[artinfo] Prague School & "Frontiers of Theory" Colloquium, October 2007

[Louis Armand]

CONFERENCE: "THE PRAGUE SCHOOL AND THEORIES OF STRUCTURE"
Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts,
Charles University, Prague 18-21 October 2007

Call for Papers

The theme of the conference goes back to the structural concept of the
language system developed by the Prague School. The papers are
expected:
1. to reassess the theoretical work of Prague structuralists
(especially Bohumil Trnka and René Wellek) and its relevance for
contemporary research, and;

2. to discuss transformations of structuralist approaches in recent and
contemporary theories of structures and systems, characterized by the
movement away from the models of homogeneous, hierarchized and
centralized structures to concepts of structurality based on
dehierarchized assemblages, transversal relations and dynamic semantic
situations (Einstein, Dewey, Bateson, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Deleuze,
etc.).
The conference will have two sections and will conclude with the first
annual Prague colloquium on "Frontiers of Theory: Technicity, Art and
the New Media" (Saturday 20 October 2007):

*Section 1: Theories of Structure and their Transformations
Suggested problem areas:
1. Prague Structuralism in relation to other structuralist and
formalist trends (Saussure, Peirce, New Criticism, cultural semiotics,
etc.)
2. The legacy of the Prague School and later theories of structures and
systems
3. Structuralist theories and methodologies in sciences and humanities

*Section 2: Prague Structuralism and Language Systems
Suggested Problem Areas:
1. The structural concept of the language system in contemporary
descriptions of English and its historical development
2. Interfacial aspects of the highest language level

*Frontiers of Theory: Technicity, Art and the New Media
Suggested Focus Areas:
1. Contemporary theories of technicity in relation to semiotics,
structuralism, cybernetics and deconstruction. How does "techhnicity"
make possible a new understanding of language systems in the
technosciences and the life sciences?
2. Technicity and contemporary culture, media and aesthetics (new
media, the internet, digitalisation, real-time communication and
transmission)?


Please send an abstract for a 30 minute paper (3000 words maximum) with
your contact details via e-mail by 1 March 2007 to:
Prof. Dr. Martin Procházka (Section 1): martin.prochazka @ ff.cuni.cz
Doc. Dr. Jan Cermák (Section 2): jan.cermak @ ff.cuni.cz.
Questions concerning the colloquium on "Frontiers of Theory:
Technicity, Art and the New Media" should be addressed to Dr. Louis
Armand: info @ litterariapragensia.com.
Papers will be selected by  a conference committee and the speakers
will be notified by 30 April 2007 and mailed a registration form and
futher information.
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Director of Intercultural Studies (ICS)
Department of English & American Studies,
Philosophy Faculty, Charles University,
Nam. J. Palacha 2, 116 38 Praha 1, Czech Republic.
Tel.: (+420) 221 619 279 Fax: (+420) 221 619 382
www.louis-armand.com
www.litteriapragensia.com