CFP: The Humanities in the age of the Digimodern User

NEW DEADLINE: Sunday 5 May 2018

The 21st century society is characterised by what Alan Kirby terms "digimodernism", in which ephemeral mediatisation, new information technologies, and the destabilisation of the traditional text play a central role. With the destabilisation of the traditional text, the role of the academic as mediator is decentred: when a large part of the population has permanent access to a wide range of knowledge on the internet, a popular perception emerges that experts and authorities are now redundant - a notion that, as Tom Nichols affirms in the The Death of Expertise (2017), is skilfully utilised within populist rhetoric. During the period in which we most need specialist skills in critical media consumption, there has been a rapid and problematic disassociation between the 'digimodern user' and the academic world, which necessitates an accompanying readjustment of research and teaching practices in the field of the humanities.

This conference addresses the impact of digimodernism in the Humanities research and education. It will take place on the 1st and 2nd November, 2018 and brings together international Hispanists to contemplate, in a multidisciplinary field, methodological innovations focused on the user's perspective. It is aimed at researchers from the fields of cultural studies, linguistics, and the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. For more information, please see the full call for papers.

Please send proposals in Spanish or English to ahbx2018@gmail.com before May 5th 2018. The selection will be communicated early June.

Organisation and sponsors

The conference is bilingual - English and Spanish - and sponsored by the Asociación de Hispanistas del Benelux. Three ICOG members are organising the conference: Dr. Konstantin Mierau, Gerdientje Oggel, MA, Juan Alba Duran, MA and Dr. Camilla Sutherland (Research Centre for Arts in Society).