ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Dr. Monika Kopytowska
Prof. Dr. Piotr Cap
John Crust, M.A.

CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION
£σdŸ was a unique multicultural experiment, one of the most culturally-mixed cosmopolitan centers in 19th-century and pre-war Europe. It is fitting that a conference focusing on issues of race and religion, among other realms of multiculturalism, should be held in £σdŸ, which was the second largest Yiddish center in Europe (and the third in the world), a Polish city with also a unique German heritage, a place with a fascinating African-American historical connection. This inter-disciplinary conference intends to explore the many issues – past, present and future – that surround our notion of race and religion, along with its representation in the media and the arts.

The conference will be a forum to address such issues as:
• linguistic representation as socially constituted and constitutive
• media and representation
• images and representation
• collective memories and linguistic representation
• ideologies of power in the media
• racial stereotypes in the media
• language as a tool of racial discrimination
• rhetoric of anti-Semitism, anti-Islamism and xenophobia
• race and propaganda
• metaphor and racial representation
• religion and the media
• religious images and concepts in contemporary culture
• spoken and written forms of sacred texts
• performativity and religious discourse
• metaphor and religion
• myths, archetypes and symbols
• language and conflict
• ethnic conflicts and representation in the media
• language and identity
• Jews and Polish-Jewish relations in art, media and literature
• Christianity in art, media and literature
• Islam and the Middle East in art, media and literature
• African culture(s) in art, media and literature
• Asian culture(s) in art, media and literature
• Gypsy culture(s) in art, media and literature
• Yiddish language and culture
• new and changing Polish identities
• £σdŸ and its cross-cultural challenges
NB: The list of topics is NOT exhaustive.

ABSTRACTS

The conference language will be English and Polish. Presentations will consist of 20-minute slots, followed by a 10-minute discussion time. Participants intending to give a paper are requested to e-mail an abstract of about 200-300 words to both of the following addresses: mkopytowska@yahoo.com and johncrust@yahoo.com. The abstract should include the participant’s name, academic position, affiliation, e-mail address and postal address. The deadline for abstracts is December 31, 2008. Notification of acceptance will be sent by January 15, 2009. Participants without a paper are asked to e-mail their name and academic affiliation only. A peer-reviewed selection of conference papers will be published with an international publisher.