CALL FOR PAPERS

The Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of
Rochester presents:

CASTING DOUBT
A Graduate Conference
Friday, April 4 & Saturday, April 5, 2003

CASTING DOUBT is an interdisciplinary graduate student conference exploring the
phenomena of calling things into question. It seeks to understand the multiple
dimensions of doubting as a lived reality, an
historical moment, a liminal state, a political position, and an ethical
imperative.

Responding both to an official cultural climate which vehemently chastises
voices of dissent, and to a growing intellectual interest in emotional
experiences of all kinds, this conference seeks to pry open and discover spaces
of doubt in an effort to consider their multiple meanings, modes, aesthetics,
and impacts. CASTING DOUBT can then be approached as a timely, collective
meditation on the potential value of uncertainty.

We invite proposals from across disciplines, research interests, and
theoretical
persuasions. Possible areas of inquiry might include, but are not limited to:
Radical Doubt
Visualizing Doubt
Suspicious Minds & Reasonable Doubt
Crisis of Doubt
Doubting the Normal
Doubt and Knowledge
Doubtful Science
Historical Doubts
Self Doubt
Philosophy of Doubt
Ethnography of Everyday Doubt
Performing Doubt: Hoaxes, Frauds & Cons

DEADLINE for submissions: JANUARY 12, 2003
Submissions for 20-minute papers should be in abstract form (250-500 words). A
self-addressed stamped envelope must accompany all submissions requiring
return.
Please include e-mail addresses with all submissions whenever possible.
Abstracts and inquiries may be sent via e-mail to:
vcsconfmail.rochester.edu

Printed submissions should be posted to:
Organizing Committee for "Casting Doubt"
c/o Program in Visual and Cultural Studies
424 Morey Hall
University of Rochester
Box 270456
Rochester, NY
14627-0456

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Program in Visual and Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary graduate
program at the University of Rochester. Its focus is visual culture and
critical
theory; the Departments and Programs of Art and Art History, English, Film
Studies, Anthropology, History, and Modern Languages and Cultures, as well as
the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Women's Studies, constitute its academic
base.
Web site: www.rochester.edu/college/AAH/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Claire Sykes
Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies
Department of Art and Art History
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627
USA