4th Global Conference: Images of Whiteness

4th Global Conference: Images of Whiteness Monday 21st July - Wednesday 23rd July 2014, Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom Call for Presentations In recent years academics from a range of positions have increasingly turned their critical attention to the subject of racial whiteness. Publications include historical accounts detailing the emergence of whiteness as a racial category, cultural studies exploring the meaning of whiteness across a variety of locations, film and television scholars examining narratives about white people, reflecting white themes, white obsessions, and white anxieties. Consistent with the shift in critical studies away from minority identity formations to consider 'normative' identities, the study of whiteness is increasingly understood as central to understanding the operation of 'race' as a form of social categorisation. Inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives are sought from those engaged in any field relevant to the study of whiteness including media and film studies, performance and creative writing, cultural theory, sociology, psychology and medical. Proposals, presentations, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to any of the following themes: - Appropriation of racial 'otherness' within white culture - Images of whiteness in serial television - Nationally-specific formations of white identity - Whiteness and multiculturalism - Constructions of whiteness in painting, photography and the visual arts - Performances of/performing 'whiteness' - Writing whiteness in fiction/non-fiction - The politics and ethics of White Studies - Racial whiteness, fashion and cosmetics industries - Whiteness and absence, emptiness and death - Teaching whiteness - Intersections between whiteness, gender and sexuality - Conceptions of whiteness in non-white cultures - Images of whiteness in non-white cultures - Whiteness and consumer culture - Music and music videos and whiteness Proposals will also be considered on any related theme. In order to support and encourage interdisciplinarity engagement, it is our intention to create the possibility of starting dialogues between the parallel events running during this conference. Delegates are welcome to attend up to two sessions in each of the concurrent conferences. We also propose to produce cross-over sessions between these groups - and we welcome proposals which deal with the relationship between Whiteness and Celebrity. What to Send Proposals will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word proposals should be submitted by Friday 14th February 2014. If a proposal is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 16th May 2014. Proposals should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords. E-mails should be entitled: Whiteness4 Proposal Submission. Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend. Organising Chairs Ewan Kirkland: ekirklanduk@yahoo.co.uk Colette Balmain: cb@inter-disciplinary.net Rob Fisher: white4@inter-disciplinary.net The conference is part of the 'Ethos' series of research projects, which in turn belong to the Critical Issues programmes of ID.Net. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and challenging. All proposals accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected proposals may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the conference. Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation. For further details of the conference, please visit: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ethos/whiteness/call-for-papers/