[Athena] Appel à contributions : La France et la Crise (Modern and Contemporary France annual conference, Nottingham Trent, 9-11 Sept. 2010)

[Jean-François PICARD <jean-francois.picard AT mouchez.cnrs.fr>]

La France et la Crise: bilans, ruptures, antécédents
Modern and Contemporary France annual conference, Nottingham Trent, 9-11 September 2010
 
 
 New deadline for proposals: 1 February 2010

The current economic crisis surely constitutes a major turning point for France, Europe and the broader world. Since around 1983 – the time of the Socialist government’s famous shift to the right – the march of liberal globalisation has seemed unquestioned and inevitable, decisively shifting the balance of power between capital and nation-states on the one hand, between management and labour on the other. The crisis has thrown that apparently inevitable process into doubt, questioning our assumptions and inviting us to an urgent mapping of the present and a rethinking of our understanding of an immediate and longer-term past and possible futures. The conference will be organised around four major themes. We list these below with suggested panels for each theme. The suggestions are not meant to imply that alternative ideas for panels or individual papers are not also warmly welcomed.
 
 
1.      Mapping the crisis           
We would welcome proposals in the following areas:
Narratives of crisis (frameworks, actors, causes, solutions, periodisations)
                        The impact of the crisis on ‘mainstream’ politics
                        The crisis as moral crisis
                        Policy responses to the crisis
                        The crisis and the margins
                        The geography of crisis
                        The crisis and the world of work
The crisis in mainstream and alternative media
 
 
2.      Reactions to the crisis
We would welcome proposals in the following areas:
            Political alternatives (Greens, anti-capitalists, counter-globalists)
            Protest movements and protest repertoires
            Social movement reactions
            Gendered reactions/implications
            Cultural responses (film, novel, theatre, song, bande dessinée etc.)
            Intellectual reactions and interventions          
 
 
3.      The international perspective
            We would welcome proposals in the following areas:
                        The crisis and development from a French perspective
                        The crisis and French Exceptionalism
                        France, Europe and the crisis
                        The French role in broader international responses to the crisis
 
4. Histories, bilans
            We would welcome proposals in the following areas:
                        The ‘bilan’ of the neo-liberal years: patterns, changes, resistances
                        The crisis and the legacy of 1968
                        The crisis and the 1930s
                        The crisis of the 1970s 
 
 
In line with the ASMCF’s interdisciplinary approach, this three day conference will welcome papers from a wide variety of disciplines including international relations, history, geography, politics, economics, sociology and religious, gender, literary, cultural, film and media studies. We welcome both proposals for individual papers (300 words max.) and for panels, which should consist of three presenters and a named chairperson. Papers may be delivered in English or French. The total time for one paper is 20 minutes both for presentations in panels as well as for individual presentations. Postgraduates students are strongly encouraged to present papers. 
 
Postgraduate Poster Session: Postgraduates in the early stage of their research are invited to present their work at the conference Poster Session. The Poster Session aims to enable postgraduate students to participate in the conference programme, receive feedback from specialists in an informal and friendly setting and to prepare them for presenting papers at future conferences. If you require further information about presenting a poster at the ASMCF annual conference, please contact the ASMCF postgraduate representative, Lindsey Dodd (l.a.dodd AT reading.ac.uk).
 
Proposals for papers and panels (with contact details) should be sent to Martin.O’Shaughnessy ( martin.oshaughnessy AT ntu.ac.uk) or Chris Reynolds (chris.reynolds AT ntu.ac.uk) by 1 February 2010.