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Fifth IABA Conference, Mainz, Germany, 27-31 July 2006 Auto/Biography and Mediation Revised deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2005
Call for Papers
Fifth IABA Conference, Mainz, Germany, 27 - 31 July 2006
Organizer: Alfred Hornung
Third Circular
The fifth biennial conference of the International Auto-Biography Association will take place at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany, from 27-31 July 2006. We agreed on the general topic of "AutoBiography and Mediation" to permit a wide range of papers dealing with issues of auto-biography as media and auto-biography in the media, performing a process of mediation.
AutoBiography and Mediation
All forms of life-writing represent specific processes of mediation, thematically between the self and the world, technically between the author and the chosen medium of self-representation. Thematically, an auto-biography may mediate between individual positions and choices taken in life, in the sense of the critical concept of relational selves, or it may mediate between self and place as in imaginary geographies and eco-biographies. As such, auto-biographies are involved in literary, cultural, psychological, legal or political processes of mediation in which the auto-biographer becomes a mediator in intercultural, interethnic, and interracial affairs. An auto-biography can also mediate between different disciplines of the humanities, the social and natural sciences, neuro-science and medicine. Auto-biographical memory functions as a medium for time and reality. Technically, auto-biographers can choose from a wide range of media in which to present their lives: print media, performance, film and video, radio and tapes, or the internet. Many auto-biographers combine different media for intermedial effects, such as the inclusion of photography in texts, voice and music on the radio or tapes, sound and images in filmic auto-biography, music and dance in self-performances. Auto-biographical multi-media installations dissolve boundaries between genres and technologies of signification. The overall goal of auto-biography as mediation is to find some kind of resolution between different positions and the choice of media for the representation of life.
We invite proposals for individual papers and workshops within the range of these areas. Please choose one of the following sections for your contribution:
1. Theory of mediation and intermediality via auto-biographies
2. The mediation of medicine, natural sciences, neuro-sciences or social sciences in auto-biogaphies.
3. Media of culture(s) as expressed in auto-biographies
4. The mediation of cultures in auto-biographies
5. The mediation of African and Latin American worlds in auto-biographies
6. Performance and auto-biographies
Please send a one-page abstract of your proposal and a one-page curriculum vitae by 30 November 2005 to iaba@uni-mainz.de. We would like to encourage auto-biography scholars from all over the world, especially from Africa and Latin America, to participate and to focus also on auto-biographical material outside of the Anglo-American canon.
The website for this conference is on the Net. It contains information on the site of the venue, accommodation and planned events. The list of speakers and registration forms will be listed in mid-December. The address of the website is www.iaba.fb05.uni-mainz.de.
The official e-mail address for the conference will be iaba@uni-mainz.de. Kerstin Vogel will serve as the coordinator for organizational matters.
We are looking forward to your proposals for individual papers and workshops and hope to see you all next year here in Mainz.
I would also refer you to the official IABA website supervised by Zhao Baisheng in Beijing www.iaba.org.cn.
Prof. Alfred Hornung
American Studies
Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz
PF 3980
55099 Mainz
Phone: +49-6131-392-3535
Fax. +49-6131-392-5577
e-mail: hornung@uni-mainz.de |
