Call for Papers
Haunted Cultures / Haunting Cultures:
Spectres and Spectrality in Cultural Practices
22-23 September 2016
Department of English
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland
Department of English at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń invites you to attend the international conference whose major theme “Haunted Cultures/ Haunting Cultures” explores the cultural significance of the figure of the spectre, spectrality, haunting and hauntology in their deconstructive and/or other more traditional contexts. Following Jacques Derrida’s argument that “[t]here is then some spirit. Spirits. And one must reckon with them. One cannot not have to, one must not not be able to reckon with them…” (Derrida, 2006, xx), we invite papers reflecting on the place of the spectral figure, spectral metaphors and conceptualisations in past and present cultures. In its deconstructive preoccupations, hauntology endeavours to account for the persistence of the unspeakable and unnameable in cultural practices and discourses. One of our aims is to encourage a debate on the relevance and legitimacy of these spectral presences and/or absences in the twenty first century technologically advanced cultures.
We are also proud to announce the following renowned scholars as our keynote speakers:
Tadeusz Rachwał (SWPS, Warsaw)
Arthur Redding (York University, Toronto)
Julian Wolfreys (University of Portsmouth, England)
Suggested topics may include but need not be limited to the following:
- hauntology and deconstruction;
- the spectral turn and ethics of hauntology;
- (cultural) politics of haunting: preservation and/or production;
- functions of spectres and hauntings; the appearance of spectres in specific historical periods and the role they have played in forming (or de-forming) the dominant cultural practices, haunting past;
- haunted nations, haunted lands: spectres of present and past conflicts ;
- narratives concerning haunting (haunted places, spaces and individuals); haunting and possession in fiction across cultures;
- mourning and melancholia: persistence of the past;
- spectral identities: gendering spectres, colonial and postcolonial spectres, spectres and alterity;
- new media spectralities;
- hauntology and spectres in and of popular and digital cultures (e.g. music, photography, cinema, television, Internet, social media, digital games).
200-word abstracts with the title, the author’s name and affiliation accompanied by a short biographical note should be sent to the following address: hauntedcultures@gmail.com.
Extended abstracts submission deadline: 20 April 2016
Notification of acceptance: April 2016
Conference fee: 500 PLN (130 EUR)
Reduced fee (PhD students): 250 PLN (65 EUR)
The fee covers conference materials, coffee, the conference dinner and the costs of publication. It does not include the costs of accommodation.
Organizing committee:
dr hab. Edyta Lorek-Jezińska
dr hab. Katarzyna Więckowska
dr Katarzyna Marak
mgr Nelly Strehlau
Department of English
Nicolaus Copernicus University
ul. Bojarskiego 1
87-100 Toruń, Poland.
Call for papers as a downloadable document:
haunted cultures call for papers
haunted cultures / haunting cultures 