Centre for French and Francophone Cultural Studies
University of Leeds
Conference: War, Memory and Amnesia: Francophone perspectives on Lebanon
Hinsley Hall, Leeds (6-7 June 2013)
Call for Papers
Seeking to bring together academics across the disciplines and practitioners active in literature, film, photography and the plastic arts this conference will explore the emerging field of francophone discourses that work to commemorate, fictionalise or document the Lebanese civil war (1975–c.1991). The long years of war saw invasion, massacres, hostage taking and the unresolved disappearance of citizens as power was brokered according to perpetually shifting loyalties. An amnesty legislated in 1991 pardoned almost all activity undertaken in the name of this war but, instead of freeing up discourses of remembering, it seems that memories of the war were effectively silenced, forming a collective amnesia that was both politically and commercially expedient. In response, a number of aesthetic projects, frequently undertaken in partnership with civil-led community organisations, have challenged this amnesia and created new processes of remembering. We invite papers on francophone literature, theatre, film, music and the visual arts from or about Lebanon informed by thinking about trauma, memory, violence, performance, migration, transitional justice and identity.
Proposals of 250 words in English or French accompanied by a short biography to be sent to C.L.Launchbury@leeds.ac.uk by 11 January 2013.
Keynote sessions and speakers:
Genet à Chatila
Mme Leila Chahid (General Delegate of Palestine to the European Union)
Clare Finburgh (Essex)
Albert Dichy (IMEC, Caën)
Evelyne Accad, writer and activist
Performance events:
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (filmmakers)
Cynthia Zaven (artist and musician)
For any further information please do not hesitate to get in touch.