ADVERSITY AND CREATION
(bilingual conference French-English)
hosted by
University of Geneva (Switzerland), Section of Art History
August 28-30, 2014
Keynote speakers: Vivian Sobchack (UCLA), Gottfried Boehm (Basel)
Invited speakers: Guy Félix Duportail (Paris 1), Sara Heinämaa (Helsinki)
In September 1951, Maurice Merleau-Ponty gave a lecture in Geneva entitled “Man and Adversity”, later published in Signs. For the 39th conference of the Merleau-Ponty Circle, to be held for the first time in a francophone context, the topic will be “Adversity and Creation”, thereby focusing on the present day’s situation in human sciences, politics and art. As Merleau-Ponty did in the middle of the last Century, we are facing the challenge to identify the source of the present aporias, in politics, art and human sciences. This is why the present call for papers focuses on the two fundamental dimensions of action: adversity, since one always acts in front of or against something, and creation, since, as the philosopher wrote, “Being requires creation from us, in order to allow us to experience it”.
Completed papers, no longer than 4000 words / 25000 characters (with spaces) will be given priority, around the topic “Adversity and Creation” as well as on the links between Merleau-Ponty and contemporary issues. Please format papers for blind review and send with a cover letter to the conference director at
Merleau-Ponty2014@unige.ch
The conference features the annual M. C. Dillon Memorial Lecture – an honor and monetary award for the best graduate student submission. Graduate students who wish to be considered for the Dillon award should indicate this in their cover letter.
Deadline for submissions: April 30, 2014
For more information, please click on the following link:
http://www.unige.ch/lettres/armus/istar/actus/merleauponty2014.html