Cultural Studies Association of Australasia Annual Conference 2015
Minor Culture
Hosted by the School of Culture and Communication
University of Melbourne
1st – 3rd December 2015
(Prefix Postgraduate Workshop 30th November)
Co-Convenors: Rimi Khan and Tim Laurie
Organising Committee: Chris Healy, Fran Martin, Scott McQuire, Angela Ndalianis, Nikos Papastergiadis, Audrey Yue.
Conference Theme: Minor Culture
Minor Culture creates a space for inter-disciplinary dialogues around the study of place, identity and marginality, and addresses research on everyday cultural productions and media texts, cultural policy and discourses of sustainability, digital life and creative industries, and public cultures in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference also invites responses to the following questions:
- How are minor cultures inhabited? When do minor cultures become uninhabitable?
- Is the concept of minority still useful in explaining contemporary forms of cultural marginality?
- How do categories such as indigeneity and Aboriginality, gender and sexuality, class, disability, race and citizenship produce minoritising effects? How might these categories change when mobilised through governmental discourses, newsmedia, and everyday usage?
- Who narrates experiences of minoritisation? For whom are these narratives produced? How is minoritarianism articulated through film, music, television, literature, performance, and digital cultures?
- In what ways do practices of government and cultural policy shape relationships between local, national and transnational cultures? To what extent are legal regulations implicated in the formation of minoritarian practices?
- How do new minor or major cultural formations emerge? Through which means do political practices resist or intervene in these formations?
- Do minor cultures require novel theoretical tools or research methodologies? What do “experimental” approaches to cultural research look like? What alternative kinds of knowledge could such approaches make available?
- Is minority a humanist concept? What place could “majority” and “minority” have within post-anthropocentric thinking?
- And when do minor cultures cease to be minor?
Prefix Postgraduate Workshop
The Prefix postgraduate workshop in 2015 will be divided into two halves, the first involving seminars and workshops on publishing in Cultural Studies (and adjacent disciplines), and the second involving discussions of Cultural Studies research outside the academy. Invited speakers include Professor Greg Noble (University of Western Sydney) and Associate Professor Chris Healy (University of Melbourne), with additional speakers to be confirmed. These sessions will be followed by a social networking event, then drinks and nibbles in Carlton (near the University of Melbourne). Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher participants in ‘Minor Culture’ will automatically be accepted into the Prefix day.
Due Date for Proposals: 1st June 2015
Notification of acceptance: 1st July 2015
Email: csaa2015@lists.unimelb.edu.au
Proposals must include:
- An abstract (250 words max.)
- A title for the presentation (15 words max.)
- A short bio (30 words max.) Include your name, email address, degree level and institutional affiliation. This should be included both in the body of the email and as an attachment
Panel proposals are also welcome. In addition to submitting a 250 word abstract for each presenter, please submit an abstract (100 words) and a title (15 words max.) for the panel as a whole. As we have a tight schedule this year, panels will be limited to three persons each.
Conference Site: CSAA Conference 2015
Call for Papers: CSAA 2015 Call for Papers
Conference Email: csaa2015@lists.unimelb.edu.au
