"Crises of Categorization"

"Crises of Categorization"
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University of Toronto

Saturday, February 12, 2011*
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The University of Toronto, in partnership with the Anglo-Saxon
Studies Colloquium, invites submissions for the Seventh Annual
Graduate Student Conference of the Anglo-Saxon Studies Colloquium on
"Crises of Categorization."
Marjorie Garber defines crises of categorization as the “failure of
definitional distinction, a borderline that becomes permeable, that
permits of crossings from one (apparently distinct) category to
another,” in her work on the challenge of defining transvestism. This
recognition of the permeability of boundaries is particularly useful
in thinking through issues in the history and literature of
Anglo-Saxon England. For the 2011 ASSC Graduate Colloquium, we are
seeking papers which interrogate Anglo-Saxon systems of
categorization, both as they appear within the literature and
historical documents of the period and in terms of modern popular and
scholarly practices. In particular, the conference hopes to explore
points of cultural anxiety about and resistance towards hegemonic
practices of categorization.

Potential areas of investigation may include:

— Anglo-Saxon conceptions of time
— periodicity and historiography
— genre and stylistic practices
— negotiation of linguistic boundaries
— spatial discourse and practices
— representations of gender and sexuality

Please submit 250 word abstracts for 20-minute papers * by 15
November 2010. * Please include academic affiliation, e-mail address,
street address, phone number, and audio-visual requirements.
Abstracts may be sent to TorontoASSC@gmail.com
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— Peter Buchanan and Colleen Butler, conference organizers