The Poetics of Intercultural Analogy: NeMLA 2015 Panel, Call for Abstracts

[Jamin Pelkey]

Northeast Modern Language Association 46th Annual Convention: Toronto, Ontario, April 30-May 3, 2015
Panel: "The Poetics of Intercultural Analogy"

Accepted submissions are to be presented as 20 minute papers to the Northeast Modern Languages Association Convention 2015 in Toronto, Ontario.

Abstracts should be submitted using the NeMLA online portal: https://nemla.org/convention/2015/cfp.html#cfp15348

Further background
Grounded in recent transdisciplinary work on the neglected importance of analogy (see e.g., Silverman 2009, 2014; Hofstadter and Sander 2013; Anttila 2003; Deely 2002; Fauconnier and Turner 2002; Getner et al. 2001), this panel works from the assumption that theorizing the human imagination is indispensible for understanding and developing intercultural communication in myriad modes: oral, textual, visual, musical, spatial, temporal, gestural and digital, among others. Of foremost interest is the human ability to draw analogies between seemingly disconnected meanings, events and practices. With this in mind, the panel calls for papers that explore some of the countless ways in which we use fluid analogies to make sense of confusing or obscure practices that might otherwise seem to isolate diverse cultures and traditions from each other. Choice examples of such analogies will be presented, along with ways in which they are applied or made manifest in different domains and contexts, such as texts, rituals, images and digital media. Questions of methodology and best practices in researching intercultural analogy will be explored, prompting discussions of links between analogy and the human language faculty. These insights will cast light on the interdisciplinary nature of analogy, helping answer the following question: Are intercultural analogies merely poetic, or is poetry the ground of intercultural communication?
 
References
Anttila, Raimo. “Analogy: The Warp and Woof of Cognition.” The Handbook of Historical Linguistics. Ed. Brian D. Joseph and Richard D. Janda. London: Blackwell, 2003. 425–440. Print.
Deely, John. “The Absence of Analogy.” The Review of Metaphysics 55.3 (2002): 521–550. Print.
Fauconnier, Gilles, and Mark Turner. The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending And The Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books, 2003. Print.
Gentner, Dedre, Keith J. Holyoak, and Boicho N. Kokinov, eds. The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2001. Print.
Hofstadter, Douglas, and Emmanuel Sander. Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking. New York: Basic Books, 2013. Print.
Silverman, Kaja. Flesh of My Flesh. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009. Print.
Silverman, Kaja. The Miracle of Analogy. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014. In Press.

Panel Chair: Jamin Pelkey, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Jorgenson Hall 525A, 350 Victoria St.
Ryerson University 
Toronto, ON  M5B 2K3
Canada
Email: jpelkey at ryerson.ca

Panel Co-Chair: Stéphanie Walsh Matthews, PhD
Director, Arts and Contemporary Studies Program
Jorgenson Hall, 1st floor, 350 Victoria St.
Ryerson University 
Toronto, ON  M5B 2K3
Canada
Email: swalsh at arts.ryerson.ca


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<abstract>
Abstracts are invited for papers exploring any of the myriad ways in which we use analogies to make sense of confusing or obscure practices that might otherwise isolate diverse cultures and traditions from each other. We wish to explore rich examples of such analogies. How are they manifest in different domains such as texts, rituals, images, and digital media? How should we study them? How might such research shed light on the nature of language or analogy in general? Are intercultural analogies merely poetic, or is poetry the ground of intercultural communication?

Accepted submissions are to be presented as 20 minute papers to the Northeast Modern Languages Association Convention 2015 in Toronto, Ontario.

Abstracts should be submitted using the NeMLA online portal: https://nemla.org/convention/2015/cfp.html#cfp15348

</abstract>