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digest 2006-11-14 #001.txt

litsci-l Digest Tue, 14 Nov 2006

Table of contents:

1. CFP: Defining the Human in Posthuman Criticism (11/20/06; CSA,
4/19/07-4/21/07) - Michael Filas 


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Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:51:42 -0500
From: Michael Filas 
Subject: CFP: Defining the Human in Posthuman Criticism (11/20/06; CSA,
4/19/07-4/21/07)

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Seminar:  Defining the Human in Posthuman Criticism

The Technology division of CSA invites participants to a seminar on  
defining the human in posthuman criticism. For those working in  
cyborg studies, for those exploring the notion of identity in techno- 
mediated environments, the definition of human becomes a troublesome  
focal point that must be dealt with. Postmodern theory has created a  
critical environment in which any claim to some indispensable aspect  
of the human, be it embodiment or political subjectivity, is received  
only through the filters of a post liberal humanist perspective. Yet,  
the need for a human-technology binary is often a requisite  
ontological concept when scholars undertake any examination of	
humanity in posthuman contexts. Our seminar will explore the  
challenge, and methodology, of defining the human-technology binary  
through multiple critical praxes. Some recent reflections on this  
issue are available in the following articles, which are available  
online in full text as noted:

Jameson, Fredric. The End of Temporality. Critical Inquiry 29 (Summer  
2003). (Academic Search Premier and Elite)

Lenoir, Tim. Writing the Body into the Posthuman Technoscape, Part One:
Embracing the Posthuman.  Configurations 10 (Spring 2002). (Project  
Muse)

Participants should have read one of the preceding texts in  
preparation for the seminar. Our seminar conversation will explore  
our individual methods and conclusions, as well as how the  
theoretical community has addressed this issue, and what implications  
reside in our choices.

Interested participants are asked to submit by Nov. 20 a 2-3 page  
abstract, via email to both mfilas@wsc.ma.edu and  
radhika@cyberdiva.org, explaining how they have dealt with or  
examined this issue in their own work. Please be sure to include your  
name, email address, phone number, and institutional and department  
affiliation.

Technology Division Co-Chairs

Radhika Gajjala
Associate Professor
Department of Interpersonal Communication
School of Communication Studies
Bowling Green State University
radhika@cyberdiva.org 

Michael Filas
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Westfield State College
mfilas@wsc.ma.edu 
413-572-5683

Radhika Gajjala is Associate Professor in the School of Communication  
Studies at Bowling Green State University, and the author of  
"Cyberselves: Feminist Ethnographies of South Asian Women" (Altamira,  
2004).

Michael Filas is assistant professor of English at Westfield State  
College in Massachusetts. In 2001 he received his Ph.D. in American  
literature and culture from University of Washington. He frequently  
teaches courses in cyborg identities and draws on work done in his  
doctoral dissertation, "Cyborg Subjectivity." He has published	
related work in The Information Society, Journal of Experimental  
Fiction, Fiction International, Left Curve, Paradoxa, and the  
Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies.

About the Cultural Studies Association:

The Fifth Annual Meeting of the CSA provides a forum for scholars,  
students, and other persons interested in Cultural Studies in all its  
diverse manifestations to exchange their work and ideas across	
disciplinary lines and institutional locations.

This year???s conference will be held in downtown Portland, Oregon at  
University Place, a conference site managed by Portland State  
University.

The conference will feature plenaries on post 9/11 America and the  
World; Asia, the Pacific Rim, and Capitalism; and Ethics and the  
Environment. The first of these will be a free and public event held  
on the PSU campus.

For more information, go to http://www.csaus.pitt.edu/frame_home.htm 

???

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End of litsci-l Digest Tue, 14 Nov 2006
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