Transcultural Identity Constructions in a Changing World
Falun, Sweden | Dalarna University
Globalising processes have led, in recent decades, to critical re-evaluations of the ways in which ‘culture’ has traditionally been understood. Global capitalism, worldwide diffusion and popularisation of communication technologies, as well as increased mobility of people, information, and consumer goods, are some of the forces that account for a widespread intensification of cultural exchanges within and beyond the borders of the nation-state. In this context, past definitions of collective and individual identities as essentially monocultural are increasingly viewed as inadequate to describe the way people perceive themselves and the world they live in. Instead, the concept of transculturality has often been adopted to describe the diverse and productive reality of identity-formation processes which take place at cultural cross-sections.
Over the last few years, the analysis of transculturality, understood as the formation of multifaceted, fluid identities resulting from diverse cultural encounters, has been central to various fields of knowledge, where traditional analytical categories, such as migration, multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism, and postcolonialism, have been re-examined. The aim of this multidisciplinary conference, organised by the Transcultural Identities research group, is to analyse how individual and collective identities in various geographical areas around the world are redefined from a transcultural perspective. Paper proposals from disciplines such as literary studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science are welcome.
Confirmed plenary speakers include: Dr Marianne Franklin, Reader in Global Media & Transnational Communications, Goldsmiths University, London; Dr Alan Grossman, Director, Centre for Transcultural Research and Media Practice, (CTMP), College of Arts and Tourism, Dublin Institute of Technology; Prof. Miguel Vale de Almeida, Professor in Social-Anthropology, ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, a European Union diplomat, and LGBT activist. Further plenary speakers are yet to be confirmed.
Suggested topics are, though not limited to, the following topics:
• Transcultural memory/memories
• Transcultural remediation
• Re-narrating in a postcolonial space
• Gender and transculturality
• Translingualism and transculturality
• Risk society and the cosmopolitanisation of reality
• Globalisation and post-postcolonialism
• Transmigration and national identities
• Local vs. global? National vs. cosmopolitan?
• Narratives of transnational identities
The language of the conference will be English. Abstracts of no more than 250 words for twenty-minute presentations and a short biographical description (200 words) should be sent by email to transcult@du.se. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 September 2013. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 15 October 2013. A selection of the papers presented at the conference will be published in book form.