CFP: Borders and Borderlands (6/10/05; 9/26/05-1/10/05)

DURRELL SCHOOL OF CORFU
http://www.durrell-school-corfu.org/

CALL FOR PAPERS

SEMINAR: ‘BORDERS AND BORDERLANDS’

CORFU and EPIRUS, 26 September – 1 October 2005

The Durrell School of Corfu Autumn seminar on ‘Borders and Borderlands’ will
take place from Monday 26 September to Saturday 1 October 2005 in two
locations: the DSC Library and study center in Corfu, and the village of Lia
in mainland Epirus (north-west Greece, the native village of Nicholas Gage,
author of Eleni). The seminar will focus on the nature of borders both
conceptually and concretely, through the topics of psychology, religion,
creative arts (literature, film, painting), history and politics. The role
and status of borders in the Balkans will be a special subject for
discussion, in the light of ongoing tensions in and about Kosovo and
Macedonia.

Borders are spatial, conceptual, spiritual and psychological and shape the
dynamics of identity, community, and governance. Territorial borders are
receiving renewed attention in this era of transnational mobility and
globalised cultures. As a construction of history, psychology, law and
politics, borders are often represented in symbolic form as transitions and
rites of passage.

The creation and defence of borders, for example in defining the
nation-state, involve both inclusion and exclusion, invasion and
enlargement, and pose questions about political, cultural and personal
identity. Knowledge, power, anomie and xenophobia are intimately associated
with these processes.

Arrival at a border raises issues such as cultural negotiation, and
confrontation with otherness.

The crossing of borders affects meaning, perception of landscape and sense
of identity.

Translation involves the crossing of linguistic boundaries as meaning leaves
the homeland of one language and enters that of another.

This seminar offers an opportunity to explore how borders, borderlands,
shifting borders and border-crossing are used in narrative works, social
theory and empirical research to understand the relationships between time,
space and knowledge, self-development and political institutions.

The seminar will explore the subject under five major headings: concepts,
psychology, religion and the supernatural, creative arts, and specific
examples of border locations.

Concepts:

- nation-state as a symbolic space
- cultural identity
- map-making
- north-south relations
- east-west relations
- diaspora
- the European Union as a supranational space
- cyberspace
- multinational corporations
- the harem
- divination
- transit camps and refugees
- tradition versus modernity
- ghettos

Psychology:
- borders of the self:
I/Not I;
I/Thou;
Us/Them;
Self/Others;
Male/female.

Religion and the supernatural:

- heaven and earth
- the after-life (the living and the dead)
- dreams and the waking life
- the conscious and unconscious
- sanctuary
- the veil
- infibulation

Creative arts:

- romantic fiction (e.g. Anthony Hope (Prisoner of Zenda), Dornford Yates
(the ‘Richard Chandos’ novels);
- modern Greek novels (e.g. Yiorgos Yatromanolakis, Sotiris Dimitriou)
- translation
- ‘the writer at the frontier’
- ‘travel writing’ or ‘foreign residence writing’
- Film: e.g. The Others, The Sixth Sense, Passport to Pimlico, Peter Ustinov
’s Concordia

Specific examples of geographical/physical borders:

- the Irish border as a cultural divide
- the Berlin Wall
- the expansion of Greece's borders
- Tibet
- the 'Iron Curtain'
- the 'Forbidden City' (Beijing)

The DSC invites submission of proposals for short papers (no more than 30
minutes) on any aspect of the subject. The format of the seminar will
facilitate detailed discussion of each paper with members of the School’s
faculty, and will therefore permit no more than 4 papers each day. Full
texts of presentations must be received at the DSC by 1 September 2005 in
electronic format in order to facilitate circulation to all participants.

Provisional programme:

Monday 26 September: in DSC library and study centre in Corfu
Tuesday 27 September: transfer to Lia (Epirus)
Wednesday 28 September: Lia
Thursday 29 September: field class to the monasteries of Meteora
Friday 30 September: Lia, and transfer to Corfu
Saturday 1 October: conclusion, in Corfu

A selection of papers and the discussion they inspire will be published by
the DSC as part of its Proceedings.

In absentia presentations are not acceptable.

Proposals should be received at the DSC by e-mail before 10 June 2005,
consisting of not more than 2 double-spaced typed pages
(durrells_at_otenet.gr).

The registration fee for the seminar will be 300 euros for participants (to
include costs of field classes and transfers Corfu-Lia-Corfu) and 350 euros
for those who wish to attend and take part in the discussions, but who do
not wish to present papers.

The Durrell School of Corfu will not be responsible for any costs associated
with accommodation. Intending participants should consult the DSC website
(www.durrell-school-corfu.org) for details of accommodation available in
Corfu. Accommodation in Lia (at participants’ own expense) will be in local
hostels, reserved for participants by the DSC.

_______________________________
James Gifford
3-5 Humanities Centre
Dept. of English & Film Studies
University of Alberta
http://www.ualberta.ca/~gifford

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Received on Wed Apr 06 2005 - 19:26:00 EDT