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CALL FOR PAPERS AND PROJECTS Invisible Culture, Issue 13, Fall 2008 Deadline for Papers: June 1, 2008 Guest Editors: Maia Dauner and Cynthia Foo, University of Rochester After Postcolonialism? This issue of Invisible Culture seeks to explore the limits and possibilities for post-colonial theoretical discourse as it relates to artistic and cultural practice. Art works, performances, films, videos, and other cultural production that engage with issues of global migration and the muddying of identity markers of race and class suggest the importance of doubt when considering history writing and fact-gathering. Performance artists The Yes Men fake their identities and take their practice outside of the gallery in an attempt to chip at the legitimacy of political structures such as the World Trade Organization. Visual artist Ken Lum offers a commentary on how one may understand visual markers of identity. Visual and performance artist Walid Ra’ad’s works under the name The Atlas Group suggest the anxiety-producing task of stitching together history from material evidence. La Pocha Nostra’s Chica Iranian Project investigates the political dimensions of visual misrecognition in post 9/11 United States. These practices suggest the possibility for identity to be context- and site-specific, and to mobilize identity markers to critically examine practices of authorship, history writing, and institutional practices. But is identity truly mutable? Can we be in a post- post-colonial era where identity is understood to be contextually informed, partial, and provisional? And if so, what does this look like? Kwame Anthony Appiah argues for the unfixed cosmopolitan in his 2004 monograph Cosmopolitanism, a utopic figure which some critics have suggested presents a re-framed flâneur, able to travel the globe freely with little consideration for the class and political restrictions that impede the movement of those less fortunate. Other writers and theorists have asserted that this is not a post-colonial era; that we are still dealing with colonialization’s legacy, whether we call this period post- or neo-colonial. Yet others suggest that postcolonial theory still maintains its position as a vital field of examination when considering visual presentations of identity, providing important tools to critically analyze place, class, race, and practice. What is the place for art and globalization in this context? What possibilities and limitations do various forms of theorization (post-colonial, neo-colonial, Cosmopolitanism, or post-post-colonialism) offer to a consideration of artistic practice concerned with identity and place? What role does the gallery and the site play in this presentation? We are particularly interested in papers that take into account the multi-faceted experiences of postcolonial thought. Possible methodological frameworks include: interdisciplinary visual culture, gendered experience, inquiries considering notions of class, and/or other streams that may contribute to a rich and nuanced inquiry into the state of post-colonial theory and practice. How is identity represented, performed, interrogated? How do these examinations tie in with post-colonial theoretical discussions? What are the boundaries of post-colonial discussions when dealing with contemporary artistic practice? Possible topics include:
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