cfp: Arts in an Age of Austerity: The Continuing Relevance of the Humanities http://critpsych.blogspot.com

Please contact ughumanitiesconference[at]hotmail.co.uk with any enquiries

Call for Papers:

Arts in an Age of Austerity: The Continuing Relevance of the Humanities

A two-day Undergraduate Humanities Conference hosted by the University of Glasgow, Dumfries Campus on the 16^th and the 17^th of September 2011.

The conference will also play host to a well-known plenary speaker (TBA) on the 17th.

Deadline for papers:  5pm, 22 July 2011. Submissions should be sent to ughumanitiesconference@hotmail.co.uk on or before this date.

In her book Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, Martha Nussbaum writes that:

'Radical changes are occurring in what democratic societies teach the young, and these changes have not been well thought through. Thirsty for national profit, nations, and their systems of education, are heedlessly discarding skills that are needed to keep democracies alive.'

The value of the humanities to democracy, wider society, high/low culture, heritage, minority identities and, indeed, the economy cannot be quantified solely in pounds and pence – nor should it be. This conference aims to facilitate a wide discussion on the value of the humanities to contemporary culture.  We invite papers to be presented as part of this discussion. We welcome proposals from individuals and panels for papers in history, philosophy, politics, literature, cultural studies, media studies and language studies which will help to generate wider debate. Suggested topics might include (but are not restricted to):

-          The consolations of philosophy in 'austerity Britain'

-          What kind of relationship does the humanities have with mainstream politics?

-          How the humanities can help inform debate on environmental issues

-          How literary and media study reflects and informs contemporary culture

-          How language and cultural studies aid our understanding of other cultures

-          The role of humanities in understanding, or critiquing, Globalization

-          How study of the humanities helps us to understand our role as citizens

-         How business ethics can be applied to strategic choices made by university management groups

-          What use are degrees in Philosophy, Literature, History?

-          What lessons can we learn from History to make the future better?

 

Papers should be around 2500-2700 words (around 20 minutes' speaking time) and can be based on essays used for classes previously. We strongly encourage use of visual aids and powerpoint facilities will be available. The best of these papers will be published in a special edition of Groundings, an undergraduate journal published by the Glasgow University Dialectic Society. Though predominantly an undergraduate conference, postgraduate students and recent graduates (who graduated summer 2010) are also invited to present papers.

 

Tickets for the conference will cost £15 for both days or £10 for one day. Speakers are strongly encouraged to attend the full event out of respect for others presenting a paper. Buffet lunch plus tea and coffee are included in the price of the ticket. Sadly we are unable to cover the cost of accommodation. However, there are numerous hotels and bed & breakfasts in and around Dumfries offering competitive prices. More information on accommodation, transport and entertainment are available upon request and will be included in the conference pack which will be sent to attendees in due course.