Two Days of Canada Conference: Call for Papers

[Klay Dyer (by way of Kathy Chung <kchung@chass.utoronto.ca>)]

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                ** Apologies for multiple cross-postings **

CALL FOR PAPERS for Brock University's annual Two Days of Canada
Conference, a multidisciplinary event to be held 3-4 November 1999. The
conference theme for this year is:

** LOCALITIES **

Taking the plural construction "localities" as a multidisciplinary and
invitingly open-ended point of departure, critics and scholars from a broad
range of intellectual and disciplinary backgrounds are invited to explore
the various literal, practical, and theoretical implications of "the local"
within Canada.  As this century nears its end, questions of the
potential/limitations of localities continue to fascinate and frustrate the
Canadian imagination.  At times deployed with an almost benign innocence,
the local more often appears within Canadian culture as a densely coded
construction that illuminates the tensions (regionalism), anxieties
(dis-location), and aspirations (renewal) that circulate never far below
the surface of Canadian society.

Aspects or angles of enquiry that might be explored include, but are by no
means limited to:

*  the ongoing debate over the perceived limits of the local, as distinct
   from the universal, in the imaginative arts (literary, dramatic, visual,
   music)
*  consideration of the historical, theoretical, or aesthetic implications
   of "folk" as it applies to the development of regional/ national culture
   or artistic movements
*  the methodologies, practicalities, or anxieties of exploring local
   histories or historical geographies
*  explorations of environmental or ecological issues in terms of their
   local complexities and implications
*  questions/reassessments generated by the persistent dispersion of
   federal governmental powers/responsibilities to local governments
*  labour history and the local implications in the study of work
*  the business (and beyond) of local theatre, publishing ventures,
   independent recording, or film

Offers of individual or group papers/presentations on these or any other
aspect of "localities" are invited by 1 July 1999, with two (2) copies of
your 300-500 word proposal for a 20-minute paper, an abstract (250 words
maximum), and a brief bio-bibliographical sketch to be submitted to:

                Professors Klay Dyer and Marilyn Rose
                Department of English Language and Literature
                St. Catharines, Ontario
                Canada   L2S 3A1

                Electronic mail:  kdyer at spartan.ac.brocku.ca or
                                  mrose at spartan.ac.brocku.ca
                Facsimile:  (905) 934-3301

* Hard copy, electronic (within body of e-mail, please), or facsimile
submissions are welcome.  Any requests for audiovisual equipment should be
noted in the proposal package.

This Call, plus information updates as the programme progresses, will be
posted on the Conference web page, linked through Canadian Studies at:
                        http://www.brocku.ca