CALL
FOR PAPERS
Identities and Education: Comparative Perspectives in
an Age of Crisis
May 29 – June 1, 2018
University of Cyprus,
Nicosia, Cyprus
dentities are made
and unmade and this is especially true in our current times of crisis.
Depending on one’s perspective and location, this moment may be about enduring
conflicts, deepening poverty and inequalities, dislocations of peoples, or for
example, the rise of post-factual information flows. It may also be about the resurgence
of populist movements that are fuelling new forms of border protectionism,
cultural closure and anti-cosmopolitan identity displays.
But
crises are not only about identity disruption and anxiety. They are also moments
of possibility and potential. Not only do they trigger discussion about the
causes of our current situation, but they also facilitate debate about our possible
futures. Education, central to the project of individual and collective
identity formation, national development and international relations, is at the
heart of these moments. Whilst education has undoubtedly contributed to
creating these moments, it is uniquely placed to engage with them. What should
be the agenda of study and action for education in such times?
The
conference offers the chance to examine and problematise our contemporary
moment. Through the heuristic of identity,
the conference aims at creating a platform for understanding our current
challenges and considering the potential of education to address them. As an intellectual strategy, comparative education
is well suited to explore the intersections of local, regional and global history,
social structures and biographies of persons that interact to produce uncertainty
as well as opportunity. As a palimpsest of history, cultures, aesthetics, geopolitics
and disputed meanings, Cyprus and its capital city of Nicosia are one of the
most suitable locations for exploring identity and education in
interdisciplinary, inter-sectional, relational and eclectic ways.
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The following key speakers are invited to help
us unfold the conference theme through Plenary Lectures:
· Antonio Nóvoa, University of Lisbon, Portugal
· Ruth Wodak, Lancaster University, United Kingdom,
and University of Vienna, Austria
· Noah W. Sobe, Loyola University Chicago, USA
· Michalinos Zembylas, Open
University of Cyprus, Cyprus
· Nelly Stromquist,
University of Maryland, USA
The following
sub-themes, organised as Working Groups
and reflecting diverse perspectives, institutional sites and professional
groups, have been established to explore the conference topic:
· History,
theory and comparative education
· Governance,
nation state and the new transnational order
· Curricula,
textbooks and citizenship
· Practitioners,
pedagogies and interventions
· Higher
education, vocational training and lifelong learning
· Identities
beyond formal education
In addition to
these six Working Groups, there will be a Working Group dedicated to new scholars, as well as opportunities
to submit papers for a number of cross-thematic
sessions and thematically-focused
panels where identity will be in perspective. These panels will include:
· Conflict,
reconciliation and the promise of education
· The
refugee crisis and the future of humanitarian work
· Colonialism,
neo-colonialism and identity
· Gender,
sexuality and education
· Youth
identities across Europe
· Language,
identity and education
· Evaluation
and assessment – and their impact on what it means to
be educated
· Global
methodologies in the study of identity
Conference
format:
Individual or co-authored, theoretical or empirical papers and panels will be
presented at the working groups, the cross-thematic sessions and the thematically-focused
panels. Also, multi-author panels can be suggested (3-4 papers) and will take
place within the cross-thematic sessions and the thematically-focused panels. The
deadline for proposal submission is February 1, 2018.
