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

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