News
Chair's Address to the 2023 Annual Conference in Cluj
The Utopian Year 2023
Greetings, and bun venit, fellow Utopographers, Utopologists, or Utopolitans - H. G. Wells gave us the choice of identities. A warm welcome to the 23rd meeting of Utopian Studies Society, founded in 1988, and this year generously hosted by the Center for Imagination Studies of the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. A massive thanks is due to the organisers, and especially Corin Braga, a leading representative of a well-established Romanian utopian scholarly tradition, and to his team; and to Sorin Antohi, who has done so much to make our meeting in Romania possible.
Special thanks also to two other people for whose devoted service to the Society I am deeply grateful: to our Secretary, Justyna Galant, who stepped down earlier this year, and to Nicole Pohl, long-time and diligent editor of Utopian Studies, who recently resigned after twelve years of service. Both of these posts are time-consuming, and difficult, and taking them on marks a special devotion to the subject. Both rose to the challenges presented them with admirable bravado and have served the Society and the field with great distinction.
A special welcome, now, to new members of the Society, and a reminder that we are here not only to promote vibrant and exciting utopian scholarship but also to assist utopian scholars in any way we can. The Society represents an ongoing discussion into a large, complex, and infinitely fascinating and challenging subject. We come together as a group in part because we know how marginalised our subject is in many academic disciplines: we have all winced over the water-cooler or coffee-machine trying to explain what we do and why we do it and getting a vague stare of incomprehension or scepticism in reply. Thankfully the world is catching up in recognising not just the importance, but the centrality of utopian and dystopian discourses in later modernity.
Of course, we do not always agree - no subject advances without criticism, and our field has many disputes, even on first principles. But we endeavour to express these in a polite, professional, civilised, and friendly manner, without malice, prejudice, small-mindedness or bigotry, and to ensure that all voices and all of the many disciplines which compose the subject get a fair hearing. We do not judge each others by their origins or appearance, or disrespect people on the basis of their sexual preference or gender identity. We utterly reject bullying of any kind in the Society, including by minorities against other minorites. We seek stimulating debate amidst good company. As utopographers, we are all on a common journey, and share with H. G. Wells the sentiment that "The human mind has always accomplished progress by its construction of utopias." (Quoted in Benjamin Kidd. The Science of Power) And of course we try to have as much fun as we can!
The year 2023 does not seem to witness many milestones in the utopian calendar. 1923 did see the publication of H. G. Wells's Men Like Gods. And on the dystopian calendar, for those who follow such things, Mussolini came to power and Hitler staged his beer-hall putsch.
Finally, a few brief words on how the Society works. We meet annually, and an elected Committee meets several times a year. Our main business is transacted at the annual AGM, during our conference. The Society invites anyone who may be interested in hosting a conference to contact me or our Secretary, Zsolt Czigányik. Conference organisers deal directly with the Chair and secretary, and through them the Committee, to which they are seconded. No interference with local arrangements takes place, though the Society is of course always happy to provide advice on how to proceed. But the choice of themes, venues and so on lies entirely with the local organisers. We are always looking for new venues and people willing to serve on the Committee.
So on with the proceedings, and welcome again.
Greg Claeys
6 July 2023
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Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction by Lyman Tower Sargent, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Lyman Sargent discusses the role of utopianism in literature, and in the development of colonies and in immigration. The idea of utopia has become commonplace in social and political thought, both negatively and positively. Some thinkers see a trajectory from utopia to totalitarianism with violence an inevitable part of the mix. Others see utopia directly connected to freedom and as a necessary element in the fight against totalitarianism. In Christianity utopia is labelled as both heretical and as a fundamental part of Christian belief, and such debates are also central to such fields as architecture, town and city planning, and sociology among many others.
please visit www.oup.com/vsi
978-0-19-957340-0| Paperback
160 pages | 15 black & white halftones | £8.99
THE 2020 ANNUAL USSE CONFERENCE IS CANCELLED. The 2021 meeting is planned for Porto, Portugal
Darko Suvin was awarded the Distinguished Service Award at the 20th International meeting of the Utopian Studies Society-Europe at Prato, 1–5 July 2019. Watch his keynote and interview below.
Again, Dangerous Visions: Essays in Cultural Materialism
by Andrew Milner
Edited by J. R. Burgmann
$36.00 / £25.99
Haymarket Books
9781642590395
This important volume collects twenty-six essential essays that chart the development of Andrew Milner's distinctively Orwellian cultural materialism.
Again, Dangerous Visions: Essays in Cultural Materialism brings together twenty-six essays charting the development of Andrew Milner's distinctively Orwellian version of cultural materialism between 1981 and 2015. The essays address three substantive areas:
the sociology of literature
cultural materialism and the cultural politics of the New Left
utopian and science fiction studies.
They are bookended by two conversations between Milner and his editor J.R. Burgmann, the first looking back retrospectively on the development of Milner's thought, the second looking forward prospectively towards the future of academia, the political left and science fiction.
Part of the Historical Materialism Book Series: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/series_collections/1-historical-materialism
Customers in North America can buy the book direct from the Haymarket website at a 30% discount: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1334-again-dangerous-visions
Customers in the UK and Europe can buy the book from any bookstore, or through the usual online outlets.
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1642590398
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/again-dangerous-visions/andrew-milner/j-r-burgmann/9781642590395
Alliance of Radical Booksellers: http://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/?page_id=6
We particularly encourage people to support local bookstores, especially members of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers, where possible.
For requests for review copies or any other queries, write to Duncan@haymarketbooks.org (UK and Europe) or John@haymarketbooks.org (US).
Exploring Utopian York Sarah Lohmann and Adam Stock
Why should the study of the banal itself be banal? Are not the surreal, the extraordinary, the surprising, even the magical, also part of the real? Why wouldn’t the concept of everydayness reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary? - Henri Lefebvre.
York is a city designed, re-designed, built, and re-built over thousands of years. Historical periods collide on almost every street. Plans,
rules, environmental change and economic circumstances continue to shape our urban landscape, but the more distant futures we imagine for York change over time too.
In this guided podcast trail, Sarah Lohmann of Durham University and Adam Stock of York St John University discuss utopian visions, science fiction and the imagination in locations while exploring the city centre of York. Delving into their research in utopia and dystopia, they look again at the everyday to examine some of the extraordinary, surprising, magical – and sometimes terrifying – elements we often overlook.
The three-part podcast will be available for download throughout the Festival of Ideas 2018 (June 5 - 17), for you to listen to as you wander the streets or at home: http://yorkfestivalofideas.com/2018/community/exploring-utopian-york/
Utopias in Latin America, Past and Present Edited by Juan Pro
Introduction
Juan Pro (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain)
Chapter 1
Utopia in the Spanish Language: The Origin of a Word, the History of an Idea.
Juan Pro
Chapter 2
How to Do Things With Utopias: Stories, Memory and Resistance
in Paraguay
Marisa González de Oleaga (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain)
Chapter 3
Vasco de Quiroga rewrites Utopia
Geraldo Witeze Jr. (Instituição Federal de Goiás, Brazil)
Chapter 4
Where Is Columbus’s Helmsman Taking Us?: The City of the Sun by Tommaso Campanella as a Utopia Critical of the Iberian Empires
Carlos E.O. Berriel (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brasil)
Chapter 5
Utopian Imagination Across the Atlantic: Chile in the 1820s
J. Carlos Ferrera (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain)
Chapter 6
Cabet’s Utopia, from Minorca to Argentina: Bartolomé Victory y Suárez
Horacio Tarcus (CeDInCI - Universidad Nacional de San Martín - CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Chapter 7
The Utopia of the “Latin Race”: Michel Chevalier, Victor Considerant and Public Debate in Spain Concerning the Intervention in Mexico (1861–1867)
Nere Basabe (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain)
Chapter 8
Rhodakanaty in Mexico
Carlos Illades (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico)
Chapter 9
The Cecilia Colony: Echoes of an Amorous Utopia in the Libertarian Press
Laura Fernández Cordero (CeDInCI - Universidad Nacional de San Martín - CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Chapter 10
Technologies of the Afterlife: Spiritualism and Social Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Mexico
Ana Sabau (University of Michigan, USA)
Chapter 11
Universopolis: The Universal in a Place and Time
Andrew Ginger (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
Chapter 12
The Commune in Venezuela: A Utopian Prefiguration
Dario Azzellini (Cornell University, USA)
Chapter 13
Walking towards Utopia: Experiences from Argentina
Marina Sitrin (State University of New York, Binghamton, USA)
Moralising Space: The Utopian Urbanism of the British Positivists, 1855-1920 by Matthew Wilson
Amidst the soot, stink and splendour of Victorian London a coterie of citizen-sociologists set out to break up the British Empire. They were the followers of the French philosopher Auguste Comte, a controversial figure who introduced the modern science of sociology and the republican Religion of Humanity. Moralising Space examines how from the 1850s Comte’s British followers practised this science and religion with the aim to create a global network of 500 utopian city-states. The book shows that through to the interwar period, affiliates to the British Positivist Society – Richard Congreve, Frederic Harrison, Charles Booth, Patrick Geddes and Victor Branford – attempted to realise Comte’s utopian network called the Occidental Republic. Much to the consternation of the church, state and landed aristocracy the Positivists organised urban interventions, led ad hoc sociological surveys and propagated polemical programmes for producing idyllic city-communities. Moralising Space traces how the Positivists’ humanist activism, aiming to coordinate science and industry to improve the lives of the masses, percolated into the works of Ebenezer Howard, Patrick Abercrombie, Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, HP Berlage, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and the Smithsons. Effectively this book contributes to our understanding of Positivism as a utopian spatial design praxis and thus to our knowledge of how it served as an impetus to the early modern movements of architecture and urbanism.
University College Cork is seeking applications for the Professorship in Government in the Department of Government and Politics. This is an opportunity for a candidate of internationally recognised standing in any area of Political Science/Politics to lead a Department that is highly regarded for the quality of its programmes, research and public engagement. Reporting to the Head of School, the Professor of Government will be expected to play a key role in the Department's future development as well as providing leadership and support for the Department's research and teaching activities. The deadline for submission of completed applications is 12 Noon (Irish Local Time) on Tuesday 8th May 2018.
For further information, see https://www.universityvacancies.com/university-college-cork/professor-government-9161. Further information on the Department is available at https://www.ucc.ie/en/government/.
Some recent publications in Utopian Studies
The ARUS bibliography, a full bibliography of utopian studies publications, is under construction
a post-graduate application form for this year’s Utopian Studies Society conference in Tarragona can be found on the conference website:
http://wwwa.fundacio.urv.cat/congressos/utopian-studies-society/
In 2018 the Colonies of Benevolence in The Netherlands and Flanders will exist 200 years. The Colonies of Benevolence are utopian agricultural landscapes, laid out in the early nineteenth century to eradicate all poverty in the whole country at once. Paupers from the cities worked here and were educated in these landscapes of social engineering. Today one in 16 Dutch people has ancestors who once lived here. Robert Owen was one of the honorary members of the founders, the Society of Benevolence.
An extensive scientific study, made for the nomination as a world Heritage site, is available on: https://www.kolonienvanweldadigheid.eu/en/nomination-file
If you are interested in exchanging knowledge and research relating to this this subject, please contact Wendy Schutte at w.schutte@drenthe.nl
Please find below a link to the last issue of "Cadernos de Literatura Comparada" – the academic journal of the Institute for Comparative Literature of Porto University edited by José Eduardo Reis and Fátima Vieira on the subject of Utopia and Food. (The Introduction and most of the articles are in English).
http://ilc-cadernos.com/index.php/cadernos/issue/view/29to
Science Fiction and Fantasy MA
Postgraduate (full-time, part-time, distance learning)
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
Find out more and apply now at
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/science-fiction-and-fantasy
This new interdisciplinary MA course combines the literary theory of science fiction and fantasy with the study of their language and rhetoric, their subgenres and their place in the publishing industry. It examines science fiction and fantasy as products shaped by interactions between the entertainment industry, reviewers and critics as well as their own fans. By analysing how the boundaries of these genres have been established, policed, challenged and extended, students will learn to apply their own theories to a range of popular works - and have the option to produce their own original writing.
On this course, students will:
• Become experts in one of the fastest growing areas of popular culture
• Explore a variety of fields including literature, publishing, film and television, linguistics and creative writing
• Network with professionals in the industry
• Study without disrupting their work / family life with our blended learning delivery
Course delivery: Our course starts in May 2018, with a two-week intensive residency in September 2018.
Applications are open now. Find out more and apply now at http://www.anglia.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/science-fiction-and-fantasy
Submit updates to Matthew Wilson :: mrwilson [at] bsu.edu
USS/E Lifetime Achievement Award
Fátima Vieira
The Chair's praise
It is a great honour indeed to bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award on Fátima Vieira, the second chair of the Society, serving from 2006-16, and the generous host of our meetings in 2004, 2006, 2009, and 2021. Fátima received her PhD in 1998 with a dissertation on William Morris, and has made many contributions to the field since then. She is now Professor of English at the University of Porto. She is the Coordinator of the University of Porto's branch of CETAPS – Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies, where she is the leader of the research project "Mapping Dreams: British and North-American Utopianism". She has also collaborated with The Institute for Comparative Literature Margarida Losa since 2000, where she has coordinated research projects on Portuguese utopianism.
Her publications include contributions to the Spanish journal Utopia and Utopianism. Alex Alex-Alban Gómez Coutouly, ed. Madrid: The University Book, 2007; The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. (2010), the Histoire Transnationale de La Pensée Utopique et de l’Utopisme (2008), and her editions, Dystopia(n) Matters: On the Page, on Screen, on Stage (Cambridge Scholars Publishers, 2015), and with Marinela Freitas, Utopia Matters: Theory, Politics, Literature and the Arts. Editora UP, 2005. She has worked on large-scale grant applications in the field, and now hosts the online version of Lyman Tower Sargent's Bibliography of British and American Utopias.
Since 2018 she has been Vice-President for Culture at the University of Porto, where she has used her tremendous energy, imagination and enthusiasm to promote the University as well as our subject.
Those who have worked with Fátima over many years know her for her warmth, diplomacy, and tireless devotion to the field. She has immense talents for communicating her enthusiasm for utopia to students and listeners of all ages and walks of life. I am proud to count her as a friend, and as a long-time member of USS, and especially pleased to be able to record her fantastic record of contribution to our field. So thank you Fátima for all you have done for utopian studies, and may we continue to benefit from your talents for many years to come! And if you can find some way of bottling your infinite energy, please pass some on!
Opportunities
The next issue of REVEC magazine will have the theme "Utopian and dystopian projections in history". Contributions will be received until September 30, 2021. Scientific articles and critical essays can be submitted in Portuguese, Spanish or English.
The "Revista de Estudos de Cultura" (REVEC) is a four-monthly publication of the research group "Núcleo de Cultura da Universidade Federal de Sergipe - BRASIL".
The link of the magazine:
https://seer.ufs.br/index.php/revec/announcement/view/306
Call for publication:
Utopian and dystopian projections in history
As a literate genre that emerged in England in the 16th century, the concept of utopia designates an island territory. After that, the category has used to designate different projections of a political nature that rethought and -/or contradicted the status quo. Dystopias, in turn, portray oppressive/violent situations, as they elaborate or amplify expedients such as the use of technique, alienation and authoritarianism. Utopian and dystopian figures gained new impetus in the twentieth century, when genocides and authoritarianisms imposed reflections about the life in society. With the present dossier, it is intended to bring together works focused on this theme. The intention, in general, is to present the reader with articles whose object, fictional or not, is attentive to the arbitrary character of human choices in their different developments.
Living in the End Times: Utopian and Dystopian Representations of Pandemics in Fiction, Film and Culture. A (Virtual) Interdisciplinary Conference
January 13 – 15, 2021
Venue: Cappadocia University, Mustafapaşa Campus, 50420 Ürgüp/Nevşehir/Turkey (Virtual-Microsoft Teams)
Conference webpage: link
Eventbrite Page: link
Facebook page: link
CFP, Cappadocia University, Turkey Living in the End Times Conference Call for Presentations
Scholarship Mapping Utopianisms University of Porto
| Post/position/scholarship: 2 PhD Research Scholarships - CETAPS Reference: FLUP| 2 PhD Scholarships – CETAPS General Scientific Field: Cultural studies |
| Summary of the Announcement:The Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (CETAPS) opens the call for applications for 2 (two) research scholarships, henceforth referred to as PhD Research Scholarships, in the field of English and English Language Studies, more specifically in Utopian Studies (Scholarship 1) and in English and/or Irish Literature and Culture (Scholarship 2), under the FCT Regulation for Studentships and Fellowships (RSF) and the Research Fellowship Holder Statute. The scholarships will be funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology) under the Protocolo de Colaboração para Financiamento do Plano Plurianual de Bolsas de Investigação para Estudantes de Doutoramento (Cooperation Protocol for the Funding of Multi-year Research Scholarships Plan for Doctoral Students), an agreement signed between FCT and the R&D Unit CETAPS – Research and Development Unit of the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (R&D Unit no. 4097). |
| Announcement text:
The Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (CETAPS) opens the call for applications for 2 (two) research scholarships, henceforth referred to as PhD Research Scholarships, in the field of English and English Language Studies, more specifically in Utopian Studies (Scholarship 1) and in English and/or Irish Literature and Culture (Scholarship 2), under the FCT Regulation for Studentships and Fellowships and the Research Fellowship Holder Statute. The scholarships will be funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia(FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology) under the Protocolo de Colaboração para Financiamento do Plano Plurianual de Bolsas de Investigação para Estudantes de Doutoramento (Cooperation Protocol for the Funding of Multi-year Research Scholarships Plan for Doctoral Students), an agreement signed between FCT and the R&D Unit CETAPS – Research and Development Unit of the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (R&D Unit no. 4097). 1. APPLICATION SUBMISSION Each applicant may only apply for one scholarship. Any applicant submitting more than one application will have both applications disqualified. 2. TYPE AND DURATION OF SCHOLARSHIPS The PhD research scholarships are intended to fund the recipient’s research activities undertaken during and leading to a PhD qualification at a Portuguese university. The research activities contributing to the completion of the PhD will take place at the University of Porto’s Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies, henceforth referred to as CETAPS, the host institution of the scholarship recipients, without prejudice to the possibility of work conducted in collaboration with other institutions. The work plan will be carried out in its entirety at CETAPS (national scholarship). 3. SCHOLARSHIP APPLICANTS 4. ELIGIBILITY • Certificates of academic degrees, specifying the final grade (mandatory), as well as (where possible) the marks obtained in all of the subjects; alternately, a signed declaration on honour, attesting to having completed a degree or master's degree before the application deadline; • Provisional research plan, including: a summary (maximum 300 words); a state of the art review (maximum 700 words); objectives and main topics of the research (maximum 300 words); detailed description, including a theoretical framework, explanation and justification of the main methodologies of the work (maximum 2 000 words); bibliographic references (maximum 20 references). The application and all of the documents attached to it, including the motivation and recommendation letters, must be in either English or Portuguese. In relation to the abovementioned eligibility requirements, the following must be noted: The recognition of foreign academic degrees and diplomas, in addition to the conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading system, may be requested at any public higher learning institution or at the Directorate General for Higher Education (DGES). You may consult the relevant information on the DGES website: https://www.dges.gov.pt/en . 5. WORK PLANS AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION OF THE SCHOLARSHIPS The two scholarships will be awarded in order to advance the work undertaken in the respective research areas at CETAPS “Mapping Utopianisms” (Scholarship 1) and “Relational Forms: Medial and Textual Transits in Ireland and Britain” (Scholarship 2). SCHOLARSHIP 1 - “Mapping Utopianisms” SCHOLARSHIP 2 - “Relational Forms: Medial and Textual Transits in Ireland and Britain” In addition to the development of the research projects, scholarship recipients should participate in CETAPS activities, which include participating in event organisation committees, participating in conferences and education outreach activities, as well as taking on the responsibility of constantly updating the information on the CETAPS website regarding the recipients’ research area. Selected applicants commit to pursuing research leading to a doctoral degree, respecting the following cumulative conditions: a) integrating their research activity in the scientific activity of CETAPS, University of Porto, in the research fields “Mapping Utopianisms” or “Relational Forms: Medial and Textual Transits in Ireland and Britain” and in the Doctoral Degree (Third Cycle) in Literary, Cultural and Interart Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. The research will be carried out in accordance with the information received from the Centre’s Coordinating committee and the Course Director, in addition to the indications of the dissertation supervisor(s) (once formally nominated); e) during the Course, the scholarship recipient must present at a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed scientific events. NOTE: 6. EVALUATION CRITERIA The evaluation will consider the merit of the applicant and the provisional research plan. Applications considered eligible will be scored on a scale of 0 (zero) to 200 (two hundred) points in each of the following evaluation criteria: In the case of applicants with an integrated master's, the final mark will count 40% of the overall grade of the application. 3) CV and recommendation letters, evaluated by the jury, weighing 25% in the final overall grade of the application. • Criterion B – Merit of the Provisional Research Plan, weighing 35% of the final overall grade of the application. The jury will consider factors such as the quality of the plan, its content and formal presentation, as well as its integration and viability in the general framework of the scientific mission of CETAPS and the educational goals of the Doctoral Degree (Third Cycle) in Literary, Cultural and Interart Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. In the event of a tie, the applicants will be ranked based on the marks attributed to each of the evaluation criteria and subcriteria according to the following order of precedence: Criterion B; Subcriterion A2; Subcriterion A3; Subcriterion A1. Important note for applicants with degrees awarded by foreign higher learning institutions: • Applicants with diplomas awarded by foreign higher learning institutions can apply and will be evaluated according to the same criteria as applicants with diplomas awarded by Portuguese institutions, as long as they include in their application proof of recognition of academic degrees and conversion of the final grade to the Portuguese grading scale according to the terms of the relevant legislation. Applicants with a final grade lower than 160 (one hundred and sixty) points will not be considered eligible for the scholarship. 7. EVALUATION The applicants’ evaluation panel also includes the following alternates: Each application will be judged according to the criteria laid down in this call, appraising all the information provided for evaluation. All members of the panel, including the coordinator, commit to respect a set of essential responsibilities concerning the evaluation process, such as the duty of impartiality, the declaration of any possible conflict of interest, and confidentiality. At all times during the process of evaluation, confidentiality will be totally protected and assured, so as to guarantee the independence of all and any recommendations. For each application, the panel will prepare a final evaluation form which will contain the reasoning for the grade given for each evaluation criteria and sub-criteria in a clear, coherent, and consistent manner. All members of the evaluation panel will prepare minutes of all their meetings.
8. DISCLOSURE OF RESULTS
9. DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES FOR PRE-HEARING, COMPLAINT AND APPEAL
10. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE SCHOLARSHIP
*If the applicant prefers, they may present the documents in person at the funding entity, who will keep the information contained in such documents that are relevant for the validity and execution of the contract, including civil, tax and social security numbers, as well as the validity of the respective documents.
11. FINANCING
12. COMPONENTS OF THE SCHOLARSHIP
13. PAYMENT OF SCHOLARSHIP COMPONENTS
14. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE RENEWAL OF THE SCHOLARSHIP
15. INFORMATION AND ADVERTISING OF THE AWARDED FUNDING The disclosure of research results financed by the RSF must adhere to the current FCT guidelines on open access data, publications and other research outputs.
16. NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL ACCESS POLICY The FCT upholds a non-discrimination and equal access policy, whereby no applicant may be favoured, impeded or deprived of any rights or exempt from any claim due to their origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, civil status, family situation, economic situation, education, background or social status, genetic heritage, reduced work capacity, deficiency, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic origin or race, region of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions or union membership.
17. LEGISLATION AND APPLICABLE REGULATION The Call is bound by the current Notice of the Call, by the Regulation of Research Scholarship of FCT, adopted by Regulation no. 950/2019, published in Série II of the official gazette of the Portuguese Republic, DR of 16 December 2019, by the Research Fellowship Holder Statute passed by Law no. 40/2004, on 18 August, in its current version, and in accordance with the applicable national and Community legislation. |
CfP: Conceptualizing Difference Conference (8 – 9 June 2020) and PhD Summer School (10-11 June 2020) University of Aberdeen, Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law Deadline for submission: 7 February 2020 The idea of ‘difference’ governs today’s political thinking. Struggles for equality and justice are generally concerned with recognizing and protecting differences, not least because varieties of difference, including gender, sexuality, race, religion and language are used to justify political oppression, discrimination and exclusion. Difference has become axiomatic to political debate and therefore requires further reflection and analysis. This conference aims to explore and interrogate ‘difference’ as a political category. First, we aim to map categories of difference structuring political life, in past and present, and across and beyond the global North. How and to what effect have categories of ‘difference’ been fostered historically, debated philosophically and in politics, fought over by social movements, codified in law, transmitted through education and the media, and lived out in everyday life? Second, we aim to explore more meta-level questions about what ‘difference’ means in the first place. How did our modern thinking about ‘difference’ come about? What roads of political thinking does it facilitate, and which does it close off? And can we think beyond ‘difference’? In seeking answers to these questions, we intend to facilitate dialogue between a range of approaches, including but not limited to liberalism, republicanism, Marxism, de- and postcolonial, feminist and queer theories. We invite papers on a wide variety of topics, approaches and disciplines. Keynotes will include:
7th Annual Conference
of the German Association for American Studies (DGfA) “Participation in American Culture and Society” Universität Heidelberg, June 4-6, 2020
CALL FOR PAPERS for the INTERNATIONAL AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY CONGRESS PHI 2020 – “TRADITION AND INNOVATION” to be held in PORTO ON OCTOBER 8TH-10TH, 2020 is now open. The call for ABSTRACTS WITH FULL PAPER for preselection of final papers closes on MARCH 31ST, 2020.
Papers have to be submitted acording to the NEW TEMPLATE that you can find at the CONGRESS PHI 2020 website: http://phi.fa.ulisboa.pt/index.php/en/call-for-papers/submit-papers
Go to our website to check for news!
http://phi.fa.ulisboa.pt/index.php/en/
Ecotopias: Imagining Ecological Utopias
8th November 2019, 10:30am-3:30pm
Resource for London, Holloway Road.
Ecotopias: Imagining Ecological Utopias
Join academics and activists, as we host a spirited panel discussion of competing visions for our environmental future. Meet the voices behind the debate and discuss with us as we imagine alternative ideas for our ecological future. This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2019.
A new wave of social movements have begun to mobilise around the topics of climate change, biodiversity and ecological issues, the most famous of which is Extinction Rebellion. However, this is not the only social movement, and their vision and tactics have been hotly contested. So, what are the alternatives? How can social movements create democratic changes from the grassroots?
Meet utopian and ecological scholars, along with activists at the front lines of eco-defense, to address these queries through panel presentations, discussion and a participatory mapping session.
Dr Rhiannon Firth from the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex will host this panel discussion at Resource for London. This venue is fully wheelchair accessible.
Members of the public, academics and participants in social movements are welcome to attend. Anyone interested in exploring alternative visions for our ecological future will find this event thought provoking and informative.
Register via Eventbrite:
Facebook Event Page
https://www.facebook.com/events/394234197938164/
Speakers Include:
Rhiannon Firth (University of Essex) Introduction & Welcome: What is the function of Utopia & its Role in Resisting Climate Change?
Heather Alberro (Nottingham Trent University): The Great Refusal: Literary and Social Movement Visions of Ecotopia.
John Warwick (Anarchist Federation) Market vs State vs Commons: Which Future are we Heading Towards?
Tim Waterman (University College London) The Tasty City: Visions of Future Flourishing
The Society for Utopian Studies Conference
“Disruption, Displacement, Disorder” will take place November 1-3, Berkeley, CA.
The CFP deadline is July 15, 2018. For more details please see:
https://utopian-studies.org/conference2018/
Twin Oaks Community Conference
Twin Oaks Community is an intentional community of 100 people on 450 acres in rural central Virginia. Founded in 1967, the community values cooperation, non-violence, and egalitarianism. The community holds land, labor, money, and other resources in common and practices a democratic form of self-governance.
The Twin Oaks Communities Conference is a chance for people interested or involved in intentional communities, cooperatives,
and community based projects and organizations to share ideas, network, and enjoy a weekend together. There are formal workshops, open space, as well as many informal opportunities to cross-pollinate with other community and utopia-minded folks. Issues such as group-decision making,
diversity in community, intentional relationships and sustainable living are common topics of workshops and discussions. More about this event
can be found at our website, http://www.communitiesconference.org.
Royal Colloquium on the theme of 1968: Counterculture, Ideology, Utopia
Sinaia, June 21-23.
Sorin Antohi will host a public debate on the same theme on June 24 at 6 pm in the series, Ideas in the Agora (Bucharest City Museum, Casa Filipescu-Cesianu: https://www.societateamuzicala.ro/sorinantohi/category/idei-in-agora/.
The colloquium is open to the public, is to be videotaped and uploaded on YouTube in due course. The full program (with bios and
abstracts) of the colloquium follows at http://www.sorinantohi.org.
https://www.observatorcultural.ro/stire/royal-colloquia-series-1968-counterculture-ideology-utopia/
Triennial Conference of the International Communal Studies Association
Conference Dates: July 18-21, 2019; Conference Location: Camphill Communities near Hudson, NY, USA
Conference Theme: “Diversity and Inclusion in Intentional Communities”
Our thirteenth international conference will explore strategies that intentional communities use to promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons of diverse abilities, cultures, races, economic backgrounds, religions, ages, genders, and sexualities. We especially welcome proposals related to intentional communities and community movements that focus on the experiences of particular groups that have historically been marginalized—as, for example, the Camphill movement does for persons with intellectual disabilities. What can the field of communal studies learn from the unique experiences of such communities? We also especially welcome proposals that explore the implications of community choices that seek to increase or to limit diversity. How have communities succeeded or failed in their efforts to increase diversity or strengthen inclusion? Under what circumstances is it appropriate or necessary for an intentional community to limit certain forms of diversity? What is the relationship between the mere presence of previously excluded persons in a community, and the full inclusion and empowerment of those persons? What lessons might intentional communities share with other persons and organizations committed to diversity, inclusion, and empowerment?
We welcome proposals in the following categories: 1) scholarly papers, 2) scholarly panels with 2-4 presenters, 3) workshops, and 4) cultural events. Scholarly papers should be designed to take thirty minutes (ordinarily, 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for conversation); panels, workshops and cultural events should be designed to take one hour. If the conference schedule allows, we may be able to expand these times slightly. Cultural events, which may be either interactive classes or performances, should be explicitly designed to be accessible to persons with intellectual and/or physical disabilities. We welcome proposals that use Open Space, World Café, Universal Design for Learning, or similar methods to promote inclusion and active participation.
As always, we are happy to receive proposals on subjects unrelated to the conference theme, so long as they are relevant to the study of intentional communities.
Deadline for Submission of Proposals: November 1, 2018
To accommodate participants’ diverse schedules, the program committee will review proposals in two rounds. Individuals who submit proposals by June 1, 2018 will receive a notification of acceptance or rejection by August 15, 2018. Individuals who submit proposals by November 1, 2018 will receive a notification of acceptance or rejection by January 15, 2019.
To submit a proposal, please email your proposal to conference chair Dan McKanan at dmckanan@hds.harvard.eduor upload a single proposal document to the ICSA website at http://www.communa.org.il/icsa/index.php/conferences/camphill-2019/call-for-papers. Please include 1) the title of your presentation, 2) an indication of whether it is a paper, panel, workshop, or cultural event, 3) the names and cont act information of all presenters, 4) an abstract of up to 300 words, suitable for inclusion in the program book, 6) a 50-word biography of each presenter.
ICSA Office: Mail: rsoboly-t@bezeqint.net
www.communa.org.il/icsa Tw @ICSA_community
(Un)Ethical Futures: Utopia, Dystopia and Science Fiction
Edited by Andrew Milner, Zachary Kendal, Aisling Smith and Guilia Champsion
Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2018 The editors invite contributions for an essay collection provisionally titled (Un)Ethical Futures: Utopia, Dystopia and Science Fiction. The collection will explore the ethical concerns of utopian and dystopian science fiction (sf) from a global, comparative perspective. The editors particularly encourage submissions examining non-Anglo-American literature and comparative studies of world sf traditions. The collection’s focus on ethics allows for a range of topics, including environmental ethics and climate change, human bioethics, animal ethics, ethics of alterity and otherness, and related issues of equality and social justice. The editors are seeking submissions that bring these ethical considerations into dialogue with a range of world sf sub-genres and modes. Possible areas of engagement include, but are not limited to:
- The ethical treatment or representation of animals, artificial intelligence, aliens or other posthuman or non-human entities in sf
- Postcolonial and critical race theory studies of utopian and dystopian sf, including Afrofuturist sf literature
- Bioethical issues in sf, including biopunk and cyberpunk
- Ethical responses to otherness and radical alterity in sf • Environmental ethics in speculative climate fiction (“cli-fi”)
- Ethics, equality and social justice in utopian and dystopian sf literature
Submissions should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words. Referencing should adhere to Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition with endnotes and bibliography. Full chapter submissions are due by 30 April 2018. Interested contributors can send 300-word abstracts to the editors if they would like their topic reviewed for suitability in advance. The following information should accompany all submissions:
- Author’s title, name, affiliation and position
- A curriculum vitae and a brief biography (up to 100 words)
- An abstract (up to 150 words) and up to ten keywords
- Permissions for any images used • Copies of any relevant ethics clearances and disclosure of funding
- An acknowledgement that the work is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere
Please direct all submissions and enquiries to utopias-conference@monash.edu
JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Vol. 2. No. 2: Thresholds
June 2018
Coordinators: Daniela Mirea and Adela Catană
ISSN 2558-8478
ISSN-L 2558-8478
The editorial board of the JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION invites papers on the theme of Thresholds from a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives: comparativism, discourse analysis, cultural studies, gender studies, philosophy, history of ideas, imagology, pragmatics, semiotics, cognitive linguistics, intercultural communication, new media and anthropological mutations, pragmasemantic aspects of communication and so on.
Please note that the above topics are not exclusive and all contributions on the proposed theme are warmly welcomed. Likewise, the journal section titled Miscellaneous may include papers that are not related to the present theme.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
Contributions should be sent by June 15th 2018 to:
Adela Catana: adela.catana@yahoo.com or
Daniela Mirea: daniela_mirea@yahoo.com
All papers are subject to PEER REVIEW.
GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTORS:
We invite our collaborators to submit original articles that have not been published elsewhere. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure the originality, authorship, accuracy, complete references, coherent organization and legible appearance of their works.
Languages: English, French, Romanian.
The page-limit for articles: no more than 12 pages, works cited included.
Paper setup: A4, 1,15 space between lines, 20 mm margins, justified;
Title of the article: Caps, Times New Roman 14 Bold, Centred, at 50 mm above the text;
Author’s name, scientific title and academic affiliation: Times New Roman 12 Bold, under the title, at 2 lines distance;
Abstract: Approximately 250 words in English, Times New Roman 11, italics, at two lines distance under the author’s name, in English;
Five Keywords under the abstract, in English (TNR 11);
Text of the article: at one line bellow the abstract, in English, French or Romanian, Times New Roman 12; justified
The Bibliography: 2 lines distance from the end of the paper;
No endnotes (footnotes only): font size 10, numbering: continuous; No Page Breaks in the document; All graphic elements set in line with the text.
Bibliographical statement/ Works Cited: single column format, Times New Roman 12, italics, under the bibliography, at 2 lines distance. Sources must be quoted according to the latest (7th) edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
Biodata: Times New Roman 12; justified
All papers will be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word 2007 format.