Literary Representations of “British Muslims”

Thursday 8 November 2007, Senate House, University of London, Malet St., London WC1E

Hosted by the Institute of English Studies in association with Goldsmith’s College, University of London, and Leeds Metropolitan University.

Deadline for handing in proposals was 30 July 2007.

In the current political climate, an increasingly complex debate is emerging about what it means to be “British Muslim”.  Yet criticism of the UK ‘s migrant writing still tends to subsume religious identity under such categories  as ethnicity, nationality, hybridity and “race”. In an effort to develop a more appropriate critical vocabulary, this colloquium will examine representations of Islam and specific Muslim communities in recent British  writing. It will explore the diversity of Islam, both as a religion and a civilization, as it is represented in a rich and often contestatory body of writing.

An End to History? Climate Change, the Past and the Future

3 and 4 April 2008, Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham
 
Deadline for papers and contributions: 30 November 2007
 
This conference might be of interest to everyone working in the area of climate change and forced migration (‘Intersections’ theme of the months of July and August).

The premise of this conference is that human society has had a potentially catastrophic effect on the earth’s climate. For some commentators it is not out of the question that we will bring about our own extinction unless we modify our behaviour. And while the scientific community has had a major influence on governments’ and the public’s understanding of climate change, the contribution of the humanities has been less significant. With that in view, this conference seeks contributions from across the humanities, from historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, human geographers, demographers, philosophers, writers, and from students of politics, economics, international relations, religion, literature and culture.