THE DEPARTMENT OF POLISH CULTURE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE ASSOCIATION OF DOCTORAL CANDIDATES OF CULTURAL STUDIES OF THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AT MARIA CURIE-SKŁODOWSKA UNIVERSITY
are pleased to launch a call for papers for the International Conference
entitled:
„City as a Culture-based Text. Structure, Semiotics, Inhabitants”
The conference will be held on 12-13 October 2015
at the conference room of the Faculty of Humanities of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin.
For Umberto Eco, culture, in its essence, is an act of communication, and hence it may be perceived as a system
of signs. According to a well-known linguist and semiologist, Roman Jacobson, the city, which is also a cultural
phenomenon, may be read as a culture-based text. However, in each act of communication, a code or a message are
not enough. A sender and a receiver hold the most important position, as they form the meaning in a continuous
process of semiosis.
The aim of our conference is to show a complex system of meaning created by the city and its inhabitants, as
well as to share ideas among young researchers and scholars.
Taking into account the interdisciplinary nature of our conference, we would like to invite contributors from all
academic disciplines, including anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, pedagogy, philosophy, film studies, history,
linguistics, literary studies as well as all young researchers who are interested in urban semiotics.
We suggest the following topics:
- Urban anthropology and anthropologists in a urban area – the city in anthropologist studies;
- Founding myths;
- City across the centuries;
- Linguistic image of the city and language of the city (e.g. slang, etc.);
- Social and cultural functions of the city;
- City and the cultural identity – the inhabitants of metropolis, suburbs, or districts (slums; city) etc.;
- Social structures and minorities in the city – districts, tenement houses, blocks of flats, backyards, etc.;
- Young and old age in the city;
- Urban arrangements and urban architecture;
- The sacred and the profane in the city;
- Religion and the city, urban festivals;
- Symbols and creations of / in the city;
- The city centre and the outskirts of the city – people, world, and culture between these two;
- Glocalization and the city;
- Art about / in the city
- Folk and colloquial narrative and the city
- Advertising the city / in the city and the promotional strategies
- Urbanization, antiurbanizm, suburbanizm, and ecology as cultural phenomena
- The anthologist aspect of the activities in a public space – street art, sticker art, street workout, parkour,
freeganizm, squat, etc.;
- The mall as a urban Eden;
- Fashion and the city;
- Nightlife;
- Parallelism and the city – living in the underworld;
- City jungle and the problem of exclusion;
- Busy vs. ghost city;
- Governmental and non-governmental cultural institutions and local initiatives;
- and more.
Conference languages: Polish, English, Ukrainian, Russian, Czech
After the conference, the papers will be eligible for publication in a reviewed post-conference publication.
The participants are required to cover
the conference fee of 250 PLN. The fee includes conference materials, coffee,
conference dinner, and post-conference publication. Costs of journey, accommodation, and other meals are not
included in the conference fee and must be arranged separately.
Registration forms, and titles of the papers should be sent to
miasto.konferencja@gmail.com by May 31,
2015
. Candidates will receive the notification of acceptance after June 02, 2015. The programme and further details
concerning the conference will be provided in our next circular.
With kind regards,
mgr Beata Kijanka
Secretary
Scientific committee:
Vice-Rector for Educational Affairs, prof. dr hab. Barbara Hlibowicka-Węglarz
dr hab. Jan Adamowski prof. UMCS
dr hab. Katarzyna Smyk
Conference organizers:
mgr Marzena Badach
mgr Beata Kijanka
mgr Agnieszka Kaźmierczak
mgr Dominik Zimny
mgr Barbara Hołub
mgr Maryana Kril
mgr Dominika Spadło