CALL FOR PAPERS: Cultures of Evil and the Attractions of Villainy

Keynote Speakers: Agnes Heller (New School), Geoffrey Bennington (Emory), Alberto Moreiras (Duke) Special Guest: Edmundo Desnoes (Author and Screenwriter)

In the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, the arrest of General Pinochet, the various indictments of Henry Kissinger, the Iraqi war, and torture, a new internationalized panorama of critique has emerged that reassesses previous assumptions concerning political ethics. This conference takes up a central issue of today's post-Cold War world--that of evil--and explores the refiguration of the traditional villain.

As globalization has broadened cultural horizons, scholarly research has sought to address these new complexities with interdisciplinary approaches, which this conference aims to encompass.

We welcome proposals for papers and panels on topics that might include (but are not limited to) the following: Postnational Justice, The Villain in Literature, Post-Derridian ethics, Representations of law in film and literature, Globalization and culture, Politics of Performativity, Third World Cinema, Cuba, New imperialisms, perception of evil in shaping acts of war and terror, etc.

Please send one-page abstracts for twenty-minute papers to the conference organizers at the following e-mail address: CulturesofEvil@earthlink.net