SCALB - Keshilli Studentor Shqiptar

European Summer Carnivals in Comparative,Berlin, 13th - 15th of May 2005

European Summer Carnivals in Comparative
Perspective

Call for Papers

"Performing Policy - Enacting Diversity"
European Summer Carnivals in Comparative Perspective
International Colloquium, Department of European Ethnology
Humboldt-University, Berlin, 13th - 15th of May 2005

Organised by: Dept. of European Ethnology, Humboldt-University Berlin
and Dept. of Radio, Television and Cinema, Kadir Has University Istanbul

Deadline for Submitting Paper Proposals: 20 February 2005


Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the international
colloquium "Performing Policy - Enacting Diversity. European Summer
Carnivals in Comparative Perspective." The colloquium will be held at
Humboldt-University from May 13th to 15th, 2005 and is organized by Prof.
Wolfgang Kaschuba and Dr. Michi Knecht on behalf of the Department of
European Ethnology in cooperation with Asst. Prof. Levent Soysal (Department
of Radio, Television, and Cinema, Kadir Has University, Istanbul).
Funding for the conference is granted by the Thyssen-Foundation, Germany.

The conference will explore some of the most recent anthropological and
ethnographic contributions on contemporary urban summer carnivals in
different European cities in a comparative perspective. It pursues three
goals: First, by comparing various summer carnivals we aim to map out
differences in development, aesthetic production and related social
practices and analyse them in the context of their diverse socio-cultural,
urban and political formations. Second, we will discuss
the transfer of styles, organizational structures, discourses and
actors between the various summer carnivals in Europe as well as elsewhere,
and the production of larger contexts and networks connected to
transfer practices. Third, by drawing on the method of "comparison of distant
case studies" (Gingrich 2000) the colloquium aims to contribute in
heuristic and explorative ways to a more pronounced theoretical
understanding of urban spectacles of diversity and identity in the
context of new forms of political regulation, changing migratory
regimes and progressive processes of Europeanization.

A compelling characteristic of festivals and carnivals in the
metropolitan centres of Europe and elsewhere is that they seek to cultivate a
civic sense of plurality and advocate tolerance, multiculturalism, and
diversity. Employing markers of ethnicity, culture, gender, youthfulness,
hip- and coolness, these events delimit and present identities and
celebrate cultural particularisms within an imaginary of diversity. It is
no coincidence that the goals stated by organizers of the festivals and
conveyed to the public through carnival slogans and publicity material
correlate with the civic virtues the new Europe desires to foster:
Understanding, tolerance, and cooperation among peoples within and without
Europe. The colloquium will map out the contours of the newly emerging
expressive culture of contemporary urban
summer carnivals and festivals, delineate their affinities to
Europeanization and interrogate the policies and processes that lead to their
proliferation. Authors of ethnographic case studies on "multi-ethnic"
summer carnivals or carnivalesque urban events will discuss with
colleagues from the social and cultural science, political
science and history. Policy makers and artists of urban summer
carnivals from several European cities are invited as partners in dialogue and
for commentaries.

Prospective Panels:

1. From Centre to Periphery and Back. The Expansion of the
Carnivalesque
2. Spectacles of Identity. Expressive Culture in Urban Public Space
3. Affirming "Unity in Diversity". Affective Europeanness and Emergent
Forms of Participation and Regulation
4. "Comparison and Transfer" Revisited

Applications:
We particularly invite contributions on the basis of recent
ethnographic or otherwise empirical research on summer carnivals or comparable
spectacles of diversity and identity in London, Rotterdam, Brussels,
Birmingham, Berlin and other European cities that attend to one or more of
the following questions: How does the expansion of urban summer
carnivals and comparable "spectacles of diversity and identity" change our
understanding and experience of public space? What do public festivals
reveal about the relation of immigrants and minorities to the metropolis
and the degree of their participation in the economies and social and
cultural life of the city? What are the cultural properties and confines
of the public displays of identity and diversity? In what ways do
carnivals produce feelings of expectation and tension, belonging and
exclusion, difference and identification and how is this connected to
political programmes and forms of regulation? Which insights into the
relationship
between different national contexts of migration, various displays of
diversity and specific forms of participation can be revealed through
ethnographic case studies?

Papers are limited to 20 minutes; the conference language will be
English and a publication is planned. Abstracts (in English) should not
exceed the limit of 350 words and have to be handed in by 20 February 2005
per email (michi.knecht@rz.hu-berlin.de) or mail (to Michi Knecht, see
address below). The selection Committee will finalize its decision by 1
March 2005. Please include your academic affiliation in your letter.
And please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely,

Michi Knecht (michi.knecht@rz.hu-berlin.de)

Levent Soysal (levsoy@kas.edu.tr)

Dr. des. Michi Knecht
Dept. of European Ethnology
Humboldt-University Berlin
Mohrenstrasse 41
D - 10117 Berlin
phone: +49 (0)30 2093 3713 /-3703
fax: +40 (0)30 2093 3726


Asst. Prof. Levent Soysal, Chair
Department of Radio, Television, and Cinema
Kadir Has University
Cibali Campus
Hisaralti Caddesi
34230 Fatih, Istanbul/Turkey

phone: +90 212 533 6532 x638
fax: +90 212 534 0965

posted by Administrator @ 6:34 AM