Cfp: "Communication and Memory," Landmarks 2, Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London, December 9-11, 2009.

Update: The conference webpage is here: http://igrs.sas.ac.uk/events/conferences-workshops/ecrea-conference.html. Original Post (July 28, 2009): Biennial Conference, European Communication Research and Education Association. 'Landmarks' is the name of our bi-annual conference exploring current pathways of research and scholarship in the philosophy of communication. We aim to provide a platform for interdisciplinary discussion and engagement, spanning philosophy and communication studies broadly understood, and creating opportunities for established as well young scholars and researchers to present their work and their ideas. The theme for Landmarks 2 is Communication and Memory. At all levels at which communication mediates, expresses or constructs relatedness, the function of memory – and with it forgetting and expecting - is present. Memory shapes presuppositions in communication as much as expectations. The temporality of personal existence and of consciousness is a prerequisite for communicative interaction. But communication processes have a formative influence on the content of individual and collective memories and of cultures and practices of remembrance as well – as indeed, according to some thinkers, on the performative constitution of temporality, seriality or iteration itself. At the same time, communication introduces a factor of change, or otherness - of mediation - in what is remembered or memorised. Thus the dialectics of memory and communication signals the interdependence of the immediate and the mediated. In personal, social, political, ideological and cultural practices and identities this dialectic plays a largely unexplored role. Again, for hermeneutics, the process of understanding is essentially both mediated by memory, in the form of tradition, and by communication, in the form of dialogue – Mnemosyne is the mother of the muses. Memory, as conceptualised in traditions of thought as diverse as phenomenology and the philosophy of cognition, plays a central role in the understanding of interpretation, thinking and thought processes. With this conference we aim to explore the fundamental aspects of the relation between memory and communication, across a range of (philosophical) methods and disciplines. These include phenomenology, philosophy of culture, philosophy of language and cognition, metaphysics, critical theory, rhetoric and aesthetics, the history of philosophy, the new universalism and communication ethics. Many aspects of the relation between communication and memory have not yet been investigated systematically; this conference aims to provide a map of the landscape. We hope to be able to bring together researchers from a wide range of backgrounds to collectively explore this area. We seek to explore questions such as the following: 1. What role does communication play in rituals and cultures of remembrance? 2. What is the role of memory in the information society? 3. What is the difference between memory and remembrance and how do mediation practices play a role in this difference? 4. How can we conceptualise the relation between memory, remembrance and communication in various philosophical traditions and disciplines, including aesthetics and ethics? 5. What are the outlines of a (critical) theory conceptualising the interplay of memory and communication – including cultural practices, social and political practise, cognitive practices, information management practices etc.? 6. How can we understand the relationships between the mediation of memory and ideology formation, hegemony and power, reason, mythos and logos? 7. Is there a utopian dimension to memory, remembering and communication? 8. What are the outlines of a contemporary theory of rhetorical memoria and how do they relate to a descriptive and normative theory of communicative competence? 9. What is the role of communicating memory and of remembering in the constitution and dynamics of the subject and of intersubjectivity – e.g. in psychoanalysis or the philosophy of mind? Key note speakers will be announced shortly (suggestions are also still welcome!). Abstracts of 500 words maximum for a paper or poster presentation can be submitted to: papersubmission@philosophy-of-communication.eu, by 1 October 2009 at the latest. The registration fee is £40; an on-line registration form will be available on the Section’s website from 1 September. A selection of conference papers will be published in the Section’s Journal, Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication. A full programme, as well as information about accommodation and travel, will be made available in due course on the Section’s website, http://www.philosophy-of-communication.eu/.