part of being a nation'. One of the key criticisms is
that it assumes a choice between the invention and authenticity of
tradition; it alludes to the possibility of historical objectivity. In
more recent scholarship we have embraced notions of imagined
communities and the national phantasm. These terms displace the instrumental
connotations inherent in the notion of invention but nevertheless sustain the
criticism of the nation as a frame for historical inquiry.
Some of the questions which may be explored are:
- How relevant are ideas of the nation for our understandings of identity,
culture and politics?
- Do we have to look beyond the nation or is it more interesting to find the
histories and stories that have been enclosed/exposed within it?
- Who are the custodians of the nation and its histories?
National Trajectories will be held on The University of Sydney main campus on
Friday 10th November, 2000. Abstracts of not more than 150 words will be
accepted (via email) until the 11th September.
Contact details:
National Trajectories
C/ Department of History
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006
Australia
tel: 02 9351 2159 (Katy Nebhan)
fax: 02 9351 3918 (as above)
email: andreana.koutts@history.usyd.edu.au
===============================================
From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
CFP@english.upenn.edu
Full Information at
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
===============================================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Aug 12 2000 - 10:26:01 EDT