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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>We invite participation in
seven seminars to be held at the fifth annual meeting of the Cultural
Studies Association <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> meeting, April 19-21 2007 in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Portland</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State></st1:place>. </B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Seminars are small-group (minimum
8 individuals, maximum 15 individuals) discussion sessions for which
participants write brief “position” papers, read common texts, or exchange
project abstracts prior to the conference.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In order to participate in a
seminar, please send an email message directly to the indicated seminar contact
person with “Seminar Request” in the subject line. Your message should
also include your name, contact information, and institutional affiliation.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Seminar requests should be sent
by <B>November 20, 2006.</B> You will be notified of your acceptance by
<B>December 20, 2006</B>. Seminar leaders will ask you for a presentation
title to appear in the conference program. This should allow you to
pursue travel funding at your home institutions.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Titles and e-mail contacts for
each seminar are as follows:</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>1) Why We Need AgriCultural
Studies</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Contact: Susan Squier,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Penn</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:sxs62@psu.edu href="mailto:sxs62@psu.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">sxs62@psu.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>2) Performativity</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Contact: Matthew
W. Hughey, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Virginia</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:mwh5h@viriginia.edu href="mailto:mwh5h@viriginia.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mwh5h@viriginia.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>3) The Resistance to
Economics</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Contact: Jan Mieszkowski,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Reed</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:mieszkow@reed.edu href="mailto:mieszkow@reed.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mieszkow@reed.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>4) Arts of Social
Engagement</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Contact: Gretchen Coombs,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of the Arts,
(</B><A title=mailto:beautybyte@gmail.com
href="mailto:beautybyte@gmail.com"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">beautybyte@gmail.com</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>5) Public Rhetorics and
Permanent War</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Contact: Anoop Mirpuri,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:anoop@u.washington.edu
href="mailto:anoop@u.washington.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">anoop@u.washington.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>6) Giorgio Agamben</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Contact: Marcia Klotz,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Portland</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, (</B><A
title=mailto:mklotz@pdx.edu href="mailto:mklotz@pdx.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mklotz@pdx.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>7) Defining the
Human in Posthuman Criticism</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Contact: Radhika Gajjala,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Bowling Green</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org href="mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">radhika@cyberdiva.org</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">For more information about the
conference, please check the website: <A
title=http://www.csaus.pitt.edu/conf/index.php?cf=4
href="http://www.csaus.pitt.edu/conf/index.php?cf=4"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">http://www.csaus.pitt.edu/conf/index.php?cf=4</SPAN></A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Detailed descriptions of each
seminar appear below:</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
class=apple-style-span><B><U>SEMINARS FOR CSA CONFERENCE, April 2007, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Portland</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State></st1:place>.</U></B></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"><B>Seminar One: Why We Need AgriCultural
Studies</B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"><B>Seminar Chair: Susan Squier, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Penn</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:sxs62@psu.edu href="mailto:sxs62@psu.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">sxs62@psu.edu</SPAN></B></A><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001feb">)</SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> "Culture
in all its early uses was a noun of process: the tending of something, basically
crops or animals." (Raymond Williams) Yet though cultural studies is
linked ideologically as well as etymologically to <I>agriculture</I>, the field
has been remarkably uninterested in that original meaning of culture.
Instead, perhaps because of a long-standing metropolitan bias, cultural studies
has concentrated on the production of the individual subject in practically
every other institutional sense--scientifically, technologically, politically,
medically, socially, religiously, and reproductively--while giving scant
attention to culture in its original rural sense. This session invites
participants to come together for a seminar that will explore the significance
for cultural studies of the foundational, deeply material means of producing
individuals: the institution of agriculture. Topics can address, but are
not limited to:</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* The contribution of agricultural practices to racialization and gender
production</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Rurality, sexuality, and farming</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Species production and subject production in agricultural practices</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Agribusiness and Big Pharma (farming and <I>pharming</I>)</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Veterinary medicine, human medicine, and posthumanity</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* The ethics and politics of food and eating</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Counterpublic spheres and CSAs</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Intellectual property rights and the agricultural commons</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* The agricultural production of disability</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Agricultural technology, biotechnology, and technologies of subject
production</P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">
* Culture (literature, film, visual art) and agriculture</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> This small group discussion session will
admit only fifteen people. Participants will be asked to write brief (8-10 page)
papers that will be circulated prior to the conference. Conference
participants will also be assigned to serve as respondents to the precirculated
papers. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for this seminar, please
e-mail a 500 word abstract for your paper, a short c.v., and your institutional
affiliation (if applicable) to Susan Squier, at (<A title=mailto:sxs62@psu.edu
href="mailto:sxs62@psu.edu"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">sxs62@psu.edu</SPAN></A>), by November 20. Please
feel free to forward this message to people who might be interested.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">Susan Squier is Brill Professor of Women’s
Studies and English at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, where she directs the Science,
Medicine, and Technology in Culture program. She is currently working on a book
entitled <I>Poultry Science, Chicken Culture: Practicing AgriCultural Studies.
</I>Her most recent book is <I>Liminal Lives: Imagining the Human at the
Frontiers of Medicine</I> (Duke 2004). Other publications include <I>Babies in
Bottles: Twentieth-Century Visions of Reproductive Technology; </I>the co-edited
collection <I>Playing Dolly: Technocultural Figurations, Fantasies and Fictions
of Assisted Reproduction</I>, and the edited collection, <I>Communities of the
Air: Radio Century, Radio Culture</I>, published by Duke University Press in
2003. In 2002 she co-directed the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer
Institute in Medicine, Literature and Culture, at <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Penn</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hershey</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Medical</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. She has been Visiting
Distinguished Fellow, <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">LaTrobe</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>, <st1:City
w:st="on">Melbourne</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>, June-July, 1992; and Fulbright Senior
Research Scholar, Melbourne, Australia, 1990-1991, as well as scholar in
residence at the Bellagio Study and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Conference</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of the Rockefeller Foundation.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Two:
Performativity</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Chair: Matthew W.
Hughey, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Virginia</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:mwh5h@virginia.edu href="mailto:mwh5h@virginia.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mwh5h@virginia.edu</SPAN></B></A><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001076">)</SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">The Performativity Division of the CSA will be
conducting a seminar that examine various aspects of performativity. In
specific, we are interested in examining how identities and concepts are
shifting formations within various fields of power. Additionally, we encourage
work on how those power relations are reflexively created by, and constitutive
of, those formations. Topics can address, but are not limited, to:</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> - race and the racialization of identity
categories;</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">- capitalism, class, and identities;</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">- citizenship and nationality;</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">- religion and spirituality; </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">- gender and sexuality;</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">- nationalisms and national identities;</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">- (dis)abilities and identities;</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">- claims to authenticity</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> Please send abstracts of 250-400 words to
Performativity division chair Matthew W. Hughey (Department of Sociology,
Program of Media Studies - <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Virginia</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, <A
title=mailto:mwh5h@virginia.edu href="mailto:mwh5h@virginia.edu"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mwh5h@virginia.edu</SPAN></A>). Please include your
academic or activist affiliation in your proposal.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Matthew W. Hughey is a Ph.D.
Candidate in Sociology, as well as an adjunct instructor in Sociology and Media
Studies, at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Virginia</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. His teaching and research
interests include race and ethnicity in specific to blackness, whiteness, racism
and antiracism, and raced social movements; cultural sociology; media studies in
relation to racial and gender representations; and qualitative methodology.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">-----------------------------------------------------</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Three: The Resistance
to Economics</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Chair: Jan
Mieszkowski, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Reed</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:mieszkow@reed.edu href="mailto:mieszkow@reed.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mieszkow@reed.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B></B> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This seminar will explore the
ambiguous status of economic thought in contemporary debates about aesthetics,
politics, and culture. While economic determinism is routinely critiqued
by theorists on both the right and the left, scholars in the humanities
increasingly accord enormous explanatory authority to notions of utility,
production, and value. Some would even argue that any clear distinction
between the economic and the social has become untenable. It is in these
terms that participants are invited to confront a set of related questions: In
what ways does an economic model of equivalence, mediation, or change
distinguish itself from dialectical or historical models? Precisely how do
the symbolic, libidinal, or virtual "economies" studied in critical theory
differ from more conventional dynamics of profit, liberty, or autonomy? Do
academic analyses of capitalism constitute a critique of consumer society, or
are they just another way of participating in it?</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">As an institutional discipline,
economics' research practices are neither simply idealist nor materialist, much
less merely positivist. Indeed, the very diversity of economic methodologies has
prompted some to designate it the interdisciplinary field par excellence.
At issue for this seminar is whether such a gesture begs more fundamental
questions about liberal and democratic models of justice and equality. What is
to be gained by rethinking traditional distinctions between neo-classical and
Marxist economics, or, more basically, between politics and economics? To
what extent do current efforts to demonstrate the importance of economic models
for literary and cultural studies rely on the very paradigms of individualism,
liberty, or value they seek to critique? Why might the theoretical goals
of the social sciences best be furthered by disciplines that define themselves
in contradistinction to the social sciences?</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Participants will pre-circulate
brief papers (8-10 pages). Members of the seminar may serve as respondents
in order to begin our discussion of specific topics.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Session Leader:</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Jan Mieszkowski</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A title=mailto:mieszkow@reed.edu
href="mailto:mieszkow@reed.edu">mieszkow@reed.edu</A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Associate Professor of German
& Humanities</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Reed</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">3203 SE Woodstock
Blvd.</st1:address></st1:Street></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Portland</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">OR</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">97202</st1:PostalCode></st1:place>.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Jan Mieszkowski is Associate
Professor of German and Humanities at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Reed</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. He is the author of *Labors
of Imagination: Aesthetics and Political Economy from Kant to Althusser* and has
published essays on Romanticism, German Idealism, the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Frankfurt</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, and the relationship between
literary and political discourses since the Enlightenment.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">--------------------------------------------</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Four: Arts of Social
Engagement</B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"><B>Seminar Chairs:</B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"><B>Gretchen Coombs, California College of the
Arts, (</B><A title=mailto:beautybyte@gmail.com
href="mailto:beautybyte@gmail.com"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">beautybyte@gmail.com</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"><B>Cynthia Bodenhorst, California College of the
Arts, (</B><A title=mailto:cynthiabodenhorst@yahoo.com
href="mailto:cynthiabodenhorst@yahoo.com"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">cynthiabodenhorst@yahoo.com</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Harrell
Fletcher, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Portland</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:hfletcher@earthlink.net
href="mailto:hfletcher@earthlink.net"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">hfletcher@earthlink.net</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B></B> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> This seminar session hopes to generate a
nuanced conversation regarding the heightened visibility and popularity of art
practices that take the social as their medium. These artworks, as they are
defined by most, range from distributing free meals in a gallery to laundry
lectures to handing out politically charged ice cream “flavors” at a political
rally. These artists and collectives capture the cadences of urban social life
through poetic meditations and formal innovations into public spaces.
Their creative acts have altered our sense of space, the ways we inhabit our
locality, and our own self-awareness. They can function as public or
community-based art that engenders community building. Just as often they
intervene in the public sphere to raise political and social awareness. Many of
these artists and collaboratives hope to transform the culture in which we
live.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> This expanded field of art and social
engagement has instigated numerous discussions in art magazines, classrooms and
the blogosphere. Recent debates surrounding socially engaged artwork and their
reception has artists and academics wading through some murky and contested
theoretical terrain. How are we to understand these often interventionist,
socially ameliorative, “life-like” artwork?</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> What critical frameworks can help us assess
the efficacy of such practices that claim to be politically and socially
relevant, and at the same time challenge, subvert and reproduce these same
frameworks? Moreover, how are subjectivities produced within these social spaces
both for the artists and the audiences? Do these “subversive” anthropologies
pronounce arts increased desire for relevance? Or should art be held accountable
for an effective social and cultural process? What are the implications
for sustainability as social and political activism; how does this respond to
local and cultural specificities and the historical legacies that inform
socially engaged artwork?</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> Artists and academics are encouraged to
submit papers or project descriptions that respond to the questions posed above.
We will then circulate the papers amongst the participants. In addition, seminar
participants may be asked to do an additional brief assignment prior to the
conference.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> Gretchen Coombs, <A
title=mailto:beautybyte@gmail.com href="mailto:beautybyte@gmail.com"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">beautybyte@gmail.com</SPAN></A>,510.459.3789</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">Visual Criticism, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of the Arts</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> Cynthia Bodenhorst, <A
title=mailto:cynthiabodenhorst@yahoo.com
href="mailto:cynthiabodenhorst@yahoo.com"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">cynthiabodenhorst@yahoo.com</SPAN></A>,510.845.3455</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">Visual Criticism, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of the Arts</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"> Harrell Fletcher, <A
title=mailto:hfletcher@earthlink.net href="mailto:hfletcher@earthlink.net"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">hfletcher@earthlink.net</SPAN></A> Assistant
Professor, <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Art</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Department</st1:PlaceName>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Portland</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">Gretchen Coombs is currently a doctoral candidate
in anthropology at </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">the California Institute of Integral Studies in
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:City></st1:place>. She </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">received a MA in Visual Criticism at the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of the </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">Arts; her thesis explored art and social
engagement in the San </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> Area.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt">Cynthia Bodenhorst is an Ecuadorian <I>visual
studies critic</I>, curator, and video artist whose work has been presented in
conferences and exhibitions in Latin America and the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> She is
completing a graduate program in Visual Studies at the <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType> of the Arts in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City>, where she is currently doing
research on art, public space, and new forms of sociality. Her practice and
critical theory interests focus on contemporary art, new media, and performance
theory.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Harrell Fletcher has worked
collaboratively and individually on a variety of socially engaged,
interdisciplinary projects for over a decade. His work has been shown at SF
MoMA, the de Young Museum, The Berkeley Art Museum, and Yerba Buena Center For
The Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Drawing Center, Socrates Sculpture
Park, The Sculpture Center, The Wrong Gallery, and Smackmellon in NYC,
DiverseWorks and Aurora Picture show in Houston, TX, PICA in Portland, OR, CoCA
and The Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, WA, Signal in Malmo, Sweden, Domain de
Kerguehennec in France, and The Royal College of Art in London. Fletcher
exhibits in <st1:City w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City> and <st1:City
w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:City> with Jack Hanley Gallery, in NYC with Christine
Burgin Gallery, in <st1:City w:st="on">London</st1:City> with Laura Bartlett
Gallery, and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Paris</st1:City></st1:place> with Gallery In Situ. He was a
participant in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. In 2002 Fletcher started Learning To
Love You More, an ongoing participatory web site with Miranda July. A book
version of the project will be published in 2007 by Prestel. He is the 2005
recipient of the Alpert Award in Visual Arts. His current traveling exhibition
The American War originated in 2005 at ArtPace in <st1:City w:st="on">San
Antonio</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">TX</st1:State>, and traveled in 2006 to
Solvent Space in <st1:City w:st="on">Richmond</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">VA</st1:State>, White Columns in NYC, The Center For Advanced Visual
Studies MIT in <st1:City w:st="on">Boston</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">MA</st1:State>, and PICA in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Portland</st1:City></st1:place>.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">--------------------</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Five: Public
Rhetorics and Permanent War</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Chairs:</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Anoop Mirpuri, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:anoop@u.washington.edu
href="mailto:anoop@u.washington.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">anoop@u.washington.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Georgia Roberts, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:gmr2@u.washington.edu href="mailto:gmr2@u.washington.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">gmr2@u.washington.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Keith Feldman, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:feldmank@u.washington.edu
href="mailto:feldmank@u.washington.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">feldmank@u.washington.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B></B> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B></B> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In <I>The History of
Sexuality</I>, Foucault laments that in “political thought and analysis, we
still have not cut off the head of the king.” For Foucault, the figure of the
sovereign, whose power is exercised as an exceptional prohibition of freedom,
continues to organize the ways we attempt to intervene in the field of political
power. As long as we continue to read power in terms of the juridical theory of
sovereignty, we cannot actively confront power in all the complexity of its
operation. But if we are to rid ourselves of the theory of sovereignty that
constitutes the principles of liberalism and functions as the legitimation for
the institutions of political modernity, how then are we to conceptualize
politics? Foucault suggests that the first task would be to invert Clausewitz’s
famous aphorism, “War is a continuation of politics by other means.” That is,
what it would mean to think of politics as permanent war?</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This seminar will query the
relation between cultural production, intellectual work, and political power
during what increasingly appears to be a state of globalized permanent
war. Building on a series of public lectures, faculty, graduate, and
undergraduate workshops, and an interdisciplinary research cluster based at the
University of Washington organized by the seminar leaders, we hope that seminar
participants will help us productively read a small cluster of texts (announced
prior to the seminar meeting) that conceptualize the contours, conditions, and
effects of permanent war. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">We want to frame this seminar by
emphasizing that these various conceptions, performances, and enactments of
permanent war emerge from the seemingly cordoned-off sites of scholarly inquiry,
political organization and social activism, and market-driven popular culture.
They also emerge from across the political spectrum. Hence, important to this
seminar will be a discussion of how these sites can (and can be made to) link up
and dialogue in dynamic and effective ways.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Seminar leaders will make
available a list of readings on the table for discussion. Participants
will write one-page responses to the readings prior to the seminar.
Leaders will then distribute these responses, as well as a letter suggesting
some of the overlaps and gaps in our various responses to the readings.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">These readings may include the
following:</P>
<UL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in" type=disc>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Michel
Foucault’s “Society Must be Defended” Lecture, 17 March 1976 </LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Nikhil
Singh, “The Afterlife of Fascism” </LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Loic
Wacquant, “From Slavery to Mass Incarceration” </LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Wendy
Brown, “Neo-liberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy” </LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Ruth
Wilson Gilmore, selections from <I>Golden Gulag</I> </LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Robert
Kagan, “Power and Weakness” </LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Michael
Ignatieff, “Who are Americans to Think that Freedom is Theirs to
Spread?”</LI></UL>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This seminar discussion will
contain two primary trajectories: the first focused on theories of permanent war
and biopolitics; the second focused on the relation between intellectual
production and political power. Questions participants should think about
include:</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">How does one theorize something
like “permanent war”? What is at stake in this theorization, and how can
it be intellectually productive or disabling as part of a political
project? How can we relate Foucault’s theorization of “permanent war” to
scholarly work done on biopolitical regulation and the state of exception?
How does the intellectual production emerge in the space between popular culture
and the academy? How is discourse regulated by the rhetorical divisions
among these sites? How can we articulate cultural studies in the humanities with
popular cultural forms in ways that create a rhetorical space for dialogue
between each of these sites as critical analogues? How can we further the
articulation between social activism and public rhetoric in ways that foster
critical literacies which work to counter Euro-American centered ideological
frames? </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B></B> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Leaders: <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Anoop Mirpuri</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region></st1:place> Roberts, and Keith
Feldman</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Collective Biography of
Seminar Leaders</B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Anoop Mirpuri</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region></st1:place> Roberts, and Keith Feldman
are all doctoral candidates in the department of English at the University of
Washington-Seattle. They have individually undertaken projects on
biopolitical regulation, practices of community-based literacy, and post-1945
<st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> imperial formations in
the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>. Public Rhetorics and
Permanent War is a project they collectively envisioned more than two years ago;
the project has received substantial support from the UW’s Simpson Center for
the Humanities, the UW Graduate School, a range of academic units in the
humanities and social sciences, and off-campus organizations including the Arab
Center of Washington, Central District Forum, Elliot Bay Book Company,
Hedgebrook Women’s Writers Retreat, and Toys in Babeland.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 12pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Contact Information</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Anoop Mirpuri (<A
title=mailto:anoop@u.washington.edu href="mailto:anoop@u.washington.edu"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">anoop@u.washington.edu</SPAN></A>)</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Georgia Roberts (<A
title=mailto:gmr2@u.washington.edu href="mailto:gmr2@u.washington.edu"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">gmr2@u.washington.edu</SPAN></A>)</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Keith Feldman (<A
title=mailto:feldmank@u.washington.edu
href="mailto:feldmank@u.washington.edu"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">feldmank@u.washington.edu</SPAN></A>)</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Department of English</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:address
w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">Box</st1:Street> 354330</st1:address></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Seattle</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">WA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">98195-4330</st1:PostalCode></st1:place></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Phone: (206)200-7554</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">-------------------------</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Six: Giorgio
Agamben</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Chair: Marcia Klotz,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Portland</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, (</B><A
title=mailto:mklotz@pdx.edu href="mailto:mklotz@pdx.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mklotz@pdx.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"We completely misunderstand the
nature of the great totalitarian experiments of the twentieth century if we see
them only as a carrying out of the nineteenth-century nation-states' last great
tasks: nationalism and imperialism. The stakes are now different and much
higher, for it is a question of taking on as a task the very factical existence
of peoples, that is, in the last analysis, their bare life." (Giorgio Agamben,
The Open).</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">We would like to conduct a
seminar that will consider the work of Giorgio Agamben, including such key
concepts as the state of exception, homo sacer, the animal/human divide, bare
life, the camp, and the figure of the sovereign. Agamben's work seems
fruitful as a way of approaching many contemporary social issues and events,
including: the politics of reproduction, the war on terror, the geopolitics of
medicine and incarceration, environmentalism and the politics of life. We
welcome participants who are interested in comparing the range of applications
to the contemporary moment, as well as using Agamben to analyze historical
topics. We are also interested in the limitations or problems that may be
involved in Agamben's approach.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Anyone interested in
participating in this seminar should contact us before the conference convenes.
We will circulate a short reading ahead of time to all participants, which will
serve as a focal point for the discussion. Participants will be asked to
introduce themselves and to briefly (5 to 10 minutes) summarize whatever
research they may be working on that involves Agamben's theory. We will
then move on to a general discussion of both the reading and the research
interests of various participants.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Marcia Klotz</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Assistant Professor</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Department of English</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Portland</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A title=mailto:mklotz@pdx.edu
href="mailto:mklotz@pdx.edu">mklotz@pdx.edu</A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">(503) 736-9301</P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">---------------------------------------------</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Seven: Defining
the Human in Posthuman Criticism</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Seminar Chairs:</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Radhika Gajjala, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Bowling Green</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (</B><A
title=mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org href="mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">radhika@cyberdiva.org</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B>Michael Filas, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Westfield</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> College (</B><A
title=mailto:mfilas@wsc.ma.edu href="mailto:mfilas@wsc.ma.edu"><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mfilas@wsc.ma.edu</SPAN></B></A><B>)</B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Technology division of CSA
invites participants to a seminar on defining the human in posthuman criticism.
For those working in cyborg studies, for those exploring the notion of identity
in techno-mediated environments, the definition of human becomes a troublesome
focal point that must be dealt with. Postmodern theory has created a critical
environment in which any claim to some indispensable aspect of the human, be it
embodiment or political subjectivity, is received only through the filters of a
post liberal humanist perspective. Yet, the need for a human-technology binary
is often a requisite ontological concept when scholars undertake any examination
of humanity in posthuman contexts. Our seminar will explore the challenge, and
methodology, of defining the human-technology binary through multiple critical
praxes. Some recent reflections on this issue are available in the following
articles, which are available online in full text as noted:</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Jameson, Fredric. The End of
Temporality. Critical Inquiry 29 (Summer 2003). (Academic Search Premier and
Elite)</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Lenoir, Tim. Writing the Body
into the Posthuman Technoscape, Part One:</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Embracing the
Posthuman. Configurations 10 (Spring 2002). (Project Muse)</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Participants should have read
one of the preceding texts in preparation for the seminar. Our seminar
conversation will explore our individual methods and conclusions, as well as how
the theoretical community has addressed this issue, and what implications reside
in our choices.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Interested participants are
asked to submit by Nov. 20 a 2-3 page abstract, via email to both <A
title=mailto:mfilas@wsc.ma.edu href="mailto:mfilas@wsc.ma.edu"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mfilas@wsc.ma.edu</SPAN></A> and <A
title=mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org href="mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">radhika@cyberdiva.org</SPAN></A>, explaining how they
have dealt with or examined this issue in their own work.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Technology Division
Co-Chairs</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Radhika Gajjala</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Associate Professor</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Department of Interpersonal
Communication</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Communication</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> Studies</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Bowling Green</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><A
title=mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org href="mailto:radhika@cyberdiva.org"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">radhika@cyberdiva.org</SPAN></A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Michael Filas</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Assistant Professor</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">>Department of English</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Westfield</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> College</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">><A
title=mailto:mfilas@wsc.ma.edu href="mailto:mfilas@wsc.ma.edu"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #001ddc">mfilas@wsc.ma.edu</SPAN></A></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Radhika Gajjala is Associate
Professor in the School of communication studies at <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Bowling Green</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>, and the author of "Cyberselves: Feminist
Ethnographies of South Asian Women" (<st1:place w:st="on">Altamira</st1:place>,
2004).</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Michael Filas is assistant
professor of English at Westfield State College in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:State>. In 2001 he
received his Ph.D. in American literature and culture from <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. He frequently teaches courses
in cyborg identities and draws on work done in his doctoral dissertation,
"Cyborg Subjectivity." He has published related work in The Information Society,
Journal of Experimental Fiction, Fiction International, Left Curve, Paradoxa,
and the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Resource</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> for Cyberculture
Studies.</P><BR></BODY></HTML>