Constructing Cyberculture - Call for Papers
A Cravens
and Politics in Online Spaces
Call for Papers
April 6-7, 2001
University of Maryland
Co-Sponsored by The Cyberculture Working Group, The Chesapeake
Chapter of
the American Studies Association and The Consortium on Race,
Gender and
Ethnicity
The Cyberculture Working Group (http://otal.umd.edu/amst/cwg) is a
collection of University of Maryland and neighboring graduate students
and faculty members from across the disciplines interested in exploring
the intersections between the Internet, culture, and society. At
our 1999
Conference, "Cultural Diversity in/and Cyberspace," an
international and
interdisciplinary group of scholars addressed such issues as what
it means
to play online "identity games," how scholars of the humanities
and public
policy can work together to affect the construction and
maintenance of
cyberspaces, and how we can use online technologies to teach and learn
about cultural diversity.
This year's conference seeks to continue these and other
discussions by
focusing on how different groups and communities construct and use the
virtual world. We are seeking scholars from around the world and across
the disciplines to discuss the ways that complex, multi-layered identities
are being created and performed in online spaces, present case
studies of
virtual communities, and examine how digital environments shape
and are
shaped by "real" and "virtual" political and cultural dynamics. We hope
to discuss possible connections between the humanities, social sciences,
and the emerging, contested field of "cyberculture studies." We also
welcome papers that address the uses of online technologies in classrooms
and communities.
*Keynote Speakers will include Lisa Nakamura, author of "Race In/For
Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet," and
co-editor of Race in Cyberspace and David Silver, founder of the Resource
Center for Cyberculture Studies.
Proposals for individual papers (15-20 minutes) and full panels (2-3
papers plus a moderator/chair) should include a one page abstract
and a
concise, one page C.V. for each presenter. The deadline for
submissions is
December 10, 2000.
Contact Information:
Cyberculture Working Group
c/o Ed Martini
Department of American Studies
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-7621
or by e-mail at emar...@wam.umd.edu