CALL FOR PAPERS

OBSESSION AND ADDICTION

An International Cultural Intersections Symposium
Kingston University, UK

9 - 11 July 2008

Is obsession all-consuming passion or pathological deviance? Is addiction a
compulsion or a choice, an irresistible lust for pleasure or a chronic
self-destructive disease? What is the relationship between obsession,
addiction and the arts?

This international interdisciplinary conference on Obsession and Addiction
invites debate on representations of the emotional, psychological and
physiological states of obsession and addiction, their causes and their
consequences. Are obsession and addiction demonised, glamorised, ridiculed
or normalised? How are readers and audiences disturbed, grabbed or hooked’
as consumers? How are obsession and addiction linked to the creative
process?

We welcome proposals on Fin de Siècle, 20th and 21st century depictions of
obsession and addiction from a range of critical perspectives, and across a
range of countries and cultures, both in the mainstream and in the
fringe/underground. Panels will be grouped around shared interests or
themes in the fields of art & design, drama, film & media, literature
and
music.

Topics will include but are not limited to:

- Images of obsession and addiction: from the margins to the mainstream

- The politics of representing obsession and addiction

- Theorising obsession and addiction

- Sex, gender and race’ in relation to representations of obsession and
addiction

- Obsession and addiction in relation to artists or audiences

Proposals in English (of no more than 250 words) should be submitted online
via the following page:
http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/conferences/apply/index.shtml

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 31st January 2008
Enquiries to: fass-conferenceskingston.ac.uk

Organisers: Dr Andrea Rinke and Dr Carrie Tarr,
School of Performance and Screen Studies, Kingston University, UK