[Reader-list] Call for Papers: Conference on Violence in Austria

[Chandni Parekh]

http://groups.google.com/group/options-unlimited/browse_thread/thread/f4048ddb1017e205?hl=en

Excerpts:

On this multi- and inter-disciplinary basis we aim to produce an evolving
body of thought as a contribution to the attempt to understand the nature
and place of violence in our lives.

The main themes for the 2010 conference are outlined below: however, we are
also pleased to receive proposals that extend or complement these.

1. What Counts as Violence and What’s Wrong with it?
~ Is violence best understood as necessarily physical?
~ If not - if, for example, 'mental violence' is not merely a metaphor -
then how might the concept be sufficiently restricted so as not to lose all
meaning?
~ Violence and force: physical force and the force of argument.
~ Violence and violation - of the person, of our identity, of our integrity;
of the environment?
~ Why is violence wrong? Is it always wrong?
~ What does the phenomenon of human violence tell us about the nature of
human social life? What does it imply about our understanding of ourselves
as 'rational animals'?

2. Contexts of Violence
~ Domestic violence; everyday violence
~ Offender groups and victim groups: how do these come to be configured?
~ Community violence: ethnicity and 'race'; nationalism; political violence;
religious violence
~ Institutional violence: the military - recruitment, conscription and
training; varieties of law enforcement; educational institutions; hospitals
and homes; the workplace
~ State violence - internal: the violence of punishment; economic violence?;
surveillance and repression; detention without trial
~ State violence - external: pre-emption; self-defence; 'humanitarian'
intervention; economic sanctions?
~ Violence for peace: resistance movements; human/animal rights 'extremism';
assassination and 'targeted killing'; 'collateral damage'

3. Explaining and Understanding Violence
~ Does violence require explanation? Are there forms of violence - eg
torture, genocide, extreme cruelty - that are beyond explanation?
~ What do different forms of explanation of violence - eg cultural,
historical, psychological, religious, social - explain; and how might they
be combined?
~ What are we doing when we try to understand the phenomenon of violence?
4. Representing Violence
~ How do representations of violence function in relation to acts of
violence?
~ 'Whose image is it?' Ethical issues around consent, violation and the
greater good in relation to making, exhibiting, publishing and curating
images of suffering
~ Humour in the context of violence: catharsis or insult?
~ The aesthetics of violence; aestheticisation, incongruity and integrity
~ Violence, heritage, tradition and the creation of (national) identity
~ Heroism and martyrdom: 'terrorism' and 'suicide' bombers (eg Japanese
pilots)