Exploding the Canon Postgraduate Conference

In May 2008 the department of English Studies will host its annual postgraduate conference to explore the theme of canonicity across the range of disciplines in the Arts and Humanities. In May 2007 I helped to organise a conference on intertextuality entitled 'Retelling Tales' (see http://www.retellingtales.stir.ac.uk/ for further details) and I am very happy to once again be one of the organisers for this upcoming conference. At this two day conference we want to encourage more interdisciplinarity across the disciplines and between institutions to encourage new researchers to become more actively involved in networks and dialogue with one another. Hence we have invited two plenary speakers from two very different disciplines to talk about their research in the area of canonicity. There will also be three workshops which will run during the conference which will aim to encourage further debate and discussion around this key issue. Please read the call for papers below, and we hope to see you in May.

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Exploding the Canon
Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference

Department of English Studies, University of Stirling
24th- 25th May 2008

Plenary Speakers: Dr Darryl Jones, School of English, Trinity College Dublin and Prof Bill Marshall, Dept of French, University of Glasgow.

Call for Papers
In the past three decades, the canon of “great literature” and “great art” has expanded, shifted and changed. No longer primarily a list of privileged, white men, the 21st century -canon has carved out spaces for women, gay, lesbian, working-class, postcolonial, and multicultural writers and artists. Even though the hegemony of canonicity is being dismantled by the inclusion of minor or subaltern discourses, the study of the “most important” or “most representative” works continues to anchor academic investigations of literatures and art. Yet what gets privileged and how, or, alternatively, what remains silent (or is silenced) in scholarly study? How do the choices made by educational, publishing and research institutions both maintain and deconstruct the canon? In what way are selection processes influenced by the cultural and socio-political context at a given time? And in which ways can academic research re-align and problematise the critical treatment of the canon?

This conference aims to foster discussion and understanding of canonicity in scholarly settings. While its overall focus is literary, we welcome contributions from a breadth of research areas including, but not limited to

Book History and Textual Culture
Modern Languages and Translation
Publishing Studies
Film and Media Studies
Religious Studies
Medieval Studies
The Gothic
Queer and Feminist Studies
Popular culture
Subaltern historiography
Postcolonial Studies

Papers that present problems and questions rather than absolute conclusions are welcome. We are looking for submissions from fellow postgraduate students and academics at the start of their careers. Please send abstracts of 250-300 words for a 20 minute presentation plus brief biographical details to explodingthecanon@stir.ac.uk by Friday 21st March, 2008.
Deadline for conference registration, whether presenting a paper or attending, is Friday 25th April, 2008.

See http://www.explodingthecanon.stir.ac.uk for further details.