An International Conference organized by the Tunisian Association for English Language Studies (TAELS) 25-26 November, 2016
Venue: Menara Hotel***, Hammamet – Tunisia
The number of international migrants and internally displaced people has soared in the last few years because of major political and social upheavals in various parts of the world. From Africa, the Middle East, Burma to the Americas and the Caribbean, huge waves of migrants put their lives at risk trying to reach the shores of “a promised land”. This new international movement has contributed to the emergence of new discourses on migration and mobility.
The growing presence of these discourses on the radar of cultural, literary and media studies articulates the need to examine, evaluate and reassess dominant discourses in favour of thresholds and contact zones. The interdisciplinary theme this conference addresses is meant to bring under scrutiny the multi-dimensional aspect of migration and mobility in a globalised world dominated by trans-national movement and cross-border mobility. The conference will build upon the initial power and intensity of recent scholarship to further explore the politics and poetics of migration and mobility as represented in literary works as well as with regard to other discourses and academic fields.
Locating migration and mobility at the cross-roads between literary, cultural and media studies, this conference offers a vibrant research platform for scholars from different areas of study to provide critical input on the versatile patterns of migration and mobility. However, as migration and mobility could offer gateways of hope, they could possibly entail piercing traumatic experiences. Our understanding of migration and mobility trespasses the cartographic mapping (i.e. physical and geographical dimensions) to address aesthetic, conceptual and discursive representations. Seeking a connection between cultural identities, political sensitivities and comparative studies, this two-day conference prospects to lay the foundations for a constructive dialogue covering a multiplicity of migration-related issues.
The steering committee welcomes proposals related, but not limited, to the following topics:
- Cross-border mobility
- Types of migration
- Immigration and Globalization
- Migration and development
- Borders and migration policies
- Asylum seekers and refugee crisis
- Travel narratives
- Socio-cultural mobility
- Media Studies and mobility
- Media coverage of migratory experiences
- Literary representations of diasporic experiences
- Transnational identities
- Migration, exile and liminality
- Laws of migration
- Refugees Agencies and humanitarian law
Submission
Participants are invited to send a 250-word abstract for a 20-minute presentation and a short biographical note to: submissions@taels.org no later than May 31st, 2016. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by June 15th, 2016.
We accept abstracts and papers written in English, Arabic and French.
TAELS editorial board will select a number of papers that will be published after peer-reviewing in a collective volume on the proceedings of the conference.
Participation fees
Presenters of accepted papers will be required to pay a participation fee of 150 TND ($150 for International participants) at the start of the conference. The amount will cover:
- An annual membership in TAELS
- Conference materials
- Two copies of the conference proceedings after publication
- Two-day stay at the Menara Hotel***
- Breakfast, lunch, and coffee breaks on the two days of the conference
For partners accompanying participants, an additional fee of 100 TND ($100 for International speakers) will be required to cover the two-day stay at the hotel. For Tunisian M.A and PH. D students, participation fees have been reduced to 100 TND to cover all benefits listed above.
For advice and more details about transportation, please send your requests to contact@taels.org. TAELS team will be happy to assist in making your stay most comfortable.