CfP. Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century
Type: Conference
Date: April 1, 2016
Location: United Kingdom
Subject Fields: Anthropology, Political Science, Psychology, Social Sciences, Sociology
Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century
3rd Global Meeting
The Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century Project
Call for Papers and Presentations
Monday 19th September – Wednesday 21st September 2016
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom
In
2015, the Charlie Hebdo murders in January, the Nepal earthquakes in
March and April, the ISIL-led terrorist attacks in Paris and the
shootdown of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey in November, alongside the
overwhelming civilian exodus from the conflict zones in Asia to the
countries of the European Union hit the headlines around the world,
making its citizens terrified, alarmed and upset. This
inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary conference seeks to explore
the issues which lie at the interface of fears and anxieties which form
the horizon of the uncertain world wherein we live and work, constantly
disturbed by an atmosphere of concerns, alternatively fuelled by media
reports and our private nightmares.
Some of the
Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century are nurtured by real events,
whilst others are rooted in imaginary phenomena. The project will focus
on contexts in which fears and anxieties are relevant: issues pertaining
to literature, media, psychology, sociology, political studies, ethics,
religion, arts, literature etc. but also on contexts such as the
economy, the healthcare or the standard of living, which are often the
cradle of fears and anxieties. People live interdisciplinary lives,
challenged by contemporary problems and narratives which lie at the
heart of scary stories. In order to recognize and, subsequently,
understand modern anxieties, we invite academics and professionals,
practitioners, business and NGO, vocational and volunteer workers,
engaged in their own areas of activity, to share with us their insights,
skills and experiences.
During the global
interdisciplinary encounter, we intend to learn from each other,
discovering together what is happening at the interface of fears and
anxieties in the 21st century, pushing together the boundaries of
knowledge and building pathways to a genuinely global understanding of
these complex emotions within the fragile fabric of contemporary world.
Inter- and trans-disciplinary presentations, papers, reports, case
studies, works-in-progress, cultural comparisons, narratives, workshops
are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:
1. Anxieties and Phobias in the 21st Century
- fear of depression, neurosis, schizophrenia;
- fear of panic disorders; fear of mental illness; fear of insanity
- fear of addictions (alcoholism, drugs, work, the Internet)
- chronic stress in everyday life of 21st century;
- new mental diseases in the Internet Age;
- professions dealing with anxieties and phobias, psychotherapy and support;
- creating, experiencing, depicting mental health fears;
- representations of mental health fears.
2. Physical Health Fears
- fear of pandemics (Ebola, SARS, the flu);
- fear of newly emerging diseases, microbes, viruses etc.;
- diseases of affluence, diseases of poverty;
- fear of disabilities caused by illness or accidents; fear of pain and suffering;
- health fears in the Internet Age (cyberchondria, self-diagnosing, Dr Google);
- professions dealing with health fears;
- creating, experiencing, depicting health fears;
- representations of health fears.
3. FEAR of EXODUS
– fear of immigrants
– fear of cultural changes
– fear of cultural domination and loss of identity
4. Cyber security and Internet safety fears
– Internet Addiction Disorder and cyber-related disorders
– cyber-relationship addiction,
– compulsive social networking, texting, sexting,
– online gambling, gaming, compulsive Internet shopping, other net compulsions
– dangers of ‘sharing’ personal information,
– online performance; digital narcissism; selfie generation
– Dr Google’ and its patients: cyberchondria; dangers of self-diagnosing
– online relationships and love-affairs: catfish, false identity and online romance
– stalking and syberstalking
- grooming and sexual abuse
- hate speech, flaming and trolling
- cyberbullying: cyber predators, their victims and bystanders
5. Civil Society Fears
- fear of crime and violence; criminal groups; bystander effect and social insensitivity;
- fear of social pathologies; rat race in the 21st Century;
- fear of social exclusion; demographic crisis and its consequences;
- fear of adolescents, school-shootings; paedophilia, home violence etc.;
- fear of Others; fear of minorities and majorities;
- professions dealing with civil society fears;
- representations of civil society fears.
6. Eco and environmental fears
- fear of natural disasters and weather-related disasters;
- fear of climate change and global warming;
- fear of man-made disasters and transport disasters;
- fear of environment pollution; poisoned food and drink etc.;
- professions dealing with eco and environmental fears;
- creating, experiencing, reporting, representing eco and environmental fears.
7. Economic fears
- fear of unemployment and of labour-related migration;
- fear of financial crises, inflation, price rise, cutting wages etc.;
- professions dealing with economic fears;
- creating, experiencing, reporting economic fears.
8. Political Fears
– fear of terrorism,
– fear of nationalism, jingoism, xenophobia;
- fear of military conflicts; fear and trauma of genocide;
- fear of bioterrorism and of the use of chemical weapons;
- fear of neighbouring countries; fear of politicians;
- fear in post-communist countries;
- professions dealing with political fears;
- creating, experiencing, reporting, representing political fears.
9. Existential and religious fears
- fear of atheism; fear of fundamentalism;
- millenarian fears;
- professions dealing with existential and religious fears.
10. Aesthetic and literary fears
- fear in visual arts (painting, sculpture, photography, cinema);
- fear in performing arts;
- fear in literature.
And many other fears not mentioned above…
Call for Cross-Over Presentations
The
Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century project will be meeting at the
same time as a project on The Animal and Human Bond. We welcome
submissions which cross the divide between both project areas. If you
would like to be considered for a cross project session, please mark
your submission “Crossover Submission”.
Further details and information can be found at the conference website:
Details of our review policy can be found here:
What to Send
300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by Friday 1st April 2016.
All
submissions be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind)
conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Team and
the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by
the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple
reviewed.
You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday 15th April 2016.
If
your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your
contribution should be submitted by Friday 5th August 2016.
Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:
a)
author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme,
c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10
keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century Submission
Where to Send
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs:
Magdalena Hodalska and Catalin Ghita: mandc@inter-disciplinary.net
Rob Fisher: fa3@inter-disciplinary.net
This
event is an inclusive interdisciplinary research and publishing
project. It aims to bring together people from different areas and
interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are
innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for
and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible
for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for
publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the
conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates
from the conference.
Ethos
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to
your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration
of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not
submit an abstract for presentation. Please note:
Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a
position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
Contact Info:
Rob Fisher
Priory House
149B Wroslyn Road
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1993 882087
Fax: +44 (0)870 4601132
Contact Email: