Conference, University of Alberta
February 11-13, 2011
Rewriting Lyotard aims to bring together students and faculty from the University of Alberta and universities across the US and UK, whose research considers the work of French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard. Over the course of two and half days of papers and discussion, presenters and audience members will have the chance to engage across disciplines and specific research topics and explore the many facets that Lyotard’s thought has to offer. We are keen to engage both students and faculty across a range of disciplines in order to promote an interdisciplinary event that takes as its focus the intersections between various areas of research. The rich and varied nature of Lyotard’s writings, which include topics such as art, politics, ethics, literature, capitalism and history, creates the possibility for these cross-disciplinary conversations.
The last few years have seen a resurgence in scholarship on Jean-François Lyotard, including a series of recent and on-going translations of his work into English (Enthusiasm, Discourse, Figure), the bi-lingual five-volume Writings on Contemporary Art and Artists, and a number of recent publications of essays on his work in both French and English (Minima Memoria, Gender After Lyotard, Les Transformateurs Lyotard, and the collection in French entitled simply Lyotard). With this conference, we aim to further this interest and foster its development by bringing together the disparate community of scholars working on various facets of Lyotard’s thought. Writers and artists interested in Lyotard’s philosophy are also welcome.
In “Rewriting Modernity”, Lyotard takes up the notion of “rewriting” as a way of avoiding the periodization inherent in the term “postmodern”. He links the act of re-writing to the process of “working through” the event – including the event of reading itself. By framing this conference around the concept of re-writing, we invite scholars from various disciplines to share their workings-through and re-writings of Lyotard’s texts, ideas, and concepts. We thus not only seek to pay tribute to his work, but challenge and engage in dialogue with his philosophies and, as he repeatedly invited his readers to do, explore how we might think differently, think otherwise, and think on radically new terms.
Taking as our focus the forthcoming collection of essays on Lyotard’s later writings, “Jean-François Lyotard: New Encounters”, we are particularly interested in papers addressing the “later” themes and works, but other topics on Lyotard are also welcome. Areas of interest might include, but are not limited to, aesthetics/philosophy of art, ethics, politics, gender, confession, and biography, as well as Lyotard’s relation to philosophy, the social sciences, cultural studies, art history, and psychoanalysis.
As an alternative to one or two keynotes speakers, we have instead confirmed participation from a number of scholars and students from philosophy, cultural theory/studies, art and drama who will provide a strong base for the conference sessions:
Herman Parret (Leuven University), Keith Crome (Manchester Metropolitan University), Rachel Jones (University of Dundee), Vlad Ionescu (Leuven University), Neal Curtis (University of Nottingham), Matthew Pateman (Kingston University), Claire Nouvet (Emory University), Stephen Barker (University of California, Irvine), Antony Hudek (University College of London), Matthew McLennan (Ottawa University) and Christopher Bamford (Leeds Metropolitan University).
The conference is sponsored by HM Tory Chair, Rob Shields, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta and numerous Departments.
Organizing committee:
Heidi Bickis, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology
Rob Shields, HM Tory Chair, Department of Sociology/Art and Design
Peter W. Milne, Department of Philosophy, Santa Clara University
Kent Still, Department of Philosophy, Emory University
Please send inquiries to Rewritinglyotard@gmail.com.
-Rob
