Fortress Europe and Its Others: Cultural
Representations in Film, Media and the Arts
4-6 April 2005
Institute of Romance Studies
School of Advanced Study
University of London
Call for Papers
The historical and mythical layers embedded in Western
European attitudes towards the other and the
stranger are currently being reinforced by growing
resistance to the flow of migrants and refugees from
non-European and Eastern European countries, as well
as to Pan-European trends towards unification of the
continent. This resistance has been expressed most
vocally by the far-Right populist parties and
movements, but also in more restrictive immigration
and refugee laws throughout the liberal democracies of
Western Europe. Contemporary Europes new others are
immigrants and refugees from poor countries
particularly from Africa and Asia.
Although Europe, as a geopolitical entity and as an
ideological concept, has itself rested on an
historical process of absorbing, hybridizing, and
assimilating different people from diverse ethnic and
national groups, European countries have tended to
view migration as challenging and threatening their
territory, identity and ways of imagining themselves
and others.
The aim of the conference is to explore how the public
debate about Fortress Europe has been negotiated in
the cultural and aesthetic spheres within a wide range
of representational forms, from the media to film,
photography, literature, theatre, and the arts. Its
aim is also to assess the impact that such
representations may have on public opinion with regard
to the issues surrounding immigration and asylum. We
are also interested in contributions from and on
Europes Others themselves, particularly on their
own perceptions, imaginations, and fantasies of
Fortress Europe.
Proposals for twenty minute papers, should be
submitted in the form of a 200 word abstract by 30
June 2004 to Yosefa Loshitzky yosefal@???
<
mailto:yosefal@blueyonder.co.uk>. Early submissions
are welcome. We plan to publish selected essays in a
refereed monograph.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
