CFP: 15th AFIS Conference

Call for Papers, Other Conferences

15th AFIS Conference

25-26 May 2023

 University de La Rochelle

Call for Papers

As a follow-up to the previous AFIS conference in 2021, which had the theme “New Beginnings”, the 15th AFIS conference in 2023 proposes to take the theme of Adventure.

Adventure comes from the Latin “adventurus”, which means “about to happen”. Throughout history great upheavals, such as revolutions, wars, pandemics, natural disasters, the Great Discoveries, and scientific progress have forced humanity to change, adapt, reorganize, and re-invent itself through ideas and paradigm shifts.

We are living through a period of intense transformation due to climate change, global pandemics, the war in Ukraine, the emergence of China as a superpower, all of which are profoundly disrupting geopolitics, the relationships between countries and between the environment and humans, causing food and energy crises with important social consequences.
These crises will lead us to develop our adventurous spirit to guarantee the survival of the human species and to invent new societies, new relationships with Nature and between humans, new forms of political and social organization. We will therefore be forced to imagine new ways of feeding ourselves, producing energy, moving around, creating new expressions and cultural practices, etc.
We propose to examine the role that adventure continues to play in French and Irish societies. The theme can be explored through theoretical discourses on capitalism, identity construction, technology and social networks, risk-taking, personal development, social inequalities and sustainable development.
Ultimately, the question is whether after the fragmentations of post-modernism, humanity will be able to produce an inclusive universe that takes into account minority experiences (race, gender, age, class, etc.) and embark on a common global adventure?

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Literature, Theatre, Poetry
  • Film, Documentaries, TV Series
  • Digital Humanities and Arts
  • Climate Change
  • Journalism (reporters, photojournalists etc.)
  • Revolutions, Rebellions
  • Gastronomy
  • Popular Culture
  • Sports
  • Ecotourism
  • Travel

Possible workshops:

  • A workshop on the novelist Joseph Kessel is envisaged because of his connection with Ireland: he was married to an Irish woman and wrote a book on Ireland adapted to the screen (Mary of Cork) and covered the Irish conflict in the early 1920s as a reporter for La Liberté.
  • Georges Simenon lived in La Rochelle and his work is representative of human adventure in many forms.

Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Brian J. Murphy, TU Dublin, specialist on Food and Beverage Studies and a long-standing member of AFIS, and Dr. Serge Linkès, Université de La Rochelle, the Joseph Kessel scholar who coordinated the publication of his works in La Pléiade.
Other attractions include an interview with the Irish coach of ‘Stade Rochelais’, Ronan O’Gara, and a poetry reading by Benjamin Keatinge (Patrick Kavanagh award 2022).

15-minute papers
Abstracts of approximately 250 words and a short biography should be sent to Dr. Brigitte Bastiat (bbastiat@univ-lr.fr) and Dr. Frank Healy (fhealy@univ-lr.fr) by November 30, 2022. Anyone wishing to attend the conference must be a member of AFIS (information at https://www.it-tallaght.ie/ncfis)

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