CFP: The Digital Subject: Questioning HypermnesiaInternational and transdisciplinary symposiumLabex Arts-H2H projectUniversity of Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, November 13-15, 2012
New extended deadline for submissions: July 1st, 2012
Keynote speakers
- Bernard Croisile, Chair, Department of Neuropsychology, Neurological Hospital of Lyon
- N. Katherine Hayles, Professor, Duke University
- Lydia H. Liu, Professor, Columbia University
- Scott Rettberg, Professor, University of Bergen, Co-founder of Electronic Literature Organization and Project Head, ELMCIP
- Jean-Michel Salanskis, Professor of Philosophy, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre
- Bernard Stiegler, Philosopher, President of Ars Industrialis, Head of Institut de Recherche et d’Innovation (Centre Georges Pompidou)
Organizers:Pierre Cassou-Noguès (Department of philosophy, LLCP, SPHERE, EA 4008)Claire Larsonneur (Department of anglophone studies, Le Texte Étranger, EA1569)Arnaud Regnauld (Department of anglophone studies, CRLC – Research Center onLiterature and Cognition, EA1569)
Call for papersToday’s digital technologies of inscription and preservation have enabled the creation ofsubstantial electronic archives and complex databases while ushering in new ways ofarchiving knowledge exemplified by collaborative encyclopedias. Such technicaldevelopments have foreshadowed a radical reconfiguration of human relations to theworld and knowledge at large, and delineate a probable mutation in our understanding ofthe human subject.Hypermnesia, a recurrent motif in science fiction narratives, was already prefigured in H.G. Wells’ (World Brain, 1937) or Borges’ works (“Funes el memorioso,” 1944). Fromthen on, the notion has migrated into other literary genres, be they published in traditionalprint or in a digital medium. Similarly, the possible externalization and extension ofmemory is one of the cornerstones of contemporary philosophical theories (such as thatof the “extended mind”) on both sides of the border separating the analytical andcontinental schools of philosophy.Right after the Second World War, machine memory, the thematization of subjectivememory in reference to computer memory, the potential alteration of the very nature ofhuman memory due to the development of machines were recurrent issues in discussionspertaining to cybernetics and they are still vivid in the contemporary diagnosis ofposthumanism.Of particular interest is the scope and typology of works featuring the theme ofhypermnesia, from fantasies of omnipotence to rewritings of the Babel myth, to political,cultural and economic policy blueprints. This call for papers invites contributions fromvarious fields and disciplines (the history of science and technology, literature,philosophy among others) which question the theme of hypermnesia and memorythrough the prism of the ambiguous relationship between man and machine, in ahistorical as well as in a more contemporary perspective.At the crossroads of philosophy, literature and the history of science and technology, thissymposium is part of a broader long-term project focusing on the digital subject, a subjectwhose status and attributes appear to have been altered by the real or fictionaldevelopment of digital calculating machines from Babbage to Internet.The working languages will be French and English. Contributions may be submitted ineither language and should not exceed 3000 characters. Please enclose a brief biobibliographical note.
Contact : hypermnesia@univ-paris8.fr
This symposium has received the support of the LABEX Arts-H2H scientific committee.
Extended deadline for submissions: July 1st, 2012
Contributors will be informed of the scientific committee’s decision by September 15, 2012.
Scientific committee :Yves Abrioux (Université Paris 8)Noelle Batt (Université Paris 8)Maarten Bullynck (Université Paris 8)Pierre Cassou-Noguès (Université Paris 8)Claire Larsonneur (Université Paris 8)Hélène Machinal (Université de Brest)Arnaud Regnauld (Université Paris 8)Mathieu Triclot (Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard)