CALL FOR PAPERS

The Department of Germanics at the University of Washington (Seattle)
announces its 2003 Graduate Student Conference:

Generating Difference: Identity and Alterity as Generational Conflict

May 29, 2003

Submission Deadline: January 15, 2003

The desire to align oneself with a group and, at the same time, to
distinguish oneself as an individual, generates conflict both internally
and between generations.  Each generation struggles with this process on
societal, familial, and personal levels.  Problems of identity and
alterity are evident in autobiography and in travel writing, as well as
in popular culture.  What are the traces and implications of the
transmission of memory and societal continuity across generations?

In association with the Generations conference in the Department of
Germanics, this interdisciplinary graduate student conference will
explore issues of identity and alterity in German culture.  We welcome
proposals for papers from all disciplines.  Please submit proposals to
University of Washington, Department of Germanics, Attn: Graduate
Conference, 340-C Denny, Box 353130, Seattle, WA  98195-3130.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to the following:

Selective Memory: Colonial History and Other Things Cast Aside
Rebellion: Political Movement, Youth Culture, Rite of Passage, or just
for the Sake of Art?
Tattoos, Piercings, Trachten: Visual Tropes and Group Identification
Instant Other: Just Add Travel
Currencies of Language:  English within Reunified Germany
Perceived Homogeneity: Language as Border and Bridge between Generations

Wearing the Pants:  Configurations of Childhood, Motherhood, and
Fatherhood
Nosferatu: Vampires and the Role of Sadomasochism in Family and Queer
Identities
Staying Current:  The Euro, Global Movement, and Family Economies
Kidnapping, International Adoption, and Surrogate Families: Changing the
Borders of the Family
The Online Generation:  Internet Anonymity and the Creation of the Self
Configurations of Home:  Autobiography, City Streets, Village Alleyways,
Café Life
Flood and Fire:  Natural Disaster and Apocalyptic Vision in Germany
Throughout the Ages