In the wake of the chaos on financial markets triggered by the global “credit crunch”, and amidst a range of other threats to the stability of our interconnected and interdependent world, the announcement of this timely and important conference has excited great interest amongst the international academic community. This is a final call for scholars who wish to participate in what will be a landmark event in debates over the cultural implications of globalization.

Literature, Art and Culture in an Age of Global Risk

An International, Interdisciplinary Conference

Cardiff University, UK
Thursday 2–Friday 3 July 2009

Keynote Speakers:
Prof. Imre Szemán (McMaster University, Canada)
Dr Charlie Gere (Lancaster University, UK)

What are the cultural implications of living under conditions of global, manufactured risk?

From volatile and densely interconnected financial markets to nuclear proliferation; from unsustainable consumption of natural resources to pollution of the ecosphere; and from computer viruses to bioweaponry, the past century has witnessed the emergence of an array of phenomena that pose a threat of planetary upheaval. This conference will explore how writers, artists, filmmakers, dramatists, philosophers, and critical and cultural theorists have responded to the prospect and reality of global crisis.

Please see the conference web site for full-length CFP: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/encap/newsandevents/events/conferences/globalrisk.html

Please send 250-word abstracts for 20-minute papers to the organizer, Dr Paul Crosthwaite, at globalrisk@cardiff.ac.uk by Monday 9 February 2009. Proposals for three-person panels are also welcome; please send a brief description of the panel along with abstracts for the individual papers.