Call for Papers - Memory at the Intersection of Mass Violence and Socioeconomic Inequality
WORKSHOP: Memory at the Intersection of Mass Violence and Socioeconomic
Inequality
Saint Paul University, Ottawa
School of Conflict Studies
April 13-14, 2018
CALL FOR PAPERS
*Workshop Convener: *Dr. Anna Sheftel, Saint Paul University
*Confirmed keynote speakers:* Dr. Sean Field, University of Cape Town, Dr.
Heather Howard, Michigan State University
Scholars who study testimony and collective memory have long been interested in how individuals, communities and societies remember and commemorate mass violence and atrocity. Memory of violence and atrocity raises questions of trauma and distress; political uses and abuses of violent pasts; the ethics and dynamics of representation and communication; and concerns about the hegemonization of dominant narratives and making space for the diverse ways in which people experience, understand and remember violence, among other issues. One question that has been neglected in this field is the significance of structural and institutional violence, particularly socioeconomic inequality, in acts and processes of remembering physical violence. In what ways do experiences of prolonged and ingrained forms of violence like poverty and economic instability intersect with memories of atrocity? How do people make meaning from lives shaped both by economic precarity and mass violence? We need to create space for class analysis in the study of memory and testimony.
This international and interdisciplinary workshop seeks to bring together scholars and practitioners who are working at the intersection of memory of mass violence and socioeconomic inequality in order to begin to fill the gap in this field. We are particularly interested in the following questions, but any work relating to the workshop theme is welcome:
- Oral histories of communities having experienced both physical and structural violence;
- The interaction between trauma and precarity;
- Social class and memory of violence;
- Political ideology and affiliation as they relate to experiences of atrocity and poverty;
- Methodological and ethical questions around working with people and communities experiencing inequality;
- Narratives and narrativizing different forms of violence and exclusion;
- Resisting hegemonic memory and explanations of atrocity and inequality;
- Refugee narratives and the connections between violence experienced in home countries and exclusion in host countries;
- Indigenous experiences of mass violence and socioeconomic inequality.
We invite submissions from scholars, graduate students, artists, activists, community organizers, curators, and others who are engaging with these issues in various contexts. This workshop will be interdisciplinary, and we welcome participation from a variety of fields: history, anthropology, sociology, political science, literature, social work, public health, visual and performance arts, etc. Individuals in all stages in their careers are encouraged to apply.
Participants should feel free to include photographs, artwork, annotated transcripts, audio and/or video clips, field notes and any other additional research materials in their presentations. *Memory at the Intersection of Mass Violence and Socioeconomic Inequality* will be an intimate two-day workshop that will include a maximum of 18 papers.
Participants will be asked to pre-circulate their papers in order to facilitate robust and productive discussions. The workshop will aim to publish a selection of papers in an anthology.
Submission instructions
If you wish to participate, please submit *a maximum 150 word abstract* and a *maximum 100 word biographical statement* by Friday September 8, 2017, to Dr. Anna Sheftel, asheftel@ustpaul.ca.
Pending funding, we hope to be able to offer some travel and accommodation subsidies to participants, however this will only be confirmed in February 2018.