[Ailist] Fwd: 5th Global Conference: Hope: Probing the Boundaries

[Stephanie West Allen]

Begin forwarded message:

>
> 5th Global Conference
> Hope: Probing the Boundaries
>
> Tuesday 22nd September - Thursday 24th September 2009
> Mansfield College, Oxford
>
> Call for Papers
> This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary
> conference aims to explore contemporary
> definitions, meanings and expressions of hope. In
> particular, it will seek to examine the
> individual, social, national and international
> contexts within which hope emerges as well as its
> counterpart, hopelessness.
>
> The theme and the sense of uncertainty pervades
> the start of the twenty-first century. Although
> young, the past bears witness to the
> brutality of genocides, atrocities, terrorism
> which acts to counter-balance economic, political,
> technological and ecological
> aspirations. Medicine and bio-ethics are split
> between those who foresee the worst implications
> for persons and those who foresee the promise of
> genetic engineering. Cultural conflicts likewise
> offer scope for grave apprehension or the hopeful
> anticipation of a culturally enriched shared
> world. This project is committed to the view that
> now is the time look at the main spheres in which
> there seems to be a pendulum between fear
> and hopeful expectation, with a view to thinking
> out constructive strategies for exploration.
>
> Papers, workshops and reports are invited on any
> of the following possible areas for discussion;
>
>     1. Human awareness of the passage of time;
> changing attitudes to what H.G. Wells called 'the
> shape of things to come'. What are the
> possible bases for thinking about the future?
>     2. Expressions of these attitudes in
> contemporary culture – portrayals in art, cinema,
> literature, radio, science fiction, theatre, tv
>     3. The psychological basis of fear of the
> future. Why millennial hopes are matched by
> millennial fears
>     4. The concept of a new age. Utopian thinkers;
> Dystopian visions. The connection with political
> movements. What do new agers want?
> Hedonism and the simple life. The fear of
> longevity. The fear of loneliness
>     5. Hopelessness, despair, indifference and
> resignation. The meaning of life
>     6. The science of the future. Prediction, risk
> and disaster management
>     7. The phenomenology of hope. What is this
> phenomenon that we call hope? How does it live and
> seemingly thrive in difficult times? How is
> it sustained? How is it invoked? Is there any
> difference between those who seem to be more
> hopeful than others?
>     8. Does hope and the act of hoping/or the
> predisposition to hope differ from culture to
> culture? What are those variances and what
> accounts for them? How is hope differently
> instantiated among cultures? What are those
> instantiations?
>     9. The notion of open and closed futures
>    10. The role and place of religion and
> religious movements.
>    11. Risk, possibility and hope.
>    12. Envisaging possible futures. The question
> of choice. Cultivating hope. To boldly go.
>
> Papers will be accepted which deal with related
> areas and themes. Pre-formed panel proposals are
> also encouraged.
>
> The 2009 meeting of Hope: Probing the Boundaries
> will run alongside our new project on Strangers,
> Alien and Foreigners and we anticipate holding
> sessions in common between the two projects.  We
> welcome any papers considering the problems or
> addressing issues of hope, hopelessness,
> strangers, aliens, foreigners.
>
> Papers will be considered on any related theme.
> 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday
> 24th April 2009. If an abstract is accepted for
> the conference, a full draft paper should be
> submitted by Friday 7th August 2009.
>
> 300 word abstracts should be submitted to the
> Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word,
> WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:
>
> a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d)
> title of abstract, e) body of abstract
> E-mails should be entitled: Fashion Abstract
> Submission
>
> Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain
> from using any special formatting, characters or
> emphasis (such as bold, italics or
> underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to
> all paper 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
>
> Nancy Mardas Billias
> Chair, Department of Philosophy
> Coordinator, Leadership Studies
> Saint Joseph College,
> 1678 Asylum Avenue
> West Hartford, CT 06117 USA
> E-mail: nb at inter-disciplinary.net
>
> Dr Rob Fisher
> Inter-Disciplinary.Net
> Priory House,
> Wroslyn Road, Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
> United Kingdom
> E-mail: hope5 at inter-disciplinary.net
>
> The conference is part of the 'Probing the
> Boundaries' programme of research projects. The
> aim of the conference is to bring together people
> from different areas and interests to share ideas
> and explore various discussions which are
> innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for
> and presented at this conference are eligible for
> publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may
> be invited to go forward for development into
> a themed ISBN hard copy volume.
>
> Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a
> not-for-profit network and we are not in a
> position to be able to assist with conference
> travel or
> subsistence.
>
> For further details about the project please visit:
> http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/hope/
>
> For further details about the conference please visit:
> http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/ 
> hope/call-for-papers/
>