Call for Papers: 

Aids in Cultre IV:

Explorations in the Cultural History of AIDS

International Conference

México City, 9 - 13 December 2007

Focus for the 4th edition of the conference cycle "Aids in Culture: Explorations in the Cultural History of Aids:

Aids and Otherness and Aids in Narratives of Identities

Deadline for abstract Submissions: August 15, 2007

Conference Languages: English, Castilian, German, French and Nahuatl

versión en español

AIDS is not simply an illness or a biomedical phenomenon. The conference cycle „AIDS in Culture“ organised by Enkidu Magazine in Mexico City and the International Society for Cultural History and Cultural Studies (CHiCS) in cooperation with CENSIDA (The National Mexican AIDS Council) and CNDH (The National Human Rights Commission in Mexico) seeks to examine cultural responses to AIDS in different cultures and societies across a wide range of perspectives. The conference will explore the processes by which AIDS is constructed as a cultural phenomenon and how different societies in their encounters with AIDS attempt to create meaning in health, illness and disease. The conference aims at bringing together academics working in all relevant disciplines as well as activists, artists and other professionals, and promoting innovative multidisciplinary and multicultural exchange and dialogue.

AIDS in Culture has already developed into an annual tradition and will be organised for the fourth time in 2007 in Mexico City. In 2004 Aids in Culture took place in the National Center for Human Rights (CNDH) in Mexico City and had artistic and aesthetic responses to AIDS/HIV as a special focus. The Artist of the Conference was Rolando de la Rosa -Mexican sculptor and painter-. In 2005 AIDS in Culture II was held in the Archivo Histórico Santamaría in the city of Papantla in the Mexican Federal State of Veracruz. The second edition of the conference cycle had Indigenous knowledge and conceptions of AIDS in Latin America, Africa and New Guinea as its core theme. The Artist of the Conference was Morgan Alexander -American photo-ethnographer-. 

In 2006 AIDS in Culture III returned to Mexico City. The conference was organised in a large number of special thematic sessions covering a diverse series of topics extending from „The History of AIDS Activism“, "Representations of Aids in Literature", "Aids in Education" to "The Politics of Aids and Aids in Politics" and "Perceptions of Aids in Lesbian Sub-Cultures in Mexico". The artist of the conference was Arturo Ramirez Juárez, Mexican painter, who died of AIDS in 1987. 

This year the conference will have a special focus on Aids and Otherness and Aids in narratives of identities. Papers addressing related issues as well as translations between cultures and re-negotiations and re-constructions of cultural identities in one one way or another in relation to AIDS and HIV are particularly welcome. However, also in 2007 the conference will follow a similar model as in the previous year with several different thematic sessions addressing several different issues. Papers are welcomed on virtually all related topics and themes, independently of time, period and space, as well as interdisciplinary perspectives. Also papers of comparative phenomena will be considered.  

Among the themes of interest are the following:

• AIDS and Cultural Texts: Power and Representation.

• Representations of AIDS in art, movies, music, poetry, religion and literature from the 1980s until today.

• Silences and taboos in discourses on HIV/AIDS.

• Aesthetic responses to the challenge. Rituals, customs, and fetishism.

• Cultural practices that influence the spread of HIV/AIDS

• AIDS and collective and individual identities: Race, Class, Gender etc

• AIDS and Politics, Lobbying and Activism: Power, Representation and Activism.

• Constructions and reconstructions of AIDS in political, faith and ideology based discourse, legal issues and policy making throughout the world: Who has the authority to speak and who is silenced?

• AIDS and theory: Cultural Studies, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Literary Studies and all related disciplines. How do we theorize and analyse experiences and the meaning of illness?

• The ‚significance’ of AIDS for individuals and communities; the cultural factors influencing our perceptions of health and illness experiences.

• AIDS and psychosocial affects and effects. Cultures of silence.

• Indigenous knowledge and responses to AIDS

• Stories and Histories about AIDS

• AIDS and Oral History

Papers will be considered on related themes and topics from a wide range of perspectives. Interdisciplinary perspectives are especially welcome since all these topics in themselves stretch across several disciplines: history, literary studies, linguistics, psychology, political sciences, pedagogy, ethnology, anthropology, sociology...

Graduate and postgraduate students are encouraged to attend and present papers. Selected papers from the conference will also this year be published in book form.

DISABLED PARTICIPANTS

We are pleased to announce that printed conference materials that will be distributed during the conference, also will be available in large print or Braille on request. If you require sign language interpretation during your session, or you would like to distribute handouts or other materials in Braille during your presentation, please indicate this in the registration form.

Registration Form for Participants with disabilities:

http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/chimalpahin/reg_form_disca.htm

Participants with disabilities are recommended to fill in this form if they require any special support or assistance during the event or during social and cultural activities before or during the conference.

PAPER AND PANEL PROPOSALS

500 word abstracts should be submitted to the organising committee in English, Castilian, German or French by 15, August 2007. The conference languages will be English and Castilian. Interpretations of the conference theme ranging from the predictable to the surprising are encouraged.

Papers should be of approximately 20 - 30 minutes duration (circa 8 - 10 pages). Other forms of presentation, for instance workshops, panel debates and poster sessions will be considered on request.

PROPOSALS FOR PANEL SESSIONS

Typically, a panel of academic papers should include 3 (maximum 4) speakers and 1 moderator (session chair). Each session will last for 2 hours allowing for 30 minutes for each speaker and a further 30 minutes for questions and discussion.

Proposers should submit:

(1)       Session title and a session intro (ca 100 words),

(2)       Paper titles,

(3)       Abstracts for each paper (500 words),

(4)       Short biography for each participant and the panel chair (ca 100-150 words),

(5)       Institutional affiliation and address for each participant,

(6)       Audio-visual and other technical requirements.

If you would like to propose a panel session, and want assistance in finding speakers and/or a session chair, we can publish a call for papers for your panel session on the conference web site and distribute it in our newsletter. If you have an idea for a thematic panel session and would like us to publish a call for papers on the conference website, please send us a proposal by e-mail to info@enkidumagazine.com

PROPOSALS FOR INDIVIDUAL PAPERS

Abstracts are to be submitted by 15th of August 2007, along with the presenter’s name, address, telephone, email, and institutional affiliation. It is recommended to use the form here:  http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/aidsinculture/registration_en.htm  when submitting an abstract. However, abstracts will also be accepted as e-mail attachments to info@enkidumagazine.com.

All correspondence for this conference will be conducted via email. You will be notified by the 15th of September 2007 whether your proposal has been accepted or rejected. Full conference papers should be submitted by the 1st of November 2006. Abstracts and summaries of the conference papers will be made available at the conference web page from August 2007.

Conference Overview A tentative Conference Program will be posted here: September 25, 2007  Final Conference Program with abstracts of the papers will be posted here: November 2, 2007 On-site registration on December 9, 2007: 09:00 - 11:00 Conference Opens on December 9, 2007 at 10:00  Welcome Dinner on December 9, 2007 at 20:00 Conference Events (to be announced later) Conference Closes on December 13, 2007 at 17:00 Conference Deadlines: Submission of abstracts: August 15, 2007 Submission of complete papers for consideration for publication: November 15, 2007 Conference Languages: English, Castilian and Nahuatl Abstracts will be accepted in: English, French, German, Castilian and Nahuatl Registration and Payment of registration fee: more information here Information for participants needing visa to enter Mexico: Citizens from a number of countries need a special approval from the Mexican Immigration Authority (Instituto Nacional de Migración), in order to be able to enter Mexico and participate in the conference. Things do take time in Mexico sometimes, and we recommend all participants who need visa to start the process as early as possible... [more information here]   For further information, please contact the organizing committee at:

Coordinador de Sida y Cultura III/  Conference Coordinator for Aids in Culture III: Dr. Lars Ivar Owesen-Lein Borge  Email: liowlb@enkidumagazine.com  Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main Enkidu Magazine, Mexico City

Aids in Culture III (Mexico City, 9 - 13 December 2006)

Aids in Culture II (Papantla,  9 - 12 December 2005)

  Aids in Culture I (Mexico City, 9 - 12 December 2004)