Cognitive Futures in the Humanities

April 4, 2013 - April 6, 2013
School of Linguistics & English Language, University of Wales, Bangor

Bangor
United Kingdom

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Sponsor(s):

  • Arts and Humanities Research Council

Speakers:

Shaun Gallagher
University of Memphis
Elena Semino
Lancaster University
Ellen Spolsky
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan
Peter Stockwell
University of Nottingham
Mark Turner
Case Western Reserve University
Lisa Zunshine
University of Kentucky

Organisers:

Vyvyan Evans
University of Wales, Bangor

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The conference is associated with an international research network on the ‘Cognitive Futures in the Humanities’, which is supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), awarded to Dr. Peter Garratt (Northumbria), and Prof. Vyv Evans (Bangor).

RATIONALE AND CONTEXT

This first major conference provides a forum in order to bring together researchers from different humanities disciplines, whose work relates to, informs, or is informed by aspects of the cognitive, brain and behavioural sciences.  It aims to address, in various ways, the following questions: what is the ‘cognitive humanities’? In what ways is knowledge from the cognitive sciences changing approaches to language, literature, aesthetics, historiography and creative culture? How have practices in the arts and humanities influenced the cognitive sciences, and how might they do so in the future? This conference will facilitate the exchange of new, innovative research at the intersection of established disciplines, such as philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, art history and cultural studies. 

The ‘cognitive revolution’ has begun to make an impact on how humanists think about language, identity, embodiment and culture, in fields such as cognitive poetics, narratology, phenomenology and literary theory. This conference will assess the state of the field now and ask what new directions lie open for cognitive humanities research. If the cognitive sciences ask fundamental questions about the very nature of the ‘human' that underpins the humanities, what new forms of knowledge and research practice might be produced in an emerging area called the ‘cognitive humanities’? How can the field be mapped? What methodological opportunities exist, and what value do cognitive paradigms add to traditional modes of inquiry? How may interests particular to the humanities, such as fiction and the imagination, influence the development of research in the cognitive sciences? In addressing these questions, the conference will generate exciting new communication across disciplines and help define an emerging international research community.

As part of this initiative, two postgraduate fee-waiver bursaries are being advertised.

CONFERENCE STRUCTURES

In addition to six plenary talks, the conference will feature a series of special themed panel sessions with leading researchers serving as discussants, including Alan Richardson (Boston College), Michael Wheeler (Stirling University), Vyv Evans (Bangor University) and Patricia Waugh (Durham University).

CONTACT: [email protected]

ORGANIZER: Prof. Vyv Evans (www.vyvevans.net)

Full conference details are available from the conference website:

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