[spectre] CALL FOR PAPERS, Centre for Cultural Studies Conference @ Goldsmiths

[Sukanya Deb]

*Against the Slow Cancellation of the Future*



15th-16th June 2017

*Goldsmiths, University of London*

New Cross, SE14 6NW London





*- Call for Papers -*

***Deadline: 15th May***



*The long dark night of the end of history has to be grasped as an enormous
opportunity (…). In a situation in which nothing can happen, suddenly
anything is possible.*

– Mark Fisher




*Keynote speakers*: Nina Power (Philosophy, Roehampton University), Dilar
Dirik (Sociology, Cambridge), Matthew Fuller (CCS, Goldsmiths), Shela
Sheikh (CCS, Goldsmiths)




This anti-disciplinary conference is organized by the MA students of the
Centre for Cultural Studies (CCS), Goldsmiths, University of London. This
will be the last conference of the CCS as it now exists since in the
upcoming academic year it will be dissolved.



It seems at once obvious and naïve that we look to the future when
considering the transformation of society as a project in which we
ourselves take part. Though the questioning of the unbridled futurity of
modernism is undoubtedly important, we now find ourselves at a point in
which forward-looking, transformative or utopian projects are increasingly
hard to even imagine.



Our frame of reference is Franco “Bifo” Berardi’s “slow cancellation of the
future”, which we in the same breath proclaim our opposition to. Mark
Fisher reminds us that its meaning “is not only that sense of termination,
but [also] the gradual nature of it”; the future not having been
unashamedly ripped from our grasp, but rather stolen away silently, piece
by piece.



We are not so presumptuous as to declare the slow cancellation of the
future a completed process. Indeed it is perhaps in the very moment at
which we accept the definitive conclusion of this project – thus admitting
it ourselves – that the future truly ceases to exist. And this is precisely
why we meet: to discuss what we might do as activists, thinkers, groups and
initiatives, against the slow cancellation of the future.



We welcome papers within but not limited to areas such as:
decolonial/postcolonial/indigenous studies and practices, migration and
sovereignty, ecofeminisms, (mental) health and capitalism, critique and the
future of cultural studies, biopolitics and beyond, and the crisis of
neoliberalism.



Proposals for papers and other forms of contribution should be
submitted by *15th
May* by email to: *ccsconference2017 at outlook.com
<ccsconference2017 at outlook.com>*





They will be organized into the following panels:



·       *Confiscated Futures* – How and why are we here, and which
processes and forces have created the predicament that we are seeking to
problematize?



·       *Futures of the Past* – How has the idea of the future been
deployed up until now, what are its pitfalls and possibilities, and how are
we to relate to struggles past?



·       *The Worst of All Possible Futures* – As apocalyptic thinking
abounds, what are those relations which underlie this, and which dangers
already present threaten to rethink the future as dystopian reality?



·       *Alternative Futures* – How is the future to be reclaimed,
reimagined, wrested back from its seeming disappearance, without repeating
well-trodden ground and failed strategies?





We welcome classic conference papers as well as proposals for workshops,
performances and film screenings. Your proposal should include a 300-word
proposal of your topic and the form it will take, as well as a short
biography of no more that 200 words.



Though we believe that people should be remunerated for their time and
travel, we are in the unfortunate position of having very limited funds for
this conference, and are therefore generally unable to provide this. In
case you are not living in London and are unable to provide travel and/or
lodging, please contact us through the email above and we will see what is
possible with our resources.




___________________________________________________________

CCS Conference

Against the Slow Cancellation of the Future
15 - 16 June 2017

Goldsmiths, University of London

ccsconference2017 at outlook.com
https://www.facebook.com/CCSconference2017/
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