Past Event

Interface 2011: Foundations

A colloquium organized by Ph.D. students in the Cultural Mediations program which is housed in the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art, and Culture (ICSLAC)
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
April 29-30, 2011
interface@connect.carleton.ca

Keynote Speaker

We are pleased to announce that the keynote speaker for the 2011 Interface Colloquium is Dr. Martin Lefebvre, University Research Chair in Film Studies and Director of the Advanced Research Team on the History and Epistemology of Moving Image Studies (ARTHEMIS, www.arthemis-cinema.ca/).

Keynote topic: On Some Epistemological Problems in Film Theory
Then and again the humanities have had to defend the forms of knowledge they produce. Pressures come both from the “outside” (society at large) and from the “inside” (the hallowed halls of higher education); that is to say, the “culture wars”, and the “science wars” have played out with various agendas in the social sphere and in academia as well. Film studies has not been immune to these questionings and in the wake of the “Post-Theory” moment the very idea of theory, its goals, its aims and its methods have been plagued by greater doubt than ever. This talk looks at some of the stakes involved by such questionning but also attempts to chart a way out of certain debates over the nature of film theory and, in particular, “aesthetic” film theory.

Martin Lefebvre has taught at the University of Alberta, at Université Laval and has held several guest professorships including at the Sorbonne (Université Paris 1), the Université de Poitiers and the Universidad Tecnológico de Monterrey  in Mexico City. He is the director of ARTHEMIS and Editor of Recherches sémiotiques/Semiotic Inquiry. He has published widely on film and semiotics in publications such as Screen, CINéMAS, The Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, New Literary History, RS/SI, Poétique, Semiotica, Theory, Culture and Society.

Call for Papers

The Interface Colloquium, now in its seventh year, is an interdisciplinary conference organized by students in the Ph.D. in Cultural Mediations program at Carleton University. Its broadest aim is to explore the ideological, epistemological, ethical, and aesthetic implications of questioning, dissolving, and redefining borders between disciplinary fields. This year’s theme “Foundations” seeks to address issues surrounding the foundations of our academic practices, our scholarship, and our knowledge. On what foundation, if any, is interdisciplinary work, or work in the Humanities in general, validated? On what foundation, if any, can one transgress disciplinary boundaries?

The organizing committee invites abstract submissions from current and recent graduate students in the streams of Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Visual Culture, Material Culture, Music, History, Film Studies, New Media, Philosophy or any other related disciplines for this year’s conference, scheduled to take place April 29-30, 2011. Papers reflecting research practices that cross apparent disciplinary and methodological borders are particularly welcome. Some possible topics for papers include but are not limited to:

• Methodologies
• Interdisciplinary Research
• Theory vs. Practice
• Digital Humantities
• Trans/Multimedia Research
• Cross Cultural Research

The format for each presentation is a twenty-minute paper followed by a short discussion.

Proposals

Proposals must include:
1. An abstract of no more than 300 words for the twenty-minute paper, including the title, but no other identification (to ensure anonymous selection.)
2. A cover page including paper title, name and contact information (phone, address, and email) and any audio/visual requirements.

Please send all submissions as attachments to: interface@connect.carleton.ca
The deadline for submissions has passed.