[KS] CFP Cold War Cultures, UT Austin Sept 30-Oct 3, 2010

[rmo at mail.utexas.edu]

Dear all,

I'm one of the co-organizers, and believe me we'd like to decenter the  
US-Soviet fest this could easily become.  Please think about it if you  
have any interest!

Rob Oppenheim
UT Austin

CALL FOR PAPERS

COLD WAR CULTURES:
TRANSNATIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES

30 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER  2010, AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
SUBMISSION DEADLINE:  1 APRIL 2010
WWW.COLDWARCULTURES.ORG

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
MUHSIN JASSIM AL-MUSAWI (ARABIC LITERATURE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY)
KATE BROWN (HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE)
AMBASSADOR ROBERT HUTCHINGS (LBJ SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UT AUSTIN)
JOHN D. KELLY (ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO)

If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then Cold War  
politics can be seen as a continuation of war by other means.  This  
interdisciplinary conference seeks to explore these means in the  
context of global encounters between states and ?Blocs? as well as  
engagements with ?East? and ?West.?   Indeed, after the end of the  
Second World War, a new kind of ?war? continued and expanded as  
governments and/or interest groups created and continually reshaped  
institutions, media, popular culture, and various elements of social  
and political life.  Globally, these broad-based transformations took  
place in the shadow of Cold War politics, especially as expressed  
through rhetoric of threat and mutual annihilation.  In particular,  
cultural phenomena shaped by Cold War power conflicts take on myriad  
forms in a host of geographic contexts, both in and outside the Bloc,  
from iconic public representations to distinctive media advertising,  
memorable political speeches, world expositions, spy novels and films,  
and a plethora of official and popular modes of expression.  In some  
places, of course, military or paramilitary conflagrations translated  
Cold War politics into ?hot? wars, which further fueled the fire of  
Cold War imaginations.

We invite proposals for individual 20-minute papers that explore any  
geographic area or disciplinary field of Cold War studies, as well as  
contributions that might engage the notion the of "Cold War"  
theoretically. Full panels of three papers may also be proposed  
(however, please submit all papers and biographies for full panels  
together in a single email).

SUBMISSIONS
?	Deadline:  April 1, 2010
?	Submit your abstract of 150-200 words in an email (no attachments)  
to coldwarcultures at gmail.com.
?	Put "ABSTRACT: Cold War Conference" in the subject line of the email.
?	Include a brief biographical statement (max. 150 words) in the email.

POSSIBLE PAPER & PANEL TOPICS
?	Material and consumer cultures
?	Popular culture and everyday life
?	Borders, walls, and the Iron Curtain
?	Surveillance, torture and show trials
?	Literature, music, art and architecture, film and other media
?	The space and arms races
?	Commodities, trade and the environment
?	Cold War client states, arms dealing and proxy wars
?	Spies and intelligence communities (in fact or fiction)
?	Dissidents and defections
?	"Neutral" sites, nonalignment, and the intersection of North-South  
and East-West dynamics
?	International institutions and Trans-national networks

DETAILS
?	No registration fee for the conference; open to the public.
?	Conference will open on Thursday, September 30, with a keynote  
address and sessions will continue until noon on Sunday, October 3.
?	Conference sessions will be held in classrooms with standard media  
podia allowing for playing of DVDs, CDs, and PowerPoints.  Include a  
note in your email if you need any other form of media.
?	Attendees who are not giving papers are encouraged to register for  
the conference mailing list by sending an email to  
coldwarcultures at gmail.com and putting "INFORMATION REQUEST: Cold War  
Conference" in the subject line of the email.
?	A block of rooms will be reserved at a local hotel for participants'  
convenience.
?	For presenters with limited resources, it may be possible to arrange  
space with local hosts.

This conference is the centerpiece in a series of several events on  
the UT campus, all of which are free and open to the public.  Plans  
include a Cold War Film Series, curated and introduced by members of  
the UT faculty and multiple keynotes during the conference,  
representing the geopolitical and cultural interests of the UT Centers  
and Institutes.

For more information, consult the conference website at  
www.coldwarcultures.org OR contact the organizing committee at  
coldwarcultures at gmail.com.


Major Conference Sponsors at the University of Texas at Austin:
?	Center for European Studies
?	Center for Middle Eastern Studies
?	Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
?	South Asia Institute/Center for East Asian Studies
?	Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies