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Society for
the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery
Eighteenth
Annual Conference
CALL FOR PAPERS
THE IMAGE OF
THE OUTSIDER
in
Literature, Media, and Society
March 13-15,
2008
Colorado Springs, Colorado
An interdisciplinary conference exploring the idea of
the outsider in culture, literature, philosophy, history, politics,
economics, film, television, art, music, social theory, business. The
idea of the outsider implies change, criticism, disruption of the
established order. The outsider may be a stranger, an eccentric, an
intellectual, or someone different, a member of an excluded group, a
scapegoat. Images of the outsider have been prominent in history and
culture, and these images will be analyzed from various disciplinary
perspectives, including literary, social, historical, political,
psychological, business. Possible topics include:
* The outsider
in literature: novels, dramas, poems, epics
* The
outsider in culture: movies, television, folk tales, songs
* The outsider in politics: the revolutionary, the
charismatic leader, the critic
* The
outsider and social change: the individualist, the entrepreneur, the
innovator
* The idea
of the inside versus the outsider: stability & order vs. disruption &
change
* The
necessity of order (tradition, bureaucracy) and thus the necessity of an
outsider
* The
outsider and social cohesion: the enemy, the threat, the danger, the
other
* The
outsider as different: race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual
orientation, ability
* The
outsider as loner, outcast, pariah, iconoclast, wanderer, stranger
* The
outsider as social hero: explorer, pioneer, artist, creator,
truth-teller
* The
psychology of the outsider – Do we all see ourselves as outsiders?
* Icons of
the outsider – the “cowboy,” the hippie, the genius, the whistleblower
* Other
imaginative variations
An annual
conference addressing the influence of imagery in social life, with a
different thematic focus each year. A
Proceedings will be published
from papers presented at the conference. Past themes have included The
Image of Power, The Image of Technology, The Image of Nature, The Image
of the Road. Eclectic and innovative approaches are encouraged. For
previous programs, etc., see webpage:
http://www.chass.colostate-pueblo.edu/sissi.
Please
submit a one-page abstract or a panel proposal with abstracts by
December 3, 2007. Graduate students are welcome and organized panels are
encouraged: fax:
719-549-2705, email:
outsider@colostate-pueblo.edu,
mail: SISSI-Outsider,
Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo,
CO 8l00l-4901. Organizers: Will Wright, Professor of Sociology, Colorado
State University-Pueblo, and Steven Kaplan, President and Professor of
English, University of New Haven. Contact Will Wright: 719-549-2538,
will.wright@colostate-pueblo.edu.
Sponsored by Colorado
State University - Pueblo
PLEASE POST AND CIRCULATE
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