POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: MOUTH WIDE SHUT?
International Conference, Ustron, Poland
17-20 September 2004
The deadline for submitting proposals has been extended to 20th June =
2004.=20
Please send short articles abstracts to the organisers at the following =
addresses
by mail:
Katarzyna Ancuta kancuta@ares.fils.us.edu.pl or sadako@op.pl
Jacek Mydla jacekmydla@idea.net.pl
by post:
Katarzyna Ancuta/Jacek Mydla
Institute of British and American Literature and Culture
University of Silesia
ul. Zytnia 10
41-205 Sosnowiec, Poland
The original CFP is quoted below:
See evil, hear evil and therefore speak no evil.
The spectre of the Dead White Heterosexual Male is hanging over the =
world: biased, prejudiced, discriminative ways of perceiving and =
representing reality resulted in widening the gap between the dominant =
"traditionalists" and a multiplicity of undesirable others. But enough =
is enough. The underdog has now invented a weapon to secure =
his/her/its/their rightful place in culture and the long-silenced voices =
have a chance to be heard. Thus, Political Correctness or PC seems to =
have the function of safeguarding the principle of equality, which is a =
cornerstone of democracy. The many tongues of multicultural discourse =
speak all the more loudly since the potential opponents, having been =
successfully bound and gagged, dare not express any contradictory =
opinion. As democracy's policeman, however, PC raises concerns about the =
possible limitations of radical pluralism. While ensuring (enforcing) =
compliance with basic human rights, does it not breach some of them, =
such as the right to free speech? While upholding the legacy of the =
Enlightenment with its ideals of rationality and progress, does it not =
undermine the role and position of prejudice, so powerfully vindicated =
in the 20th century? Is PC a utopian goal, or is it merely a =
historically necessitated but short-lived inconvenience? The unceasing =
dispute over PC hardly ever does justice to the theoretical concerns it =
raises, and not the least of them is its self-reflexive twist: if to =
interrogate PC is to interrogate the western idea of democracy, let us =
not flee from our own gaze in a mirror and take up the challenge before =
the academe becomes declared a reservation for realistically challenged.
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Dr Katarzyna Ancuta
Institute of British and American Literature and Culture
University of Silesia
ul. Zytnia 10
41-205 Sosnowiec, Poland
fax: +48(32)2917417
tel: +48(32)2917322; +48(32)2691892
===============================================
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
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