CFP: Cold War Cultures: Transnational and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

CALL FOR PAPERS

COLD WAR CULTURES:
TRANSNATIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES

30 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2010, AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 1 APRIL 2010
WWW.COLDWARCULTURES.ORG

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
MUHSIN JASSIM AL-MUSAWI (ARABIC LITERATURE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY)
KATE BROWN (HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE)
AMBASSADOR ROBERT HUTCHINGS (LBJ SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UT AUSTIN) JOHN
D. KELLY (ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO)

If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then Cold War politics can be seen as a continuation of war by other means. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to explore these means in the context of global encounters between states and "Blocs" as well as engagements with "East" and "West." Indeed, after the end of the Second World War, a new kind of "war" continued and expanded as governments and/or interest groups created and continually reshaped institutions, media, popular culture, and various elements of social and political life. Globally, these broad-based transformations took place in the shadow of Cold War politics, especially as expressed through rhetoric of threat and mutual annihilation. In particular, cultural phenomena shaped by Cold War power conflicts take on myriad forms in a host of geographic contexts, both in and outside the Bloc, from iconic public representations to distinctive media advertising, memorable political speeches, world expositions, spy novels and films, and a plethora of official and popular modes of expression. In some places, of course, military or paramilitary conflagrations translated Cold War politics into "hot" wars, which further fueled the fire of Cold War imaginations.

We invite proposals for individual 20-minute papers that explore any geographic area or disciplinary field of Cold War studies, as well as contributions that might engage the notion the of "Cold War" theoretically. Full panels of three papers may also be proposed (however, please submit all papers and biographies for full panels together in a single email).

SUBMISSIONS
Deadline: April 1, 2010
Submit your abstract of 150-200 words in an email (no attachments) to coldwarcultures@gmail.com.
Put "ABSTRACT: Cold War Conference" in the subject line of the email.
Include a brief biographical statement (max. 150 words) in the email.

POSSIBLE PAPER & PANEL TOPICS
* Material and consumer cultures
* Popular culture and everyday life
* Borders, walls, and the Iron Curtain
* Surveillance, torture and show trials
* Literature, music, art and architecture, film and other media
* The space and arms races
* Commodities, trade and the environment
* Cold War client states, arms dealing and proxy wars
* Spies and intelligence communities (in fact or fiction)
* Dissidents and defections
* "Neutral" sites, nonalignment, and the intersection of North-South and East-West dynamics
* International institutions and Trans-national networks

DETAILS
* No registration fee for the conference; open to the public. *
Conference will open on Thursday, September 30, with a keynote address and sessions will continue until noon on Sunday, October 3. *
Conference sessions will be held in classrooms with standard media podia allowing for playing of DVDs, CDs, and PowerPoints. Include a note in your email if you need any other form of media.
* Attendees who are not giving papers are encouraged to register for the conference mailing list by sending an email to coldwarcultures@gmail.com and putting "INFORMATION REQUEST: Cold War Conference" in the subject line of the email.
* A block of rooms will be reserved at a local hotel for participants' convenience.
* For presenters with limited resources, it may be possible to arrange space with local hosts.

This conference is the centerpiece in a series of several events on the UT campus, all of which are free and open to the public. Plans include a Cold War Film Series, curated and introduced by members of the UT faculty and multiple keynotes during the conference, representing the geopolitical and cultural interests of the UT Centers and Institutes.

For more information, consult the conference website at www.coldwarcultures.org OR contact the organizing committee at coldwarcultures@gmail.com.

Major Conference Sponsors at the University of Texas at Austin:
* Center for European Studies
* Center for Middle Eastern Studies
* Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
* South Asia Institute/Center for East Asian Studies
* Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies