Call for Participants
A Virtual Symposium in Three Parts: April 20, May 13, and June 14, 2021
Hosted by the Center for Expanded Poetics in collaboration with 4TH SPACE, Concordia University
The project is funded by the Faculty of Arts and Science
Event 1, April 20, 2.30 PM: Webinar Zoom link
Event 2, May 13, 2.00 PM
Event 3, June 14, 2.00 PM
In the face of the uncertainties of our current moment, both locally and globally, who are we in relation to it - socially, spatially, and molecular?
The past year has rendered the idea of ourselves in the world as we know it uncertain. We have become avatars of ourselves, limited in social, creative, and mental space. But we have also come face-to-face with a new kind of negotiation: what it means to be part of the world not only on a social, political, and environmental level but also on a molecular one. We have encountered our molecular selves in the world, an encounter that has blurred the idea of boundaries of self even further. In the uncertainties of the moment, who are we then - and who do we want to become? And at what cost do we become so? This symposium on “Self/Uncertainties” invites researchers from different disciplines across Concordia and audiences from beyond to participate in a discussion on the uncertainties of Space and Environment, Social and Communication, and Human and the Molecular.
Expanded Dialogues invites participants to explore the dialectic of self and uncertainty through a conversation.
Read more about the Project and Organizers here.
The Format
The dialogues will be both expanded and expanding: By ‘expanded’, they aim to be events that go beyond the usual disciplinary confines; by ‘expanding’, they will follow a model which progressively broadens itself, bringing more people into the discussion as the event unfolds each time.
In order to replicate a more spontaneous exchange of ideas online than may usually occur during an online lecture or webinar, the format will take the form of an expanded and expanding round table discussion: a small number of core participants (four) invited from different faculties will hold a dialogue on one of the core themes mentioned above; after circa 20 minutes, the dialogue will be expanded to a wider group of participants (selected from a call for participation, see below) for another 20 minutes; lastly, the dialogue will be expanded further and opened up to the audience.
Part 1: Uncertain Environs, Uncertain Selves Tuesday, April 20, 2.30 PM
Due dates for abstracts: Tuesday, April 15
Notification of selected participants: April 16
*If you would like to be a panelist, please submit a 250-500 word abstract on your interests in the topic and short bio through the Submission form.
For Part 1, we welcome proposals from Concordia faculty, post-docs, and graduate students dealing with questions included but not limited to:
- With the uncertainties of the environment, both locally and globally, who are we in relation to it?
- What is included in the environment?
- Is selfhood a distinguishing from the environment, or can it be conceived as in communion or interchange with it?
- What elements constitute the self in such an environment?
- Should we consider any non-human elements as being on equal footing with those of the human? How can this be realistically achieved?
- Can the environment be conceived as a limited or open space?
- Can any space be conceived as an environment, be that a social, creative, or mental environment, and how can we negotiate its boundaries?
as well as the intersection of these questions.
Part 2: Fractured Communication, Fragmented Society Thursday, May 13, 2.00 PM
Due dates for abstracts: May 7
Notification of selected participants: May 10
*If you would like to be a panelist, please submit a 250-500 word abstract on your interests in the topic and short bio through the Submission form.
For Part 2, we welcome proposals from Concordia faculty, post-docs, and graduate students dealing with questions included but not limited to:
- With ever-increasing uncertainties manifesting itself in society, how might we understand the possible fragmentation of social cohesion that follow from it?
- How can we handle the difficulties to communicate across groups, especially considering the barriers to communication for some identities (Black, Indigenous, people of colour, LGBTQ+)?
- How might we confront the economic uncertainties within society, especially precarity of work, unemployment, debt, and the fragilizing effects of globalisation and financialization?
as well as the intersection of these questions.
Part 3: Molecular Selves, In/Organic Humanity Tuesday, June 14, 2.00 PM
Due dates for abstracts: June 7
Notification of selected participants: June 10
*If you would like to be a panelist, please submit a 250-500 word abstract on your interests in the topic and short bio through the Submission form.
For Part 3, we welcome proposals from Concordia faculty, post-docs, and graduate students dealing with questions included but not limited to:
- As we confront a ‘scientific’ image of ourselves, e.g., the vision of the human as found in ever-advancing scientific disciplines - neurology, biology, chemistry, physics - what questions arise for who we are and our self-image?
- Does the advent of a ‘molecular’ vision of humanity threaten a disruption, a revision, or displacement of the way we know ourselves?
- Or is there a way that the elements of the molecular vision of humanity could enable a more integrated perspective of ourselves and a world-nature-human axis?
Could a more generally accessible image of the molecular human avert future crises like the one we face now?
as well as the intersection of these questions.
*Submissions for more than one event are welcome!