Traversing the margins DoHSS Conference, IIT-Madras 3 - 5 February, 2017
CALL FOR PAPERS AND POSTERS The annual conference of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras on the theme: “Traversing the Margins” will take place from 3rd to 5th February, 2017. The condition of marginality has been widely used in contemporary academic discourse. Marginality exists as a structure that pushes many to the borders of humankind, despite Francis Fukuyama’s declaration of the “end of history”. Indeed, power pervades quotidian life and our discourses, however progressive they claim to be, are marked by exclusions. We recognize that marginality exists in relation to centrality. To traverse the margins is to challenge the centre, unravel the power structures of the canon and in the process, transgress and blur the boundaries that exclude. At the same time, the idea of the margins itself needs to be investigated through the processes of identity formation facilitated by power structures or sculpted through resistance and negotiation. Issues concerning the Margins are played out for confrontation on our television sets and conversations, newspapers and social media feeds, shaping discourse and ideologies. This conference will attempt to raise questions for discussion on the power dynamics between the centre and Margins such as: Does social disadvantage provide an epistemic advantage when talking about the human condition? How do we theorise the body and biopower in a heteronormative culture? How do the processes of legalization act in the legitimation or inclusion of marginalities? Do initiatives that attempt to improve social mobility recreate the very power structures that they seek to repudiate? What sort of role does language play in marginalisation and at the same time in mobilization? How do alternative definitions of well being and health impact livelihoods and the economy? How do older forms of expression like oral histories redefine dominant narratives? How do erstwhile marginalised genres surface with the emerging agency of the margins in the power structure? How are marginalized political cultures changing the political landscape and altering our subjectivities? What are the subversive potentialities of art? Has globalization lived up to Thomas Friedman’s promises of emancipatory potential for the margins? How do we balance multiculturalism with universalism in human rights and international law? How can economics address the questions of marginality and through what kinds of theoretical lenses? Papers and posters need not be restricted to the above questions. We welcome abstracts and papers from all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences: sociology, literature, anthropology, political science, international relations, culture studies, urban studies, gender studies, languages at the margins, economics, history, film/media studies, for our interdisciplinary conference
Deadline for abstracts: October 8th Submit to:
[email protected]