Appel à communication : Obession and addiction

CALL FOR PAPERS

OBSESSION AND ADDICTION

An International Cultural Intersections Symposium

Kingston University, UK

9 - 11 July 2008

Is obsession all-consuming passion or pathological deviance?

Is addiction a compulsion or a choice, an irresistible lust for pleasure

or a chronic self-destructive disease? What is the relationship between

obsession, addiction and the arts?

This international interdisciplinary conference on Obsession and Addiction

aims to invite debate on representations of the emotional,

psychological and physiological states of obsession and addiction,

their causes and their consequences.

Are obsession and addiction demonised, glamorised, ridiculed or normalised?

How are readers and audiences disturbed, grabbed or ‘hooked’ as consumers?

How are obsession and addiction linked to the creative process?

We welcome proposals on Fin de Siècle, 20^th and 21^st century depictions of obsession and addiction from a range of critical perspectives, and across a range of countries and cultures, both in the mainstream and in the fringe/underground. Panels will be grouped around shared interests or themes in the fields of art & design, drama, film & media, linguistics, literature and music. Topics will include but are not limited to:

· Images of obsession and addiction: from the margins to the mainstream

· The politics of representing obsession and addiction

· Theorising obsession and addiction

· Sex, gender and ‘race’ in relation to representations of obsession and

addiction

· Obsession and addiction in relation to artists and audiences

Proposals in English (of no more than 250 words) should be submitted online via the following page: http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/conferences/apply/index.shtml

by 14^th December 2007

Enquiries to: fass-conferences@kingston.ac.uk

Organisers: Dr. Andrea Rinke and Dr. Carrie Tarr