Encounters: the coincidence of space, time, and subjectivity

Paper proposals are invited for an interdisciplinary conference on ‘Encounters: the coincidence of space, time, and subjectivity’. This conference will bring into dialogue a range of disciplines to explore ways in which space and time interact, how they are socially formed or experienced, how they are culturally represented, and what this may say about subjectivity and perceptions of identity.

The conference offers an exciting opportunity for encounters between geographers, historians, philosophers, anthropologists, and literary and cultural critics, among others, to discuss questions relating to mobility, migration, globalisation, identity perception and performance, and the transmission of experience in culture and memory, both collectively and individually.

All human experience is situated in time and space but considering what this actually means for each of us subjectively is a far harder task and one that has occupied thinkers for millennia. It is possible to talk of clock time and of physical spaces, both of which give us a sense of measurability. But how does it actually feel to locate ourselves in a spatial and temporal world? How do spaces change over time (or indeed sense of time over space)? How can one space or one time have such different meanings for different people? What does this say about identity and subjectivity? How are subjective meanings constructed in word and image? How are time and space conceptualised from different disciplinary perspectives? And in what ways may differing theoretical approaches be fruitfully brought into dialogue?

Possible topics might include but are not limited to discussions of the following from any disciplinary perspective:

-       Transport and mobility

-       Social media

-       Border crossings

-       Migration

-       Encounters between word and image

-       Departures and arrivals

-       Public and private spaces

-       Past and present

-       Good times, bad times

-       History and memory

-       Gender identity

Confirmed keynote speakers include:

Prof Mark Currie (Contemporary Literature, Queen Mary University of London)

Prof Anne Fuchs (German Literature and Culture, University College Dublin)

Prof Stephen Kern (Humanities Distinguished Professor, Ohio State)

Prof Gillian Rose (Geography, University of Oxford)