ACLA Utrecht 2017 Masculinity in Trauma Narratives

[Çimen Günay-Erkol]

Dear friends,
We invite proposals for our 2017 ACLA seminar at Utrecht, we would appreciate if you could circulate the CFP.
http://www.acla.org/men-and-mirrors-masculinity-trauma-narratives
best wishes,
c.

Cimen Gunay-Erkol
Ozyegin University
Faculty of Social Sciences
 

Organizer: Çimen Günay-Erkol

Co-Organizer: Müge Özoğlu

Co-Organizer: Egem Atik

Contact the Seminar Organizers

In theoretical accounts, trauma is thought to manifest itself without being stated. Ernst van Alphen writes, “in the case of trauma, reality and representation are inseparable” (1997: 36). In this regard, the act of storytelling or narrating is often considered as the process of healing from trauma. The narration of the traumatic accounts mostly comes from outside through mediums such as films, literary texts, memories and testimonies which may reflect the position of the victims or the witnesses of the traumatic experiences. This seminar aims to gather multidisciplinary and multicultural approaches to investigate the neglected relation between trauma and masculinity in different narrative forms such as literary texts, art, and films. 

We use trauma as the major axis of the seminar but we consider it a theme of diverse meanings, and we aim to question its classical definitions, and different reflections. Hence we seek to explore the formation of conventions in trauma theory by theorists such as Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman, Dori Laub and revisions, which offer a pluralistic perspective of trauma and challenge the notion of its unrepresentability, by Michelle Balaev, Stef Craps, Ruth Leys. We also aim to open up the term masculinity in relation to representations of trauma and discuss the social, political and psychological dimensions of trauma narratives from a comparative perspective and through a range of mediums. Here we seek to borrow from discussions on the victimization of masculinity as seen in the works of Robert Bly, Warren Farrell, and Herb Goldberg in comparison with R. Connell, Michael Kimmel and Jeff Hearn, who reconsider victimization from the perspective of feminist masculinity studies.

We invite participants to bring questions in relation to themes such as military coups, war, genocide and exile, as well as everyday othering and victimization based on gender, race and religion that are culturally assimilated. Since the effects of trauma incline to be multi-/inter-generational, we are also interested in the transmission of it, in relation to the masculinity of later generations.

We welcome papers from a diverse range of regions, cultures and mediums as well as theoretical approaches. Participants are invited, but are not limited to, critically explore and reflect on the following questions: 

• How does trauma relate to formation of masculine identity in narratives?


• Does memory play a determining role in masculinities of later generations? 


• To what extent do narratives function to “heal” masculine identity?


• How do representations approach different traumatic experiences?


• What makes trauma transmissible in the legacy of masculinity?


• Can crisis of masculinities be considered along trauma theories?

For any questions, please contact Egem Atik (egem...@ozyegin.edu.tr).