Call for Papers - Creative Counter-Memorializations: A Symposium/Gathering

Lucy Boyd Announcement
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
Subject Fields
Colonial and Post-Colonial History / Studies, Fine Arts, Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, Indigenous Studies, Public History

Creative Counter-Memorializations: A Symposium/Gathering

Call for Submissions

 

Submission Deadline: February 1st, 2022

Symposium Dates: 24-27 November, 2022 

Can memory-making be a conversation rather than a ‘self’-assertion? A way of contesting dominant histories? How can collective acts of memorialization include underrepresented and marginalized different voices?

The Counter-Memory Activism research cluster (CMA) invites artists, activists, scholars, and museologists to participate in Creative Counter-Memorializations: A Symposium/Gathering. The event will take place in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia), blending virtual and in-person presentations. We are seeking both artistic and regular and alternative scholarly responses to difficult and contested histories. The symposium is open to all forms of stories and modes of expression that challenge dominant national narratives and traditional institutional conventions, especially those that engage with legacies of settler-colonialism. Submissions may explore, but are not limited to, the following:

––Memory activism and difficult heritage

––Critical commemoration and counter-monumentality 

––Critical curation, horizontal museology, and pedagogies of witnessing

––Alternative cartographies

––Research-creation and counter-memory

All events will be free and open to the public. Those living and working in Mi’kma’ki and Turtle Island are especially encouraged to submit. Please visit our website for more details.   

 

About Counter-Memory Activism:

CMA (https://www.countermemoryactivism.ca) began as a partnership between researchers at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the University of King’s College and is now a SSHRC-funded interdisciplinary cluster. The project is based in Kjipuktuk, Mi'kma'ki, on the unceded ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq people.

Submission Process: 

In order to encourage a diverse group of applicants across backgrounds and disciplines, we are extending a call for presentations in addition to papers. Presentations may be in a variety of media, including visual and literary art, film, or performance. In order to be considered, applicants are asked to submit a proposal for their work. Proposals should be 250-500 words long and indicate which category they wish to be considered for (below):

Artist Talks: A presentation of your work as a visual artist, practitioner, performer, etc.

Short Film and Video: Screening of a short film, video, or other audio-visual material. The screening may be followed by a Q&A with moderators and audience members.

Performance or Performance-Lecture: Live or pre-recorded performances or presentations. These may be followed by a period of exchange with moderators and audience members.

Papers: Presentation of academic and/or scholarly work. We welcome submissions from independent researchers and those unaffiliated with formal education institutions, and encourage all presenters to deliver talks that are accessible to a broad audience (for instance, using appropriate, comprehensible language).  

Panels: Panels consist of a Panel Chair and 3+ Panelists brought together to present their work individually under a common theme, followed by a discussion. It is understood that the form will be filled out by the Panel Chair, so include confirmed and/or tentative Panelists in your submission. Panels will be allotted approximately an hour of time: please indicate if you expect to require more time.

Workshops: Interactive sessions that involve teaching, learning, and exchange between the Workshop Facilitator(s) and participants. In your submission, please indicate how the workshop will be facilitated. Workshops will be allotted approximately an hour of time: please indicate if you expect to require more or less time.

Other Works: Presentation of other work such as poetry, storytelling, song, narrative-based works, and formats that cannot be captured in the above categories. You can propose the presentation of completed work, in-progress work, or new work.

 

Paper abstracts and other presentation proposals should be submitted via this Google Form. This document has been created as a downloadable version of the Google Form. Google Forms does not allow you to save your progress, so you can use the document to plan your submission before entering the information into the Google Form for submission. We will also accept proposals via phone, video, or audio file. Please get in touch via email to make arrangements for a 10-15 minute interview. The conversation will be recorded and shared with the Organizing Committee via video or transcription. We also welcome you to reach out to us using alternate forms of communication, including Facebook Messenger and by phone (by request).


There is no cost to apply. All artists presenting work will be compensated according to the 2022 CARFAC rates. Students, independent researchers, and those who are precariously employed are also invited to indicate if they would like to be considered for a maximum travel bursary of $500.00 CAD (subject to change). Successful applicants will be notified no later than March 1st, 2022. 

Contact Information

Lucy Boyd, research assistant, Counter Memory Activism Research Cluster (University of King's College, Halifax)

Contact Email
countermemoryactivism@gmail.com