Thinking
through and beyond (i.e.: trans) established understandings of culture, the
International Workshop Recalibrating Culture – Reconfiguring the
(Trans-)Cultural sets out to rethink notions of culture, hitherto conceived as
self-contained, and clearly separable, man-made and stable units. Taking a
critical view of this perspective, Heidelberg has for many years developed the
transcultural approach. In this workshop, we offer to expand and critically
evaluate, as well as to theorize the transcultural from a visual perspective:
expanding visual culture into visual transculturality and reconsidering the
transcultural from the visual. In doing so, we add new dimensions of thinking
the transcultural.
There is a
profound need to revise the (often pejorative) concepts of ‘culture’, ‘nature’
and ‘human’ and to recalibrate the transcultural. We engage in critical
revisions of the new ‘post-culturalisms’, such as neo-naturalisms,
post-humanisms and techno-centrisms, practicing something one could call a
post-anthropocentric media studies.
Our
specific approach is through ‘visual media.’ We study the visibility of
transcultural relations for example in art, politics, economies and religions
with respect to their material figurations, images, embodiments etc.
Our particular
focus is on conflictive relations, as we highlight the agonisms and antagonisms
in, between and beyond cultures in the visual manifestations of transcultural
relations (Deutungsmachtkonflikte, symbolic and iconic power conflicts).
Transculturality
is an established concept and field of research (not only) in the Heidelberg Center for Transcultural Studies. But it needs more theory—especially in face
of, for example, new naturalisms, ‘post-culturalisms’ and others—through new
perspectives on nature/culture-configurations. Here we suggest to change and
focus the perspective with regard to visual and iconic configurations of
transculturality. That is why we look for re-visions, and that is why we use
the concept of con-figurations, because figures, figuration and their
configurations are epistemic, ethic and aesthetic concepts of description and
conceptualization. The workshop is the culmination of the ongoing HCTS Lecture Series.
The aim of
our workshop is to bring together these well-established senior scholars with
young and upcoming academics, thus fostering a creative as well as antagonistic
dialogue between past and future key players from various disciplines and
fields.
Conference
languages will be English, French and German.
Papers:
Paper abstracts are to be submitted by September 25, 2018. Submissions should
be in one single PDF and should include a title, an abstract (250 words), a
brief CV (max. 100 words) as well as the applicant’s name, institutional
affiliation, and email contact. Travel grants will be offered to up to 5 junior
scholars. Please note that draft papers of up to 20.000 characters will have to
be submitted BEFORE the conference (due on November 1, 2018). Only previously
unpublished papers or those not already committed elsewhere will be accepted
for considerations. Conference participants agree to future publication plans.
Please
submit your abstract to Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler
(barbara.mittler@zo.uni-heidelberg.de), Prof. Dr. Philipp Stoellger
(ps@wts.uni-heidelberg.de) and Emily Graf
(emily-mae.graf@asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de)
Organized
by the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS), Heidelberg
University.
Date:
November 22-24, 2018
Venue:
Room 212, Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS), Building 4400,
Voßstr. 2, 69117 Heidelberg
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