Call for papers for a one-day symposium and edited book volume
Within cognitive poetics, the close stylistic analysis of literary texts has been relatively neglected in favour of more conceptual aspects of worlds, framing, foregrounding and deictic positioning. More broadly in cognitive literary studies, the centrality of textuality and texture is also in danger of being forgotten. This symposium invites contributions applying different aspects of cognitive and construction grammars to the analysis of literary texts and readings. Participants should focus a 20 minute paper on a specific application of a literary text and reading. The aim will be to establish the utility of cognitive grammar in the service of literary stylistics.
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25 – 27 April 2013
Osnabrück, Germany
Over the past 30 years we have seen a growing body of research devoted to the cognitive underpinnings of literature and the arts in general, especially with regard to the linguistics of literature. This first international conference on cognition and poetics (CaP-12) aims at bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including, but not limited to, literature, culture, aesthetics, semiotics, linguistics, cognitive science, neuroscience, philosophy, history, and psychology in order to illuminate the possibilities (and limitations) of taking a fresh look at literature and other poetic artifacts (such as film, music, art, drama) from a cognitive perspective. On the one hand, we need to take stock of what has already been done in this field over the past 30 years or more, on the other hand, some ideas and methods will have to be critically evaluated in the light of new research, and there are also many new pathways to be discovered and developed. In particular, a cognitive approach to literature raises questions about the basic nature of aesthetic experience and whether there are specific constraints and features (differentia specifica, as Jakobson termed them) that characterize the individual art forms, their production, and their reception.
A two-day symposium 7-8 September 2012
A two-day symposium following on from TaPRA 2012 at the University of Kent.
Since its establishment in 2010, The Centre for Cognition, Kinesthetics and Performance (CKP) at the University of Kent has pioneered UK research in this area to include its AHRC funded applied theatre project: ‘Imagining Autism’. Now, with its inaugural symposium, CKP is bringing together international scholars working in the field to explore the developing dialogue between affective science and performance studies. Papers will examine topics ranging from actor training, applied drama, documentary theatre, and performances of classic texts, to empathy, ethics, embodiment and spectatorship.
Programme includes:
• Keynotes from Professor Bruce McConachie and Professor Rhonda Blair
• An opportunity to experience an immersive environment from the AHRC project ‘Imagining Autism’
• A roundtable from leading scholars in the field
To view the full programme in detail, click here .
To Register (£50 standard, £25 Concession/TaPRA Delegate) please complete the booking form .
For further information or if you have any questions please contact Dr. Helen Brooks
August 31 – September 6, 2012
Erice, Sicily, ITALY
Directors of the Workshop:
Giacomo RIZZOLATTI (Università di Parma)
Pier Francesco FERRARI (Università di Parma)
On September 6th there will be a special one-day symposium on MIRROR NEURONS AND DEVELOPMENT for a limited number of participants.
The finding of mirror neurons in the monkey brain has been considered one of the most influential discoveries in neurosciences and had a profound impact in several fields, ranging from neuroscience and psychology to ethology and even philosophy. This discovery challenged the classical view of segregate sensory and motor functions in the brain, indicating that perception and action, by sharing the same neuronal substrates, enables individuals to have a direct route into others’ experience. Most importantly, this discovery attracted the attention of scientists from many disciplines given its possible implications in explaining different aspects of the social nature of humans. Despite a growing number of empirical investigations on mirror neurons, still several issues need to be clarified about their emergence and functions. Read the rest of this entry »
Learning to Listen: Empathy in Literature and Medicine
Empathy, or the ability to understand and participate deeply in another person’s experience, is considered a critical skill for physicians, both for clinical competence and for patient (and physician) satisfaction. Yet over the course of traditional medical education, medical students often show a decline in empathy. That same ability to understand and participate in the experience of others is seen as an essential skill for writers and readers of literary texts, a sign of authorial talent and reader satisfaction.
A series of workshops will explore the way the footprint of the humanities might be expanded by taking account of the efficacy of literature outside of the literature classroom, particularly in the teaching and understanding of empathy in clinical contexts. The workshops will suggest new avenues of inquiry for both literary and medical studies, and forge closer links between humanities scholars and medical educators. Hearing physicians talk about how literature is important within medicine will help students understand another aspect of the value of books and decrease the potential isolation of discussing literature only in terms of its scholarly value. Conversely, literary scholars will be able to introduce historical and aesthetic contexts that might prove valuable in clinical contexts. Read the rest of this entry »
We are glad to announce that our Project Leaders, Prof. Grazia Pulvirenti and Prof. Renata Gambino, will attend the PALA 2012 Malta Conference: Language, Narrative and New Media promoted by the Department of English (University of Malta) and Poetics and Linguistic Association.
Plenary Speakers:
Professor Derek Attridge (University of York)
Professor Lesley Jeffries (University of Huddersfield)
Professor David Miall (University of Alberta)
Professor Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham)
Professor Michael Toolan (University of Birmingham)
PALA has constantly sought to encourage research in the intersections between the fields of linguistics and literary studies. The PALA 2012 conference consolidates and extends this by looking at how the modalities and ubiquity of new media compel inquiry into the rapidly evolving technocultural contexts that linguistics and literary studies are themselves implicated in at various levels: institutional, thematic, formal, methodological, metadisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and creative. In particular, the conference is interested in the analysis of the specificities of remediated forms of language use, rhetoric and narrativity that appear to call for rethought protocols and extended repertoires of analysis within linguistics and literary studies. This affords some scope for redefinition of the fields concerned, but also for exploration of how contemporary remediation problematizes our understanding of terms like /language/ and /narrative/ which, never transparent, have now become even more complex. The organizers are confident that the eclectic and adaptable quality of areas like discourse analysis, stylistics and narratology, and awareness of the broader study of technoculture which is growing apace in various groupings across the humanities, the sciences and information technology, can make for a rich conference that is fully in the spirit of PALA’s long-established traditions of interdisciplinary and innovative inquiry.
Further Info: www.um.edu.mt/events/pala2012
International Summer School “Aesthetics and the Embodied Mind”
26th – 30th August 2013 – Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg – Institute for Advanced Study Delmenhorst (Germany)
We are pleased to invite you to participate to the International Summer School “Aesthetics and the Embodied Mind”.
The aim of the Summer School is to bring together and integrate the multiple and complementary ways of investigating, analyzing and discussing the refutation of the Cartesian mind-body dichotomy and its consequences for aesthetics beyond art theory. More information at the following website: https://sites.google.com/site/aestheticsandtheembodiedmind/summer-school-aesthetics-and-the-embodied-mind.
Prospective participants are invited to send their abstract (max. 300 words), a short CV indicating their publications (where possible) and the main achievements, their affiliation and a motivation letter to the following address: aestheticsandtheembodiedmind1[at]gmail.com
For any further questions please contact Alfonsina Scarinzi at alfonsinascarinzi[at]googlemail.com
Deadline for abstract submission: 15th December 2012
1st International Conference, 4-6 April 2013, Bangor University, UK
FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
We invite 20-minute paper submissions for the first international conference organized in association with the new research network on the Cognitive Futures in the Humanities, which is supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Confirmed plenary speakers include:
• Peter Stockwell (University of Nottingham)
• Ellen Spolsky (Bar Ilan University )
• Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis)
• Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky)
• Mark Turner (Case Western Reserve University)
• Elena Semino (Lancaster University)
William Smith, Rebecca Sternschein, Page Widick, Bianca Bromberger, Anjan Chatterjee, The Right Hemisphere in Esthetic Perception 2011. 