The Unlearning Temporality Graduate Workshop builds on the theme “The temporal diversity of our time, pluralizing and unlearning the modern Western temporal regime,” developed by Professor Birgit Hopfener in the context of the Ruth and Mark Phillips Professorship in Cultural Mediations (ICSLAC, Carleton University).

What are multiple concepts of time, plural and entangled temporal structures and regimes that constitute the present and our contemporary conceptual frameworks of knowing, being, creating art and cultural artifacts, and relating to each other and the world?

This interdisciplinary workshop takes the above question as the starting point to render visible, critique, and “unlearn” (G. Spivak) the universalized modern Western temporal framework. It seeks to facilitate a collaborative learning space to contemplate the cultural and historical multiplicity of temporalities that constitute the present through critical engagements with works of visual art, film, music, literature, etc.

We welcome submissions by graduate students from all disciplines to examine a diverse range of topics, including, but not limited to:
- Narrative time in works of popular culture (film, television, video games, etc.)
- Colonialism/De-coloniality and time
- The impact of COVID-19 on Western conceptions of time
- Environmental and climate theory and temporality
- Time and Queer Theory
- Unlearning Modernity in Scientific Practice

Contributors are invited to present their paper or project for 10 minutes, followed by a collaborative group discussion. We hope to facilitate engaged discussions and collaborative knowledge creation by opening the workshop with an introduction on the nature of the modern temporal regime and the practice of “unlearning,” and a slow looking session of a work of art that engages with the workshop’s themes. The goal is for presenters to collaborate through discussion and reflect on the topic.

Please submit by February 1st an abstract (250-300 words) along with a short bio (~150 words) addressed to the organizing committee co-chairs Victoria Hawco and Makenzie Salmon: makenziesalmoncmail.carleton.ca
Please include “Name + Temporality 2022 Submission” in the subject line. Participants will be notified by March 1st.