Theme: “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall” - Interdisciplinary Approaches to Reflections

Sponsored by the Classical and Modern Languages Graduate Forum
Wayne State University
Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Conference Date:
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Submission Deadline for Abstracts:
Friday, January 16, 2009

When contemplating ourselves in a mirror we are confronted with our physical appearance. Although the mirror doesn’t lie, it doesn’t show us the entire picture either. Often how we feel about our appearance is predicated on how we perceive ourselves, and how others perceive us. Metaphorically, mirrors are not just objects of vanity but help us gain perspective, which we otherwise are not in a position to see. A mirror can only reflect an image, our face, our hands, our smile: but how do we perceive our internal countenance, our values, our fears, our memories? What tools do we use to perceive less concrete things such as culture, history and gender? How does language reflect our individually and collectively perceived reality? How do our experiences color our vision?
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Abstracts for 20 minute papers are welcome, and might include but are not limited to the following topics:

* defining and perceiving gender, historical, national/ethnic, linguistic identity *ideal vs. real identity *the individual as a reflection of a larger community *the psychological self *perceptions of beauty and cultural aesthetics *translation *historical perceptions and modern realities *mirror/illusion imagery in literature *the arts of reflecting/portraying the individual in film and the visual arts *reflections of space and “other” realities *reflections of genre

Submission Criteria
1. Abstracts and papers must be in English.
2. Abstracts must not exceed 200 words.
3. Abstracts must contain the following information: name of presenter, affiliation and status, mailing address, e-mail address, title of paper.
4. Presentation time limit 20 minutes (8 page maximum).

For further information and submissions, contact Sasha Pákh-Kelly at alpakh@wayne.edu, or submit abstracts to http://www.linglist.org/confcustom/gsc7_wsu