[MGSA-L] FW: Lines Between: Culture and Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean Conference, 3-6 June 2015, Nicosia, Cyprus

[Martha Klironomos]

A call for papers that might be of interest to subscribers of our list.

MK
________________________________________
From: Paul Lorenz [lorenzp at uapb.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2014 9:21 AM
To: Paul Lorenz
Subject: Lines Between: Culture and Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean Conference, 3-6 June 2015, Nicosia, Cyprus

August 5, 2014

Dear Durrellians:

I am forwarding to you a Call for Papers for a conference that will be held next June in Nicosia, Cyprus.  The conference is not a Durrell-specific conference, but papers which include Durrell are certainly welcome.  Because of the broad subject matter of this conference, you might like to forward this call for papers to colleagues who are interested in the culture of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Paul Lorenz, Secretary/Treasurer
The International Lawrence Durrell Society

Lines Between: Culture and Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean Conference, 3-6 June 2015, Nicosia, Cyprus

Over the centuries, the peoples and nations of the Mediterranean have been divided but also connected by the sea. Its trade routes have facilitated traffic and ideas, artistic creativity, and architecture, as well as commerce. Cultures have evolved and empires have risen and declined through processes that have impacted the histories and cultures of countries washed by the Mediterranean. This sea has helped create what Edward Said refers to as “lines between cultures” that permit us to discern identities in a process of constant evolution while also revealing the “extent to which cultures are humanly made structures of both authority and participation.”  Indeed, this interplay of geography and culture, politics and art, climate and society invites multiple modes of inquiry. How have the “humanly made structures” of the Eastern Mediterranean helped both to unite and divide the peoples of the region?  As peripheral cultures, have these structures and/or peoples taken on aspects and attributes similar to those found in other peripheral but also metropolitan settings? To what extent has the region’s geopolitical frame affected lifestyle and artistic expression for those living there? How did Empire mediate in the interactions between Mediterranean colonies? How have the structures created by Greeks, Ottomans, Britons, and other imperialists in the Eastern Mediterranean altered the landscape — human, sociological, anthropological, linguistic, and cultural?

We invite proposals for papers, posters, and panels that engage with these questions as well as with any other aspects and politics of culture and empire in the Eastern Mediterranean.

We welcome papers that explore any of the issues that focus on the Eastern Mediterranean. Through these papers, we hope to explore the ways in which the arts in this “extremely small sea,” as Lawrence Durrell puts it, have helped to “make us dream that it is larger than it is.”Abstracts of a 250-word maximum for 20-minute papers, and a 400-word maximum for three-paper panels (with the names of the panelists) that engage with these and other relevant questions should be submitted electronically addressed to David Roessel or Stavros Karayanni at eucrscconference2015 at gmail.com<mailto:eucrscconference2015 at gmail.com> by Friday, 10 October 2014 (10.10.2014). Please make sure that you send the proposal as an attachment and include “Conference Proposal” in the topic line of your email.

The organizers are looking into the possibility of a publication that will feature a selection of papers from the conference.

Acceptances will be sent by 19 December 2014.

The conference will take place in Nicosia, Cyprus on 3-6 June 2015.

For further information about the conference and the detailed list of suggested topics please check the conference website: http://eucrscconference2015.org/call-for-papers.

Best regards,
Conference organizers