ENGInternational Conference ‘Public Understanding: Exploring Representations of War and Genocide’, 8 November, 2013, London (deadline: 2 September 2013)
Public Understanding: Exploring Representations of War and Genocide
Date: Friday, 8 November, 2013
Location: Imperial War Museum, London
Keynotes: Professor Dan Stone (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Professor Anna Reading (King’s College London)
Representations of war and genocide in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries can act as a platform for victims to share their stories, call perpetrators to account, raise public awareness, and mobilise political and ethical action in the present. How war and genocide are presented and represented form the reference frames within which the public is able to comprehend and respond to them. The study of these important issues provides the opportunity to translate historical events to present conflicts. But what are the limits of these representations? How are we responsible for the representations we put forth, study, or view? All research proposals that focus on a theme related to representations of war and genocide and the scope of public understanding are welcome, with potential topics ranging from:
- War and genocide in literature, film, photography, and journalism
- Trauma and amnesia
- The trans-generational impact of persecution
- The Holocaust and popular culture
- Individual and collective memory
- Using past conflicts to shape present concerns
- Educational issues
- Silenced or suppressed representations
- Ethics and aesthetics
- The difference between presentation, re-presentation, and representation
- Artistic and literary approaches to war and genocide
- Remembrance and memorialisation
- Museums and exhibits
- Questions of theory and methodology
- Alternative forms of representation
- How representations shape public perceptions
We anticipate that these and related issues will be of interest to people working in, among other areas, history, literature, cultural studies, philosophy, political theory, sociology, and media studies.
We invite postgraduate research students to submit an abstract of 250-300 words for 20-minute papers. Please include a short biography and 5-10 key words. Send submissions to [email protected] by Monday, 2 September 2013. Please also indicate if you are interested in chairing a panel.
