Intersectional Materialisms.
Diversity in Creative Industries, Methods and Practices
AUG 26TH-28TH 2024
Maynooth, National University of Ireland
We are delighted to announce the forthcoming 12th New Materialisms Conference on "Intersectional Materialisms: Diversity in Creative Industries, Methods and Practices," an interdisciplinary platform to explore the convergences and synergies between intersectionality, new materialisms and creative practice. This conference aims to bring together scholars, activists, and practitioners to critically engage with the complexities of subjectivities, power, and material realities through an intersectional and materialist lens with a focus on how the materiality of difference matters in creative practice. Follow us on Instagram for updates!
About
The conference seeks to foster an inclusive and dynamic space for discussions that transcend conventional disciplinary boundaries with a view to open, yet historically informed, conversations. Intersectionality and Feminist New Materialisms intersect to enrich our understanding of the interconnectedness of human and non-human life, challenging binary conceptualisations, and addressing social, technological, environmental, and political issues with renewed perspectives. The conference is the next in an annual tradition that started in 2010 and was briefly interrupted during the global COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the network has met in Cambridge, UK; Utrecht, NL; Linköping, SE; Turku, FI; Barcelona, SP; Maribor, SI; Melbourne, AU; Warsaw, PL; Paris, FR; Cape Town, ZA; Kassel, GE.
We invite researchers, artists, professionals, teachers and activists to submit original papers and presentations that engage with the theme of intersectionality within the creative industries, or through creative research methods and practices. We are interested in oral histories, folk practices, digital folk media, inclusive dance, disability powered art, feminist cinema and music, drag, queer and trans creative spaces, productive connections and points of tension; synergy and debate. We follow a range of interdisciplinary conversations, and specifically invite papers that look to decenter colonial histories, knowledges and value systems, which also develop an awareness of the global and racialized politics of emotion. In recent years, the creative industries have witnessed a growing awareness of the complex interplay between various forms of identity and their impact on creativity, representation, and cultural production. Intersectionality, a framework that acknowledges the interconnectedness of multiple social identities and systems of oppression, has become a crucial lens through which to understand and critique the dynamics within the creative sectors. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to foster a deeper exploration of intersectionality's role in shaping the creative industries, facilitating an inclusive and critical dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and stakeholders.
Intersectionality (Nash, 2018; Banet-Weiser, 2018; Villesche et al., 2018; Hill Collins, 2019; Kanai, 2020) has brought race, class, age, sexuality and disability into everyday feminist discussions which challenge the whiteness of western feminist material culture (Hamad and Taylor, 2015). However, there are also scholars (Puar, 2011; Hinton, et al., 2015) who note some of the ongoing whiteness embedded within new materialism and suggest that ‘race and the very processes through which racialized bodies come to matter (in both senses of the word) are considered to be areas that are underrepresented in many new materialist approaches’ (Hinton, et al., 2015, p. 2). Taking this as a call to action, we also invite papers which investigate and respond to what Geerts and van der Tuin (2013) might call ‘a pattern of interference’, after Barad (2007) and Verloo (2009), where ‘by allowing for relations to be made and made differently, we no longer assume that a social category or a set of social categories has a decisive and uniform effect (essentialism)’ (p.176). Papers, panels, performances and other submissions which take up intersectionality as a critical and creative feminist new materialist turning point, or everyday practice are especially welcomed.
Intersectional New Materialism encourages a holistic understanding of the interconnectedness between humans, non-human entities, and the environment. It challenges traditional dualistic perspectives that separate humans from nature, fostering a more inclusive and integrative approach. With the escalating environmental crisis, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, there is an urgent need to reevaluate our relationship with the natural world. Environmental Humanities provide a platform for exploring the ethical, cultural, and socio-political dimensions of environmental issues. Both New Materialism and Environmental Humanities draw on insights from various disciplines, such as philosophy, cultural studies,literature, science, and sociology. This interdisciplinary approach allows for a more comprehensive understanding of environmental challenges, encouraging creative collaboration between scholars, scientists, and policymakers.By acknowledging the agency of materials, it prompts a reevaluation of how we interact with and impact the environment, leading to more sustainable and responsible practices.
We invite contributions that explore, but are not limited to, the following
Themes:
1. Representation and Identity in Creative Content:
Analysing how intersectionality influences the representation of diverse identities in art, media, literature, film, and other creative forms.
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2. Production and Creative Processes:
Examining how intersecting identities impact creative processes, collaboration, innovation, and decision-making within various creative domains.
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3. Cultural Production and Social Change:
Exploring how intersectional perspectives contribute to challenging stereotypes, promoting social justice, and fostering inclusive cultural production.
4. Economic and Structural Inequities:
Investigating how intersectional factors affect access to resources, opportunities, and career advancement within the creative industries.
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5. Audience Reception and Consumption:
Studying how audiences from different intersecting backgrounds engage with and interpret creative content, and how intersectional narratives resonate with diverse audiences.
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6. Intersectional Activism and Advocacy:
Examining the role of intersectional approaches in advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion within creative sectors and their broader societal impact.
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7. Arts Based Methods:
Exploring how arts based methods create spaces for intersectional activism in research.
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8. Posthumanist queer studies and intersectional approaches to sexuality:
Research in and outside institutions
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9. Intersectional perspectives on technoscience, AI, and digital cultures:
Can AI be creative?
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10. Creative production and minoritarian cultures.
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11. New Materialism and Environmental Humanities.
With the escalating environmental crisis, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and
pollution, this theme contributes to the much-needed reevaluation of our relationship with the
natural world exploring the ethical, cultural, and socio-political dimensions of environmental
issues.
Our
Speakers
Ayesha Hameed
Goldsmiths, London
Dr Ayesha Hameed’s work explores contemporary borders and migration, critical race theory, Walter Benjamin, and visual cultures of the Black Atlantic. Her work has been performed or exhibited at ICA London (2015), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2014), at The Chimurenga Library at the Showroom, London (2015), Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, Oxford (2015), Edinburgh College of Art (2015), Kunstraum Niederoesterreich Vienna (2015), Pavillion, Leeds in 2015, Homeworks Space Program, Beirut (2016), the Bartlett School of Architecture (2016), Mosaic Rooms (2017) and RAW Material Company (2017).
Her publications include Futures and Fictions (co-edited with Simon O’Sullivan and Henriette Gunkel Repeater 2017), Visual Cultures as Time Travel (with Henriette Gunkel Sternberg, forthcoming 2018); and contributions to Forensis: The Architecture of Public Truth (Sternberg Press 2014), We Travelled The Spaceways (Duke University Press 2018), Unsound/Undead (2018).
Susan Luckman
University of South Australia, Australia
Susan Luckman is Professor of Culture and Creative Industries, Director of the Creative People, Products and Places Research Centre (CP3), and the Cultural and Creative Industries Research Platform Leader of the Hawke EU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at the University of South Australia.
Susan is an interdisciplinary cultural studies scholar whose research is concerned with creative work, especially as it intersects with digital technologies and craft practices. She has been a Chief Investigator on 6 ARC and 3 EU awarded projects. Current projects include the ARC Discovery grants ‘The Value of Craft Skills to the Future of Manufacturing in Australia’ (DP190100349, 2019-2023) which is identifying how the craft skills required to sustain and grow skilled Australian production can be maintained and extended, as well as 'Artisanal Making and the Future of Small-Scale Local Production' (DP220100110, 2022-2024, with Dr Michelle Phillipov, University of Adelaide) which aims to identify the consumer identities, decision-making and sustainable artisanal production models underpinning contemporary demand for locally made goods. Previously, she was Chief Investigator on the 4 year Australian Research Council Discovery Project 'Promoting the Making Self in the Creative Micro-economy’ (2015-2018) which explored how online distribution is changing the environment for operating a creative micro-enterprise and, with it, the opportunities for mobile working lives and the impacts upon the larger relationship between public and private spheres this entails. Susan is currently a member of the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts (2022-2024) and is an expert reviewer for the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission (REA).
Susan is the author of Craftspeople and Designer Makers in the Contemporary Creative Economy (Open Access - Palgrave 2020), Craft and the Creative Economy (Palgrave Macmillan 2015), Locating Cultural Work: The Politics and Poetics of Rural, Regional and Remote Creativity (Palgrave Macmillan 2012), co-editor of Craft Communities (Bloomsbury 2023 forthcoming), Pathways into Creative Working Lives (Palgrave 2020), The ‘New Normal’ of Working Lives: Critical Studies in Contemporary Work and Employment (Palgrave 2018), Craft Economies (Bloomsbury 2018), and Sonic Synergies: Music, Identity, Technology and Community (Ashgate 2008), and author of book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles and reports on cultural work, creative industries and creative micro-entrepreneurialism.
Milla Tiainen & Katve-Kaisa Kontturi
University of Turku, Finland
Milla completed her MA, Licentiate of Philosophy degree, and Doctorate in Musicology at the University of Turku. In the beginning of 2019, she returned to her Alma mater after many years elsewhere to work as Researcher in Gender Studies and University Teacher (Lecturer) in Musicology at the School of History, Culture and Art Studies.
In 2015-2018, Milla worked as a substitute for Professor of Musicology and Ethnomusicology (2015-6) and as Senior Lecturer in Musicology (2016-8) at the University of Helsinki. Before that, she was a Senior Lecturer and Pathway Leader of BA Media Studies at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK (2008-2014).
In addition to various teaching positions, Milla has worked as a researcher in a number of funded projects. These include a position as Senior Research Fellow in the project, Deleuzian Music Research, led by professor of musicology and ethnomusicology Pirkko Moisala at the University of Helsinki (Academy of Finland-funded, 2012-2016) and a position, also as Senior Research Fellow, in the project, Localizing Feminist New Materialisms, led by Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies Taru Leppänen, in Turku (Academy of Finland-funded, 2017-2021
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Katve has worked at the University of Turku in several research and teaching positions since 2002, with lengthy periods of research abroad. In 2014–2017, she was a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow with the project ”Affective Fabrics of Contemporary Art: Stitching Global Relations” at the Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne, where she continues to supervise practice-led PhDs. Her research also affiliates with SenseLab: A Laboratory for Thought in Motion (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada), where she spent a term as a visiting scholar in 2013–2014; she is currently a member of SenseLab’s Australian Hub through my affiliation with The National Institute of Experimental Arts at the University of New South Wales, Sydney (CCAP: Contemporary Culture, Arts and Politics). Earlier, she has held visiting researcher positions in Gender Studies, The University of Sydney (2006), in History of Art at UC Berkeley (2006–2007), and at the Finnish African Cultural Institute of Villa Karo in Benin (2008).
Chiara Bonfiglioli
Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Chiara is currently Associate Professor in Contemporary History in the Department of Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy.
She is the Principal Investigator of the ERC Consolidator project titled WO-NAM: Women and Non-Alignment in the Cold War era: biographical and intersectional perspectives.
Previously (2017-2023), she lectured in Gender & Women’s Studies at University College Cork, where she coordinated the one-year interdisciplinary Masters in Women’s Studies.
Aislinn O’Donnell
Maynooth University, Ireland
Aislinn is Professor of Education in the Department of Education and is also a member of the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy. Aislinn was co-PI on EDURAD, an ISF-P funded project seeking to develop educational responses to extremism in partnership with University of Linz, CSI (Cyprus), FUAS (Germany) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She led the ERASMUS+ project The Enquiring Classroom (2016-2018) partnering with MIC (Limerick), Sodertörn (Sweden) and Ellinogermaniki Agogi (Greece). Together with Felicity Colman (UAL), Vera Bühlmann (U. Wien) and Iris van der Tuin (University of Utrecht), she was co-PI on the Horizon 2020 project Ethics of Coding: A Report on the Algorithmic Conditionfrom 2016-2017. She partnered on Embracing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (2018-2020) project funded by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission & Creative Ireland led by Chester Beatty Library with partners - MIC, NUIM, Intercultural Education Service NI & Heritec.
She has developed a number of creative research and teaching projects. Together with gallery educator and curator, Katy Fitzpatrick, she has created a collaborative project called Art and Philosophy in the Classroom. She has an ongoing practice introducing community philosophy and other educational initiatives through an inter-disciplinary lens to prison and probation projects.
She is co-Chair of the Society of Women in Philosophy (SWIP-Ireland), Vice-Chair of the Irish Penal Reform Trust and was on the Management Committee of the COST Network (IS1307) “How Matter comes to Matter”. She is also a member of the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) Irish Network.
SUBMISSION GUIDLINES
We welcome proposals for presentations and panels and encourage diverse modes of engagement including performance and other creative approaches. For individual presentations, please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words, along with a brief bio and contact details, to intersectionalhumanities@gmail.com by January 31st, 2024. For panel proposals please include abstracts for each paper and the panel's overall theme. Our preferred format is in-person but we will accommodate virtual presentations as needed. Please include your proposal with information about preferred format and other technical/practical requirements.
Schedule
January 31, 2024
Abstract submission deadline
August 26th to 28th, 2024
Conference dates
March 15, 2024
Notification of acceptance
Conference Format
Hybrid: both in-person and virtual
Registration
Registration to the conference will open soon. Watch this space for further details.
Conference fees (in euros):
Faculty Members 170
Early Career Researchers 125
Unwaged Participants 90
Artists : Full time artists are encouraged to contact us at intersectionalhumanities@gmail.com to register their interest to attend. Limited sponsored places are available with priority for artists with accepted abstracts.
For inquiries and further information, please contact our conference organizing team at intersectionalhumanities@gmail.com
Publication Opportunity
Selected papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication in a special issue of Matter: Journal of the New Materialisms or an edited volume dedicated to the encounters between intersectionality and feminist new materialisms.
Conference Practicalities
Conference venue and travelling
The conference will be held at Maynooth University Campus. Learn more about the location and travelling from https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/location
Accommodation options
Campus accommodation:
Conference delegates will have the option to take advantage of campus accommodation on the North Campus of Maynooth University.The accommodation is single ensuite bedrooms within 5 bedroom apartments with a shared kitchen and living area. A conference rate is available and the code to this will be released once registration is complete. The voucher is valid for bookings from the 25th August (check in) to the 29th August (check out).
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Other Accommodation:
We warmly encourage staying in Maynooth for networking and other opportunites. But other options include Glenroyal Hotel, Carton House, Hamlet Court Hotel, Johnstown Estate.
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Preliminary Programme
Monday
26.08.24
Registration
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9:30-11 Opening & Keynote 1
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11-11:30 Break
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11:30-13 Parallel Session 1
13-14:30 Lunch
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14:30-16 Keynote 2
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16-16:30 Break
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16:30-18 Parallel Session 2
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18-19 Wine Reception and book launch of Jennifer Redman's "The politics of gender and sexuality in modern Ireland: A Reader"
Tuesday
27.08.24
Registration
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9-10:30 Keynote 3
10:30-11 Break
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11:00-12:30 Parallel Session 3
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12:30-14:00 Lunch
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14:00-15:30 Keynote 4
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15:30-16 Break
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16-18 Parallel Session 4
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[TBA] Conference dinner
Wednesday
28.08.24
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9-10.30 Parallel Session 5
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10:30-11 Break
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11-12:30 Keynote 5
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12:30-14:00 Lunch
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14:00-15:30 Parallel Session 6
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15:30-16 break
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16 Closing