*CFP* "THE HUMANITIES AND THE APOCALYPSE: REIMAGINING UTOPIA, DYSTOPIA AND HETEROTOPIA", 2021 FACULTY OF ARTS BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

The Humanities and the Apocalypse: Reimagining Utopia, Dystopia and Heterotopia

2021 Faculty of Arts Biennial Conference (Offline-Online)

University of Ibadan, Nigeria. 10-12 May, 2021

 

The 2021 Faculty of Arts Biennial Conference (University of Ibadan, Nigeria) invites submissions – papers, performances and posters – that critically engage the above stated theme, and the sub themes that follow from multiple disciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives.

In 2020, two major global events shattered enduring norms and assumptions about our globe. Two of the pillars of modern civilisation – ability to assure, promote and sustain good health, and a stable democratic system – experienced apocalyptic pressure in ways that had not occurred in over a hundred years.

The first of these was the Coronavirus pandemic which had afflicted about 90 million and killed nearly two million people by the end of 2020. The spread, the damage and the consequences of these not only stressed and overwhelmed enduring and trusted national health systems but also exposed the multilevel fragility hitherto ignored in these systems.

The second is the travail of what had been assumed to be an enduring system of government at its very headquarters. The United States elections and the steel test to which the institutions were subjected shook the basic assumptions about the political stability that that global player represented. On the one hand, it exposed the fragility of the so-called advanced democracies revealing non-democratic and nationalist, even fascist forces often papered over in these democracies, while on the other hand it affirms the resilience of the democratic institutions.

In an apocalyptic celerity, these two major foundations of civilisation went through a seismic shock, and sites that have been considered near utopian became instantly dystopian. In this sudden shift in the human imagination of humanity and its achievements and failures, what new roles are opened for our understanding of the humanities? In what ways can the dystopian elements of the world contribute to the rehabilitation of the humanities? How do the humanities enable humans to refocus on our humanity and the (re)imagination of our being and our world? How should the humanities relate with the utopian, the dystopian and the heterotopian? If the global utopia or near-utopia can exhibit such sudden fragility, how should developing nations imagine the future, development and destiny of their peoples? Should Humanities, peoples and governments even conceive of the global west as utopia or should they begin the imagining of heterotopia or multiple utopias?

The 2021 Faculty of Arts Biennial Conference invites submissions – papers, performances and posters – that critically engage the foregoing posers from multiple disciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives.

Subthemes:

• The humanities and democratic theory 
• The humanities and health 
• Apocalyptic Discourses 
• The Humanities and Africa 
• The humanities and future studies 
• Diseases, pandemics and the dystopia 
• The future of the humanities 
• Religions, spirituality and the Utopian 
• The humanities and political order 
• Humanities and transdisciplinarity 
• The humanities and social imaginaries 
• The humanities and climate change 
• The humanities and pedagogical challenges 
• Fascism, nationalism and the new world order
• The humanities and conspiracy theories 
• The humanities and the human 
• Humanities and the imagination 
• Humanities and apocalyptic literature 
• Humanities and institutional dynamics 
• The humanities and social (dis)order 
• Writing the Utopian and the Dystopian 
• Re-imagining the Humanities 
• Literary representations of heterotopia

 

Instruction for contributors

Contributors should please submit a 150-200-word abstract, with a 50-word academic biography by 15 March, 2021 to artsuiconference2021@gmail.com

Contributors will be notified of acceptance or rejection of their abstract by 19 March, 2021.

Once their abstract is accepted, they will receive regular updates regarding the conference.

The conference will combine both offline and online platforms.

Conference date: 10-12 May, 2021

 

Inquiries

Via email: artsuiconference2021@gmail.com

Via WhatsApp: +2348056414798