The Graduate School of North American Studies (GSNAS) is pleased to announce a call for papers for the 3rd international conference, "States of Emergency - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Dynamics of Crisis", on June 11-12, 2010 at John F. Kennedy Institute of the Freie Universitat Berlin. Submission deadline: February 28, 2010.
3rd International Conference - "States of Emergency - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Dynamics of Crisis"
International Conference June 11 - 12, 2010, at John F. Kennedy Institute of
the Freie Universität Berlin, organized by the Graduate School of North
American Studies (GSNAS).
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the ensuing War on Terror stand as
images that mark the 21st century's fall into a permanent state of
emergency, manifest in the suspension of civil liberties, preemptive and
irregular warfare, and a disregard for international law. As we now
recognize, other precarious potentials such as financial speculation and
climate change have long been gaining momentum, erupting into acute states
of crisis in the recent past. The tumultuous beginning of the new century
has heightened our sensitivity to exceptional states and emerging
instabilities, questioning the applicability of established modes of control.
States of emergency magnify pre-existing lines of conflict, shaping
clear-cut enemy images. These may vary from Al-Qaeda to brokers on Wall
Street or multinational enterprises, to name but a few. But times of crisis
also demand new forms of agency for the emergence of new orders. If the US
is indeed part of a world community, does a permanent state of emergenc(e)y
become the new basis of governance and politics?
The annual conference at the Graduate School of the John F. Kennedy
Institute for North American Studies (GSNAS) of the Freie Universität Berlin
is hosted by the graduate students. The third in a series of international
conferences is designed to bring together leading scholars and top graduate
students from around the world to discuss current issues in American Studies.
Panels may include, but are not restricted to:
- The crisis of representation and the representation of crisis
- The 2008 economic crisis and the crisis of neoliberalism
- Crisis as an organizational principle in international politics
- Terror and responses to terror/ irregular warfare
- Governmentality and Governance
- Responses to mass migration
- Climate change and natural disasters
- Pandemics and transnational biopolitics
- Crisis of Empire: The end of the American Century?
- The history of crisis and the "end of history"
- Transnational American Studies: another crisis in American Studies?
We invite scholars to submit abstracts of max. 500 words. Papers should
include name, contact details, institutional affiliation and research
interests. The deadline for submissions is February 28, 2010. Please refer
to our website for recent updates and further information:
http://www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/graduateschool/en/conference/2010/index.html .
Proposals should be submitted by email to
gsnas.conference2010@gsnas.fu-berlin.de
