IMAGES (2) - Images of the Poor Conference: CFP

Please, find below the CFP for our Images of the Poor conference which is planned to take place in Istanbul at the Austrian Culture Forum 5-8 September 2012.

CFP

IMAGES (2) - Images of the Poor Conference: Austrian Culture Forum, Istanbul/ Turkey, 5-8 September 2012

At a time when the economic development and the (negative) consequences of globalization are causing the gap between rich and poor rather to widen than to shrink poverty and social inequality have gained public attention again. While movements like ATTAC and OCCUPY highlight the relevance of social inequality and poverty due to their material aspect as existential issues of a developed civil society, it is for other groups to deal with the cultural aspect of the issue and to discuss the perception of poverty by modern society as a case of cultural encounter.

The IMAGES (2) – Images of the Poor conference will focus on exactly this perceptive relativity of poverty: Which are the Images of the Poor – historically and currently? What does aesthetisizing and idealizing the poor in the Arts, in film, photography and literature tell about the quality of the cultural encounter between the well-to-do and the dis-privileged? What does the integration of elements associated with poverty in design and fashion tell about this relation? In which way does your own standard of living and status influence your idea of where to draw the (material) line between rich and poor and your perception of what makes a person rich or poor in a non-material sense?

In order to discuss questions like these IMAGES (2) – Images of the Poor invites scholars, but also writers, artists, filmmakers and photographers to propose papers coming from the following fields of research and interest:

Images of the poor in feature films (present and past)

Images of the poor in the Arts (present and past)

Images of the poor seen by photographers (present and past)

Images of the poor in literature (present and past)

The psychology of feeling and defining rich or/ and poor

The impact of the media (news, internet, daily soaps) on the standards of wealth and poverty  

The conference IMAGES (2) – Images of the Poor is planned as a 3 days interdisciplinary and international conference.

It will bring together senior scholars with PhD students, postdoctoral academics, and members of the artistic community without following the classical keynote speaker pattern but rather inviting all speakers either to present their research findings in 20 minute (paper) presentations plus 10 minutes for discussion or in 120-150 minute panels (4-5 panellists).

There will be no parallel sessions. All sessions will be plenary sessions.

The IMAGES (2) – Images of the Poor conference is part of the IMAGES project (project developers and directors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Veronika Bernard/ University of Innsbruck, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serhan Oksay/ Kadir Has University)

Please, find more on the IMAGES project at: http://images-1.over-blog.org

The conference language is English.

Selected articles of each session/ field of research will be published as conference proceedings.

During the time of the conference the two IMAGES project exhibition “Images of the Poor” will be showing at the conference site.

Please, mind:

Participation in the conference is free of charge.

Due to the severe cuts on funding opportunities the conference organizers are not able to refund any travel or accomodation expense.

Participants are kindly asked to apply for funding at their universities and institutions.

Please, take this into account before submitting a paper proposal. 

Conference date and venue:

5-8 September 2012, Austrian Culture Forum, Istanbul/ Turkey

Please, send paper proposals (= 150-200 words abstract plus 150 words Bio) to:

images-1@gmx.at and cc it to serhano@serhanoksay.com

Deadline for submission of abstracts plus Bios: 25 May 2012

Deadline for submission of full articles for publication in conference proceedings: 1 month after conference

Planned date of publication of conference proceedings: July – October 2013