ACLA 2008: With or against the flow

ACLA 2008: join one of the seminars!

With or against the flow: Conversation and movement.

This panel examines the way in which the social spaces of conversation that have characterized our social, cultural and political history and their representations have always depended on the phenomenon of movement. For not only do the salon, the cafe, and other such social groups allow for a great number of arrivals and departures from people with different nationalities, they are also the archetypal space for a collectivity of language based on the traveling of words and ideas.

Referring to the many historical accounts and representations by people who associated themselves with the social spaces such as the salon as well as the various theories concerning inter-individuality, this panel will question the significance of movement for the European social spaces. We particularly welcome comparative papers that focus on the workings of sociality and its influence on culture and politics.

We welcome papers that address:

• foreign influences in social spaces (arrivals/departures)
• the exchange of ideas and their political impact
• gender and conversation
• the structure and significance of group conversation
• the representations of collectivity of language

Please submit proposals to http://www.acla.org/acla2008/ by November 15.