>
>CALL FOR PAPERS
>
>Forum on Contemporary Theory
>Seventh International Conference
>Andhra University, Visakhapatnam  (India)
>13-16 December 2004
>
>Topic: "Dialogics of Cultural Encounters"
>
>The theme of the conference, "Dialogics of Cultural Encounters," is
>part of the ongoing debate of the Forum on the question of identity,
>which has acquired greater urgency and meaning today in the context
>of the recent events in Afghanistan and Iraq and the threat of
>international terrorism to the civilized world. The theme of the
>2004 conference extends the scope of the debate on modernity,
>initiated at the Jaipur conference in 2003, to encompass the larger
>dimension of the question involving dialogue between cultures,
>between civilizations, between religious and political ideologies,
>and between the present and the past.  The idea of modernity, which
>was disseminated throughout the world under colonial dispensation,
>was both a spatial mode of intervention across cultures and a
>reflection on the nature of residual temporality of the past through
>the present. Through migration and displacement of people, through
>translations of works, through study of comparative literary pe!
>rspectives and influences, and through expansion of regimes of
>control under colonialism and forms of globalization the world
>continues to be shaken and invigorated by spatial dynamics of
>cultural exchange. Temporal markers of disjunction and conjunction
>of cultural forces would include modernity's invocation of the past
>and its continued reworking of tradition through both conflicting
>and collaborative dialogues. The influx of modernity into the
>life-world of the countries influenced by the West could be seen as
>both a disturbing phenomenon for traditional cultures as well as a
>facilitation for a fruitful exchange of ideas for a healthy
>cross-fertilization of shared perspectives. Although some cynics
>have predicted a clash of civilizations and battles over ideological
>differences, there seems to have continued a subtle dialogue between
>systems of thought apparently opposed by their epistemic
>differences. The emergence of poststructuralist thinking and its
>profound impact on!
>  contemporary thought have made us aware that the old-fashion!
>ed dichot
>re-conceptualizing the nature of the human world; there is a need
>for a fresh look from the vantage point of the new century and new
>millennium, which is expected to offer us a vision of a new future.
>By using the term "dialogics" from Mikhail Bakhtin and implying its
>opposition to the Marxist term "dialectics" we have tried to
>understand the more complex but valuable interplay of ideas across
>cultures and time as a way of making sense of the intricate process
>of encounters between cultures, despite the more obvious signs of
>many forms of conflicts resulting in violent political and
>ideological clashes. The conference will try to examine through
>close studies of cultural forms as well as the nature of
>philosophical debates through history how there has been a
>persistence of dialogical impulses, even when conflicts among
>cultures have been more open and bloody.
>
>Papers, mostly on conceptual nature, supported by textual examples,
>are welcome.  Mere textual analysis without any broad philosophical
>framework will not be entertained.
>
>Special Session:  In keeping with the earlier convention, a special
>panel on a regional text will be one of the highlights of the
>conference. This year's choice for the panel is the nineteenth
>century Telugu play  Kanyasulkam (1897) by Gurajada Venkata Appa
>Rao, translated into English by C. Vijayasree and T. Vijaya Kumar,
>and published in 2002 by The Book Review Literary Trust (239 Vasant
>Enclave, New Delhi 110057).  The play gives a clear picture of
>Telugu society in the late nineteenth century, between the collapse
>of an old order and the uncertain emergence of a new one. Hailed as
>the first "modern" text in Telugu, it interestingly is one of the
>earliest to have critiqued the colonial models of modernity.  It
>also anticipates many postmodernist techniques through its
>inter-textual links with past authors and texts, both Indian and
>Western, and negotiates playfully between the past and the present
>through a meaningful dialogue with historical periods as a way of
>understan!
>ding how temporal dislocations and changes have also vestiges of continuity.
>
>Submission deadline: 500-word abstracts or proposals are due by
>August 1, 2004.
>
>Complete papers should be limited to 12 pages (approximately 20
>minutes reading time).  A longer version may be submitted for
>possible publication in the Journal of Contemporary Thought, brought
>out by the Forum, or in the conference volume.  The completed paper
>should reach the Convener of the Forum by October 30.
>
>Registration deadline: September 5, 2004.  All participants need to
>be pre-registered.
>
>1. Participant from India (non-member)    *******..    Rs2,500/
>2. Participant from India (member of the Forum) ****...        Rs.2,000/
>3. Overseas Participant (SAARC countries)       *****. $100.00
>4. Overseas Participants (non-SAARC countries)         ***.    $150.00
>5. Local Participant (non-member)   *********. Rs.800.00
>6. Local Participant (member of the Forum)   ******    Rs.700.00
>
>The registration fee covers room and board for 4 days. The fee from
>the local participants will cover lunch, conference tea, and other
>conference material.  A cashier check made payable to THE FORUM ON
>CONTEMPORARY THEORY should be sent to: Prafulla Kar, Convener of the
>Forum, 14 Pitambar, Old Padra Road, Baroda 390 020, India.
>
>Sightseeing Tours: Those who go on a local tour on December 13 will
>be charged a small extra fee to be determined by the local hosts.
>Those who want to go on a day-long sightseeing trip to the historic
>Aruku valley, famous for its Buddhist sites on the 17th may contact
>the local hosts to arrange the tour through Andhra Pradesh Tourism
>Corporation.
>
>Visakhapatnam, the second largest city of Andhra Pradesh, next to
>Hyderabad, is a naval base on the Bay of Bengal.  It is famous for
>its beach, hills and ancient temples; Simhachalam temple, dedicated
>to Lord Narasimha, is the most famous, situated on the top of a
>picturesque hill. The city has also has lovely hills like Kailash
>Giri and Dolphin Point overlooking the Bay of Bengal. The city is
>connected by air to Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad and
>Bhubaneswar, and by train to major cities. One can make a trip  from
>here to Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, called Cyberabad
>these days, the city of the Nizams as well to the famous Chilika
>Lake and the temples of Puri, Bhubaneswar and Konark in the
>neighboring state of Orissa.
>
>Andhra University, one of the oldest universities in the country
>(established in 1926), has played an important role in the
>development of higher education in India, particularly in the
>discipline of English Studies, with such luminaries on its faculty
>and administration as C. R. Reddy, a friend of Sri Aurobindo,
>Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the philosopher, and K. Srinivasa Iyengar,
>the first historiographer of Indian Writing in English.
>
>For further information, please visit the Forum web site at
>www.factworld.org or contact any of the following:
>
>Sura P. Rath, Director
>The William O. Douglas Honors College
>Central Washington University
>Ellensburg, WA 98926
>ph: 509.963.1440  fax:  509.963.1206  e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>Prafulla C. Kar and Parul Dave Mukherji
>Conveners, Forum on Contemporary Theory
>14 Pitambar, Old Padra Road, Baroda 390 020, India
>Tel: (0265) 2338067; 2351323
>Email: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
>
>K. Nirupa Rani
>Professor of English, Andhra University
>V. Sudheer, Professor and Head, Department of English, Andhra University
>Local Conveners of the Conference
>Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 530 003, India
>Tel: (0891) 2599595; 2559051; 2702031; 9849346970
>Email: [log in to unmask]; voola [log in to unmask]
>
>

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