Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Thinking After Derrida: Davis Derrida Day

The conference "Thinking After Derrida: Davis Derrida Day" will take place
on Friday, November 9th, 2007 at the University Club Conference Center of
the University of California, Davis from 10:00 a.m.—6:15 p.m. Hosted by the
UC Davis Graduate Program in Critical Theory, the event will include
lectures by Karen Embry, Martin Jay, Peggy Kamuf, Gerhard Richter, Scott
Shershow, and David Simpson. The event is free and open to the public.

Xcp Web Offline

There is a temporary problem with the Buffalo Freenet Server, which hosts the Xcp and Streetnotes site. We hope to be back online shortly. David

Sunday, October 14, 2007

CFP: The Street

THE STREET: The 2008 UC Irvine Visual Studies Graduate Student Association Conference
February 29 - March 1

In the most literal sense, "the street" denotes a passageway that connects various points in space. However, a quick catalog of the phrase in everyday language reveals that "the street" is a dynamic social and symbolic space, an intersection of public and private interests that are often difficult to isolate. For example, "the street" does not only refer to a thoroughfare but also denotes the place where one lives. This relationship prompts the phrase "my street," which connotes a community affected through ownership, and links its author to a greater metropolis at the same time that it embeds him or her in place as owner and agent. In this sense the street also represents the confrontation of a sense of place and the codes of public policy, thereby pointing to a larger interpenetration of the public and the private that lies at the core of this elusive space. In other instances the phrase transcends space altogether, referring instead to a mode of existence that is independent of site specificity. In this capacity "the street" is used to convey authenticity as in "receiving one's education from the street" or in being "from the street," a usage that usually implies an opposition to artificial or abstract representations of reality. While these examples make clear that "the street" often functions in opposition to a privileged class, it is, in practice, precisely that space which refuses class distinction by forcing interactions among diverse social groups. This interaction is itself as diverse as the space in which it takes place as one may address the street with the apathy of the flâneur or with the fervor of political protest.

We seek papers, projects, or organized panels from a variety of disciplines and approaches all of which address and expand upon the many layers of meaning that constitute this rich object of study. Please submit abstract (250 words) and c.v. to thestreetconference@gmail.com by Dec. 1, 2007 for consideration.

Fields of interest may include:

The 40th anniversary of May '68
Limits of 'the public' in a surveillance society
Public infrastructure and urban planning
Protest on the global street
Globalization and Wall Street
Benjamin's Arcades Project
Advertising and public displays of consumption
Homelessness and nomadism
Situationism and the practice of the Derive
Public performance and the choreography of the street
GPS, G-Maps and virtual negotiations
The simulated street of the Sims and Second Life
Car crashes, accidents and public fatality

Visual Studies Graduate Student Association
University of California, Irvine

thestreetconference@gmail.com

Monday, October 01, 2007

John C Mohawk, His Life and Work Conference

4th Annual Storytellers Conference honoring John C. Mohawk, his life and his work
Location: New York, United States
Call for Papers Date: 2007-11-01
Date Submitted: 2007-08-26
HNET Announcement ID: 157942

From March 28 to March 30, 2008 -- The Fourth Annual Storytellers of the Americas Conference will honor the life and work of John C. Mohawk through storytelling and through academic papers relating to the many and varied fields in which Dr. Mohawk worked throughout his life. This conference will be hosted at the University at Buffalo, in Buffalo, New York. We seek proposals for academic papers related to John Mohawk, his life, and work. Panels include but are not limited to:

(1) Iroquois White Corn Project, including issues of slow food, contemporary cuisine, farming, and native nutrition; Indigenous Stories within their own culture, including creation stories, ceremonies, and histories (2) Environmental concerns, including historical climate change, contemporary global warming, the effects on indigenous peoples, and survival advice offered by indigenous prophecies (3) Indigenous History, including government, law, resistance, land rights, and development; Modernity and the West, including the European projects of white supremacy, colonization, and domination by the sword, by the pen, and by any means available.

As this is a Storytellers Conference, we invite you to tell stories related to the above. Stories will be told in a special session, wrapping up the conference, on Sunday, March 30, 2008.

Please feel free to suggest other panel topics.
Storytellers of Americas Conference Organizing Committee c/o Nikki Dragone (dragonnd2@gmail.com); and, Amber Adams (ambermeadowadams@verizon.net); and, Ula Piasta (ulapiasta@yahoo.com).
Email: dragonnd2@gamil.com