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The Ends of Autonomy: Updated CFP outlining new arrangements for remote participation

*** Updated Call outlining new arrangements for remote participation ***

The Ends of Autonomy

The Past, Present and Future of Freedom

 

Call for Papers

 

Twin cross-disciplinary colloquia run out of Warwick University, UK (7-10 July 2020) and Monash University, Australia (15-16 December 2020) will explore the genealogy of ideas of freedom, autonomy, liberation and emancipation, current challenges to these values, and prospects for their future. Please note that, for obvious reasons, we have decided to run the July colloquium as a remote-only event, using the Zoom platform; please see the end of this Call, below, for further practical details.

http://bit.ly/theendsofautonomy

 

Keynote speakers

Louise Amoore (Warwick colloquium)

Peter Hallward (Warwick colloquium)

Mark Andrejevic (Monash colloquium)

Clive Hamilton (Monash colloquium)

 

Rationale

Ideas of autonomy and liberation are central to the self-understanding of modern individuals and societies. While some seek liberation from social oppression and injustice, others lay the emphasis on liberating the individual from big government and red tape. Policies and ideologies are commended or condemned on the basis of their emancipatory potential; wars and insurgencies alike are justified in the name of liberation; technology is marketed as a means of increasing our freedoms. The modern West finds its identity in having been liberated from a series of historical oppressions: subsistence living, slavery, racial segregation, the oppression of religious minorities, women, LGBTQI+ individuals and, increasingly, animals. All of these liberations shape the developing emancipation narrative of late modernity. Variations on this liberation narrative can be traced back through its liberal and Marxist inflections to the French and American Revolutions, to the scientific revolution and the English Civil War, to the Protestant Reformation, to the Christian idea of salvation, the Greek polity and the Hebrew exodus.

However, even as the modern emancipation narrative breaks new ground in movements such as #metoo, or for LGBTQI+ rights and animal liberation, ideals of autonomy and liberation face a series of acute, escalating and interrelated challenges:

 

Paper proposals

Proposals are welcomed for individual papers of 20 minutes, or for themed panels, in any discipline or combination of disciplines in which the problems and prospects of freedom, autonomy, liberation and emancipation can be traced, including (but not limited to) philosophy, politics, literary and film studies, sociology, information technology, economics, the arts and the biological and physical sciences. Proposals should include a title, abstract, your name, affiliation and contact information. For individual papers, please submit an abstract of 250-300 words, clearly outlining the argument and relevance of your paper to the colloquium’s concerns. For panel proposals, please submit a 200-word explanation of the relevance and coherence of the panel, as well as 250-300 word abstracts for each of its papers. Please also indicate at which of the two colloquia you would like to present. It is envisaged that a selection of papers from the two colloquia will appear in a collected volume with a major publisher. The July colloquium will focus especially on 1) the history of freedom, autonomy, emancipation and liberation, and 2) technology, AI, algorithms and freedom. The December colloquium will focus especially on 1) sustainability, climate and freedom, and 2) surveillance, extremism and freedom. However, each colloquium will also include a small number of presentations outside these areas. Presentations on issues related to COVID-19 are welcome at both colloquia.

 

Proposal deadlines

All proposals must be received by 15 May 2020 for the Warwick colloquium, and by 1 October 2020 for the Monash colloquium.

Send all submissions to theendsofautonomy@gmail.com

 

The July colloquium: a remote-only event

We will run this event remotely using Zoom over four days, for around three hours per day, to facilitate maximum global participation across time zones. We hope that this will be an opportunity to gather a truly global cohort of scholars, free from the financial and practical burden of travel. We therefore particularly welcome proposals from scholars in areas of the world usually under-represented in academic conferences. We anticipate that sessions will run 6-9am Melbourne time / 8-11pm UK time / 4-7pm US East Coast Time / 1-4pm Pacific Time. More detailed technical instructions will be supplied to all participants well in advance of July.

 

The December colloquium: practical arrangements

Proposals are also welcome for the December event. A decision will be taken nearer the time whether to run this as a remote-only event or as an in-person event with additional remote contributions.

 

For further information please contact

Warwick: Oliver Davis o.davis@warwick.ac.uk

Monash: Christopher Watkin chris.watkin@monash.edu

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