The conference invites papers on the theme of "nature" from a variety of interpretative approaches, to discuss modes in which the continuous present of (mother) nature – as concept, reality, representation – is configured in conjunction with expressions of cultural history, literary and visual texts, as well as a controversial discourse of immanent otherness, of disjunctive forms, of ironic identity constructions, of equivocation and power codes.

An abstraction or a cryptic restatement of the notion, an "alibi", an "elsewhere" of the human subject, the discourse of nature (the equivalent of Lacan’s "lettered unconscious") and the repertoire of conflictual positions displayed by (m)other nature contribute in various modes to the configuration of natural identity and to fantasies of originality and origination. However, the tropes, stereotypes, fetishes of mothering and otherness playing out their differences, and metaphors and metonymies of (m)other nature articulating a (natural?) imaginary all remain marked by an irreconcilable dualism: (m)other natures are "spoken" both as spaces of plenitude and enlargement, beyond logical, visual and geometrical limitations and as forms of duration, as time comprehensive of anteriority and posteriority in fluid intimacy. Nature energized by imagination, reinvented by memory, governing the poets’ "rhythmic body", a discordia concors on the stage of the world is still generative of dilemmas: is it an illusion of truth, musealized, denied. or simply "occulted"? An affirmation of the transience and the nearness of the real, the interpretation of nature is, for the "the history man" of contemporaneity, not only a fictional space of freedom, but also a mirage providing social, political, economic and psychological contexts, as well as the aesthetic substitute of adventure, the boundary of selfhood, a state of mind and a signifying tale of both exilic distanciation and compensatory homecoming.

Suggested topics:

• Art and nature

• Environmentalism and literary studies

• Eco- / environmental criticism

• Mythical translations of nature

• Nature and feminism

• Nature and spirituality

• Nature and mortality

• Nature and mothering

• Nature and memory

• Nature and/in performance

• Mother country / tongue v. alterity

• The location(s) of nature

• Psychoanalytical views on nature

• Performance and the environment

• Race and literary environmental studies

• Colonialism / postcolonialism and the environment

• (M)othering signatures and appropriations

• (Re)writing nature

• (Re)inventing nature

• Nature and history

• Nature and the technologies of control

• Utopias of nature

• Spectres of Nature

It is anticipated that participants will adopt a variety of approaches, including examinations of individual works in various genres and media, comparative, transcultural and interdisciplinary studies, and discussions of theoretical issues.

Presentations should be in English, and will be allocated 20 minutes each, plus 10 minutes for discussion. Prospective participants are invited to submit abstracts of up to 200 words (including a list of keywords) in Word format, with an indication of their institutional affiliation, a telephone number and e-mail address at which they can be contacted, and a short bio of up to 100 words. Proposals for panel discussions (to be organized by the participant) will also considered.

A selection of papers will be published in University of Bucharest Review (listed on EBSCO, CEEOL and Ulrichsweb).

Contact person(s) and email(s)

litcultstbucharest@gmail.com

Presentation

Commonly defined as the acceptance and even endorsement of cultural diversity, multiculturalism seems to echo Bakhtin’s notion of heteroglossia, a polyphonic dialogue between texts, voices and discourses, where hierarchies are constantly undermined by the free play of centres and margins. Today, multiculturalism has become an effigy of the contemporary society and discourse, but although it is generally perceived as a positive outcome of cultural progress, it also poses some ethical problems related to cultural assimilation and erasure of boundaries. Our conference aims to host discussions on the ways in which the contemporary discourse mirrors this symptomatic crossing of linguistic, cultural and narrative boundaries, in order to achieve an accurate radiography of multiculturalism in all its aspects.

The conference fee of 200 RON (60 Euro for foreign participants) will be paid upon arrival and covers conference pack, refreshments, and lunch.

Contact person(s) and email(s)