The second conference of the International Society for Cultural History (ISCH) will address a broad series of questions pertaining to cultures of violence and conflict. For scholars across a range of disciplines the origins, nature and impact of violence and conflict have been of fundamental concern, as highlighted by recent publications including Joanna Bourke’s Rape: A History from 1860 to the Present, and Slavoj Žižek’s Violence. Given that ongoing scholarly interest, and the urgency of such matters in the contemporary world, it is appropriate that this assembly encourages research and discussion on these topics as seen through the diverse perspectives of cultural history.
Themes and topics include:
– Histories and memories of trauma.
– The enabling and legitimizing of violent social relations through popular consent and common national identities.
– Spaces and places of violence: the geography and memorialisation of war and conflict.
– The visualization, narrativization and aesthetics of violence and conflict in art, fiction, film, television, video games and new media.
– Relationships between war and science, medicine and technology.
– Everyday violence and gendered conflict.
– Comedies of violence.
– The manipulation of cultural phenomena and propaganda to create or sustain genocide, ethnic cleansing, racial violence or religious conflict.
– The role of culture in the avoidance or amelioration of violence and conflict.
– The relative importance of cultural phenomena in the foreign policies of ancient and modern societies.
Membership of the ISCH is encouraged and further information, including how to join, can be found
here.
For additional information on the University of Queenlsand’s Cultural History Project click
here.