"Re-Imagining Identity: New Directions in Postcolonial Studies," Postcolonial Studies Association, Waterford Institute of Technology, May 6-8, 2009.

This inaugural conference of the Postcolonial Studies Association will focus on a broad re-consideration of the cultural, political, theoretical and practical re-imaginings of the concept of 'identity' as it relates to the field of Postcolonialism and the wider Humanities and the Social Sciences. The conference aims both to explore current understandings of 'identity' in a multicultural, globalised and conflicted world, and to encourage disciplinary self-reflexivity. We welcome papers that interrogate the conceptual category of identity itself, as well as those that relate to the ways specific identities are constructed, assigned or imagined. Questions to be asked will include: 'What is the future of Postcolonialism as a discipline?' and: 'What is the relationship between received understandings of "identity", specific formulations of key contemporary identities, and our understanding of "the postcolonial"?' The PSA invites papers from academics working in the disciplines of Literature, History, Cultural Studies, Film, Human Geography, Linguistics, Politics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Art, Music, Media & Communication and related fields. Our aim is to bring together a wide variety of scholarly interests and methodological approaches. Paper or panel topics may focus on the following conceptual intersections: § Identity, Religion and Spirituality (the secular & sacred, New Age & alternative spiritualities, the Enlightenment, sectarianism, religious symbolism, fundamentalism) § Identity and Time (history, memory, policy, repetition, development, modernity, eternity, death) § Identity and Language (language policy, seizing the pen, language as mission and calling; propaganda) § Identity and Politics (resistance, war, terror) § Identity and Space (regions, blocs, global flows, the EU and the wider world, the environment) § Identity, Theory and Disciplinary Boundaries (postcolonialism as a discipline, theoretical approaches, the policing of knowledge, multidisciplinarity, comparative postcolonialisms) Panels will normally comprise three 20-minute papers. Proposal acceptance is subject to organising committee approval. To submit a paper or panel proposal please contact: Dr Christine ODowd-Smyth - codowdsmyth@wit.ie or psa@postcolonialstudiesassociation.co.uk. Closing date for abstract submissions: 1 December 2008 For more information please contact: Dr Gerri Kimber - gerri@thekimbers.co.uk or Dr Marta Vizcaya Echano - martavizcaya@hotmail.com Visit the conference homepage here: http://www.postcolonialstudiesassociation.co.uk/id63.html.