ECPS News and Events 2009

Eduardo de la Fuente on ABC Radio National’s Counterpoint program

2 February 2009

ECPS’ Eduardo de la Fuente discusses “Conservative sociology: what is it?” with Professor John Carroll and Dr Steven Thiele.

Three Australian academics discuss how society might be studied from a perspective that is not based on commitment to radical change. They also survey the impact that conservative theorists have had on the social sciences.

“But to go back to the question of whether sociology is taking over the humanities and the social sciences, I think perhaps what Peter Saunders might have had in mind was that a certain version of critical sociology may have been in the process of being imported into newer disciplines such as cultural studies, gender studies, race studies, postcolonial studies and a whole range of other new fields. I think that in some of these fields there probably is a pre-existing kind of commitment to trying to locate the locus of power and a kind of obsession with class, gender and race, as if they are the most meaningful frameworks through which to understand society or culture. So I think the problem might in fact be more acute in some of these newer disciplines rather than in sociology proper which, as John was pointing out, has a pedigree going back to the Greeks themselves.”

Call for Papers - time . transcendence . performance

Performers and artists understand time as an essential dimension of their medium. Many contemporary artists, foreground the temporal as a theme of their work. Movements, rhythms, bodies, sounds, objects, experiences, memories, dreams, imaginings and dwellings are recorded, performed and activated in their duration, moment, event and passing.

time . transcendence . performance brings together the expertise and experiences of scholars and artists in a format that permits the thinking and doing of time with an aim towards mutual elucidation. Drawing together papers, panels, diverse performance practices, exhibitions, installations, screenings and workshops, this transdisciplinary conference and inter-media event initiates a global discussion, investigation and critique of temporality in its performative, phenomenological and transcendental dimensions. The tangible consequences of this cross-fertilisation offers mutual promise for researchers, scholars and artists alike.

To begin this gathering and discussion, this conference invites presenters questioning and emphasising the taken for granted yet complex and mysterious phenomenon of time across discourses, disciplines and media. Deadline for submissions: Friday 6th March at 5:00pm (EST)

Inaugural Centre for Film and Television Studies Conference

B for BAD cinema: aesthetics, politics and cultural value

April 15–17, 2009

Over the past decade, paracinema – a movement that has grown up around sleazy, excessive, or poorly executed B-movies – has seen a counter-cultural valorisation of all forms of cinematic trash or ‘badfilm.’ In many internet and print sources devoted to the celebration of paracinema, the term B-movie has (in contrast to its earlier studio-era sense) come to mean almost anything: disreputable and unworthy movies, low-budget exploitation movies, straight to TV or video movies, and even big-budget studio movies. B for BAD cinema seeks to negotiate some of the (aesthetic and moral) values and judgements inscribed in a B-movie culture in which films are deemed to be good-because-bad or bad-because-good.

time . transcendence . performance

Performers and artists understand time as an essential dimension of their medium. Many contemporary artists, foreground the temporal as a theme of their work. Movements, rhythms, bodies, sounds, objects, experiences, memories, dreams, imaginings and dwellings are recorded, performed and activated in their duration, moment, event and passing.

time . transcendence . performance brings together the expertise and experiences of scholars and artists in a format that permits the thinking and doing of time with an aim towards mutual elucidation. Drawing together papers, panels, diverse performance practices, exhibitions, installations, screenings and workshops, this transdisciplinary conference and inter-media event initiates a global discussion, investigation and critique of temporality in its performative, phenomenological and transcendental dimensions. The tangible consequences of this cross-fertilisation offers mutual promise for researchers, scholars and artists alike.

To begin this gathering and discussion, this conference invites presenters questioning and emphasising the taken for granted yet complex and mysterious phenomenon of time across discourses, disciplines and media.