Tennessee, 6.-9.2.03)
Date: 8/5/02

CALL FOR PAPERS

Cultures in Motion: The Africa Connection

International and Interdisciplinary Conference

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Feb. 6-9, 2003

During the spring semester 2003, the University of Tennessee will
engage in a multitude of Africa related activities and events that range from
an African Art Exhibit and scholar residencies on campus to a host of
outreach and cultural events, including the North-American premiere of
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka's play "Oyedipo at Kolhuni," a modern
adaptation of Sophocles' "Oedipus at Colonus." Performance dates are
Feb. 7-22, 2003, and conference participants will have the opportunity
to reserve tickets for the premiere on Friday, Feb. 7, or the
performance on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2003.

The overall theme for the Africa-Semester at the University of
Tennessee is "At Home in Africa - Africa at Home: Celebrating African Art,
Literature and Performance, " and it is one of our goals to focus on
the interrelatedness of African and non-African cultures world-wide and
over time.

As part of the Africa Semester at the University of Tennessee, we will
hold an interdisciplinary and international conference entitled
"Cultures in Motion: The Africa Connection."

During the conference we plan to focus on:

* How Africans and African elements have influenced the cultural
production in the Diaspora world-wide,

* How African musicians, writers, performers, and artists reflect
non-African (cultural) influences in their works,

* How processes of cultural contact and influence are perceived and
interpreted: as an enrichment or as a development that will ultimately
lead to the erosion of unique and distinct cultural traditions.

We invite proposals for papers that explore these themes in their
historical and/or contemporaneous contexts from all areas in the
Humanities and Social Sciences, and we especially welcome
interdisciplinary and non-traditional approaches.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Interacting to Understand / Understanding to Interact
Cultural Memories - Memorized Cultures
Ethnicity, Tribalism and Cultural Identity in the Age of
Globalization
Politics of (Self)Representation in Print, the Media, and on the
Internet
Historicizing Gender and Race
A Closer Look at the 'Contact Zone'
(Re)Defining Cultural Interconnectedness
Dealing with 'Otherness' in Travel Accounts and Ethnographic
Sketches
Analyzing Collections (e.g. Postcards, Souvenirs, Sound Recordings,
Photographs, Art and Artifacts ...)
(Un)Intended Colonial Legacies
Forced and Voluntary Migrations and Contacts
Visualizing 'Cultures in Motion'

Deadline for Proposals: Sept. 15, 2002

Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words for a presentation
of
approximately 20 minutes and a short biographical sketch to each of
the
conference organizers listed below. Submissions via e-mail are
preferred! Please do not forget to include your telephone number, fax
number, and email address. You should also let us know of any
necessary
audio-visual needs.

Carolyn R. Hodges
chodges@utk.edu
(865) 974-2312

Stefanie Ohnesorg
ohnesorg@utk.edu
(865) 974-7098

Mailing address:
Department of Modern Foreign Languages & Literatures
University of Tennessee
701 McClung Tower
Knoxville, TN 37996-0470, U.S.A.

A panel of scholars from various fields will select papers after the
closing date and notify presenters by October 5, 2002. A selection of
papers will be published in a monograph.

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