__
Call for Papers
Theme: Postcolonial Bauman
Type: 10th Anniversary Conference
Institution: University of Leeds
Location: Leeds (United Kingdom)
Date: 3.–4.9.2020
Deadline: 11.5.2020
__
One of the most prominent and influential intellectuals of our times,
Zygmunt Bauman envisaged and practiced sociology as a dialogical
activity.
Jointly held by the Bauman Institute – celebrating its 10th
anniversary – and the Postcolonial Intellectuals and their European
Publics Network (PIN), this transdisciplinary conference proceeds in
this spirit by inviting a dialogue between Bauman and postcolonial
studies.
Though he is better remembered for being a postmodern than a
postcolonial figure, the conference seeks to turn the tables by
asking what Bauman might have to offer postcolonial studies, and by
corollary what postcolonial critics, who have only rarely engaged
with Bauman, might have to say about his work.
The conference is organised around four overlapping strands, each of
which reflects on the composite figure of ‘postcolonial Bauman’:
1) Postcolonialism and Postcommunism
We invite papers that engage with Bauman’s relatively neglected
discussions of European colonial expansion and decolonisation; that
assess his socio-political writings on communism and its aftermath in
central and eastern Europe (especially Poland); and that use both of
these bodies of critical work to consider the relationship between
postcolonialism and postcommunism in the dual context of the
dissolution of the Soviet empire and the rise of ‘new imperialisms’
in Russia and other parts of the contemporary globalised world.
2) Postcolonial Europe
We invite papers that consider Bauman’s wide-ranging reflections on
Europe from a postcolonial perspective. Topics here might include:
the historical and contemporary status of European migrants and
refugees; the idea of Europe and the ideology of Eurocentrism; the
camp as a phenomenon of global modernity; the perils and pitfalls of
European and other nationalist populisms; and the multiple
connections between western (European) modernity and western
(European) colonialism, seen as both modernity’s frequently imagined
opponent and its often unacknowledged collaborator, its ‘dark side’.
3) The Intellectual as Outsider
We invite papers that situate Bauman as part of a generation of
central and eastern European Jewish intellectuals exiled by Nazi and
Soviet totalitarianism; but also as part of a global cadre of
twentieth-century émigré intellectuals, many of them with profound
experience of the ‘imperial present’ as well as the colonial past.
Other topics to consider here might include: ‘otherness’ and
genocide; the mutuality of colonial and other racisms; and the
gendering of the postcolonial intellectual, whose authority is often
implicitly – sometimes explicitly – coded as ‘male’. Papers are also
invited here that compare Bauman to other twentieth- and twenty-first
century intellectuals, both within and beyond Europe.
4) The Intellectual as seen from the Outside
We invite papers here that reflect on the intellectual, either as a
threatening oppositional figure or as a would-be accomplice in
ongoing attempts to fight for equality and freedom in a deeply
divided world. This strand potentially includes the reception of
Bauman’s work outside of Europe, in countries with as varied
histories as Australia, Brazil, and China, as well as the application
and adaptation of Bauman’s ideas and theories to disciplines other
than his own.
Taken together, these strands aim to stimulate new reflections on
Bauman’s work, but also to produce a suitably nuanced reconsideration
of the function of postcolonial intellectuals at a time when the idea
of intellectual labour is increasingly democratised but democracy
itself – not least in Europe – is increasingly seen as being at
threat.
Submission of Abstracts
The Bauman Institute and the Postcolonial Intellectuals and their
European Publics Network (PIN) now invite abstracts of no more than
150 words for this conference. Abstracts should be clearly linked to
one of the four strands outline above and emailed to the conference
organising Committee via Sarah McLaughlin: s.mclaughl...@leeds.ac.uk
Abstracts may be received until 12.00 noon (BST) on Monday 11th May
2020.
Decisions on abstracts will be communicated to authors not later than
Friday 15th May 2020.
Keynotes
Etienne Balibar
Carlo Bordoni
David Lyon
(others TBC)
Given the current global uncertainty concerning the health risks of
travel (as well as possible restrictions on movement, perhaps into
September) – and to make our event as inclusive as possible by
assisting the participation of academic and non-academic colleagues
from all parts of the world – we are currently planning for the
possibility of this 10th Anniversary Conference being held entirely
online. Further details forthcoming.
Conference
