Building on the conferences associated with the network Cognitive Futures in the Humanities in Bangor (2013), Durham (2014), Oxford (2015), Helsinki (2016) and Stony Brook (2017), the 2018 conference aims once again to bring together a wide array of papers from the cognitive sciences, philosophy, literary studies, linguistics, cultural studies, critical theory, film, performance, theatre and dance studies, the visual and sonic arts, musicology and beyond. In accordance with the original purpose of the network, the aims of the conference are:
- to evolve new knowledge and practices for the analysis of culture and cultural objects, through engagement with the cognitive sciences;
- to assess how concepts from the cognitive sciences can in turn be approached using the analytical tools of humanities enquiry (historical, theoretical, contextual);
- to contest the nature/culture opposition whose legacy can be identified with the traditional and ongoing segregation of scientific and aesthetic knowledge.
The call for papers is now open. Topics relevant to the conference include (but are not limited to):
- Cognitive neuroscience and the arts
- Interdisciplinary methodologies
- Cognitive poetics
- Theory of mind
- Conceptual blending
- Cognition and narrative
- Spectatorship and participation
- Empirical aesthetics
- The 4 Es
- The science of creativity
- The social mind
- Material culture
Please send 250-word proposals by email to the conveners by 05 January 2018. As well as 20-minute papers, we welcome contributions in a variety of formats, for example workshops, performance presentations, and posters. Abstracts should be included as Word file attachments. Please indicate clearly in your email whether your abstract is to be considered for a paper or as part of a panel, including the name of presenter(s), institutional affiliation(s) and email address(es). Proposers can expect to hear if their abstract has been accepted by 01 February 2018, and registration will open soon afterwards.
Keynote Speakers at the conference have been confirmed as Maaike Bleeker (Utrecht University), Margrethe Bruun Vaage (University of Kent), Eric Clarke (Oxford University) and Amy Cook (Stony Brook University). Further information will be available on the conference website.
Organising committee: Shaun May, Nicola Shaughnessy, Melissa Trimingham, Freya Vass-Rhee.