37.2907, Confs: Discursive Imaginaries of Change - Heterotopias, PowerKnowledge, and the "Great Transformation" (Germany)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2907. Mon Sep 14 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2907, Confs: Discursive Imaginaries of Change - Heterotopias, PowerKnowledge, and the "Great Transformation" (Germany)

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Date: 11-Sep-2026
From: Jan Zienkowski [jan.zienkowski at ulb.be]
Subject: Discursive Imaginaries of Change - Heterotopias, PowerKnowledge, and the "Great Transformation"


Discursive Imaginaries of Change - Heterotopias, PowerKnowledge, and
the "Great Transformation"

Date: 19-Jul-2027 - 21-Jul-2027
Location: Marburg, Germany
Meeting URL: https://discourseanalysis.net/DNC2027

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics

Submission Deadline: 31-Oct-2026

Thematic Focus:
The congress builds on a long tradition of DNC events that have
analysed the discursive construction of social pasts, presents, and
futures. This time, we are especially interested in the imaginaries
that different actors, movements, disciplines, and epistemological
traditions bring to the question of change. We do not assume that
transformation is a settled concept, nor that it always points in
progressive directions. Right-wing populisms and authoritarian
movements offer their own powerful imaginaries of transformation. So
do the counter-discourses of feminist care ethics, indigenous
knowledge systems, commoning movements, degrowth advocates, and
decolonial scholars. All of these deserve our critical, analytical as
well as cocreational attention.
We are interested in four broad, overlapping dimensions:
 - Imaginaries and discourse: How is the meaning of "transformation",
"crisis", or "the future" discursively constructed, stabilised, and
contested across political, media, and everyday registers? What social
imaginaries shape collective understandings of economy, democracy,
social life and ecology?
 - Power, knowledge, and epistemic struggles: Whose knowledge counts,
and whose is marginalised? We especially welcome contributions from
Southern, decolonial, feminist, and indigenous perspectives that
challenge Western-modernist frameworks. We encourage analysis of how
educational systems, organisations and communicative practices
normalise particular epistemic orders.
 - Heterotopias and counter-movements: Where do alternative spaces,
practices, and discourses emerge? How are commons, care, solidarity,
and more-than-human entanglements articulated as alternatives to
market logic? How do such spaces relate to — and potentially transform
— hegemonic formations?
 - Methodological reflexivity: How can discourse research itself
reflect on its own positionings, avoid reproducing hegemonic closures
or epistemic romanticism, and develop what some call "caring
research"? What are the implications of engaged, transdisciplinary, or
co-creative methodologies for our scholarly practices?
Topics and Suggested Panels:
We invite 15 to 20-minute presentations (followed by 10 minutes of
discussion) on topics related to the congress theme. Contributions
that do not fit neatly into a single theme are warmly encouraged.
Suggested panels include but are in no way restricted to the following
perspectives:
 - Philosophical: Alternative epistemologies, ontological pluralism,
and the politics of knowledge.
 - Political: Populism, democratic backsliding, postcolonial and
feminist imaginaries of democracy.
 - Economic: From neoliberalism to plural economies; the discursive
construction of The Great Transformation.
 - Linguistic: From Great to Small Narratives, Truth Telling,
Post-Truth Orders.
 - Societal and Spatial — Social fragmentation, commoning, urban
heterotopias, and community-based change.
 - Ecological: Climate discourse, more-than-human entanglements, buen
vivir, and degrowth.
 - Educational: Onto-epistemologies of commoning education,
institutional discourse, discursive perspectives on organizational
learning and education, and pedagogical imaginaries.
 - Methodological; Reflexive, caring, and transdisciplinary research
methodologies.
 - Media and Digital Imaginaries — AI safety and alignment, digital
platforms, and the co-construction of social and political futures.
 - Gender, Minority, and Postcolonial Studies — Anti-feminist and
anti-LGBTQ+ discourses, in-group/out-group constructions, and
decolonial imaginaries.
and many more
Presentation Formats:
DNC 2027 welcomes submissions in the following formats:
 - Single papers - Single papers are individual presentations of
research, theoretical work, or other contributions related to the
congress theme. Presentations will usually last 20 minutes, followed
by 10 minutes of questions and discussion. Papers will be grouped into
sessions with contributions addressing related topics. Each paper is
submitted individually and should include a title, an abstract of no
more than 250 words, and references (APA 7). Please plan your
presentation in a way to allow some questions within your presentation
time. Presentations + Q&A will not be permitted to go beyond one-third
of the available time during the session. We suggest that you end your
presentation with a couple of questions in order to stimulate
discussion after the presentation.
 - Symposia/panels - A symposium brings together at least three
thematically related papers in a single 90-minute conference session.
Symposia containing more than 3 papers can span multiple sessions. The
papers should be connected by a common topic, question, or research
problem and should address different aspects or perspectives of the
overall theme. All contributing papers are submitted together as one
symposium submission. The submission consists of a framing of up to
400 words and abstracts of up to 200 words for each of the three
papers, excluding titles and references (APA 7). The symposium is
intended to provide a coherent discussion of a shared topic through
several related contributions. For registration purposes only, we
additionally ask every individual contribution to the symposium to
also submit their abstract separately and individually, with a clear
mention of the symposium to which the abstract belongs. This way, we
can ensure we have contact information for all individual
contributors. Panel/symposia contributors who do not submit their
abstract separately will not be included in the program.
 - Research Workshops with a methodological or / and research
practical focus - Research workshops are intended for methodological
exchange and research-related practical work. They provide an
opportunity to work more interactively on a methodological question,
research practice, or related topic, rather than focusing only on
individual presentations. Workshops may include discussion, practical
exercises, or other forms of active participation and take place in a
90-minute session. Please submit a framing of 600 words, a methods
section 400 words plus references in 300 words.
UnConferencing:
We will organise a participatory and cocreational unconferencing
format at the second afternoon of the congress. This format offers any
kind of cocreational space to discuss book projects, research
proposals, conferences, burning questions, and form connections with
the university and regional partners such as the cooperating gender
center and the democracy center of University of Marburg. Everybody is
invited to suggest topics for unconferencing sessions.
Please submit suggestions for networking and cocreation on Tuesday
afternoon (90 min sessions) into the congress conftool.
Congress Languages:
Please choose in Conftool, in which of the four congress languages you
would like to present your work (English, French, Spanish or German).
Submission Guidelines:
All Submissions are to be submitted via Conftool at
https://www.conftool.com/dnc2027/
Important Dates:
Abstract submissions open: 15th of June 2026
Submission deadline: 31st of October 2026
Notification of acceptance: 15th of December 2026
Registration deadline: 31st March 2027 (early bird fee) & 15 June 2027
(regular fee)
Fees and Registration:
Participants are required to hold an active DiscourseNet membership
(€60 for 2 years) and pay a congress participation fee: As we intend
to apply a solidarity approach, the congress fee is differentiated:
Early Bird Rate (until 31st of march 2027):
Professors/full time academics with an institutional position: €168
Doctoral students: €83
Colleagues from the Global South / Students: €43
Regular Rate: (until 15th of June 2027)
Professors/academics with an institutional position: 253 Euro
Doctoral Students: 153 Euro
Collegues from the Global South 83 Euro
Registration and payment details will be sent with the acceptance
notification and are available via the Conftool. The congress is also
open to non-presenting participants with active DN membership.
Non-presenting participants from the host institution
(Philipps-Universität Marburg) are exempt from the DiscourseNet
membership fee.
Venue:
The congress will take place in person at Philipps-Universität
Marburg, Germany. Further details on travel, accommodation, and the
full programme will be published at
https://discourseanalysis.net/DNC2027. No online participation will be
offered. The congress is prepared in cooperation with the gender
centre and the democracy centre of Philipps-University of Marburg.
Head of the local organizing team is Prof. Dr. Susanne Maria Weber.
Contact:
For further information regarding the congress, registration,
accommodation, or programme updates, please contact: DNC 2027
Organizing Committee dncongress2027 at gmail.com



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