CfP: Feminisms in a Transnational Perspective: Love and Terror (Extremis Malis Extrema Remedia)

The 11th Postgraduate Course “Feminisms in a Transnational Perspective”:
Love and Terror (Extremis Malis Extrema Remedia)
Dubrovnik, IUC, May 22-26, 2017

Call for Applications
Faced with the current moral collapse in dealing with migrations prompted by terror, with the supposed
“importation of terror” by (im)migrants, with actual terrorist attacks and their various performative
modes (cfr. Bharucha, 2014), as well as with the justification for anti-terrorist measures that thrive on
more subtle and less visible forms of terrorizing, we propose a radical response of love. From minimal
gestures of solidarity and help via instances of loving encounters resisting fear-inducing interests, to
counter–hegemonic discourses, and, if possible, alternative platforms, love needs to be valued and
reconceptualized not only in terms of the forms it can take, but also in terms of the so far unsurpassed
challenges it needs to live up to.
The topic does, however, imply a reverse perspective as well, one that explores the uncomfortable
interpenetrations of the two phenomena and their sexual or gendered aspects in particular: the abuses
of romantic, conjugal, religious, literary or theoretical exaltations of love to the point of terror, or in the
service of terror. One of the dearest philosophical topics, from Plato via Kierkegaard to Irigaray,
Bruckner and Badiou, love is also one of the most insistently compromised words and ideals. Given
the escapist connotations this concept can induce among all those unwilling to confront daily injustice
or dreaming about a withdrawal from turbulent public spaces into the private domain, it is timely to
interrogate the various terrorizing manipulations of the discourse of/on love, regardless of the field in
which they thrive or the epoch they stem from.
We invite transnational feminist reflections on these issues, as well as interventions that would present
and/or envisage a range of practices, decisions, actions, critical and artistic approaches to the states,
effects, and expressions of love and terror.

We welcome proposals for papers, but we are also open to round tables, performance-lectures, or
other alternative formats and methodologies of sharing knowledge. Proposals might consider some of
the following issues:

love, terror and the politics of discourse in verbal, visual, and performance texts, both past and
present

love and terror, sharing and scaring as main forces for modelling virtual narrative communities

love and terror in religious discourses in relation to gender ideologies and practices

gendered narratives of politics, war and domination

compassion as an “emotion in operation” (Berlant)

politics of solidarity and geopolitical realities

reflections on the moral, political, and economic responsibility entailed in the act of witnessing
suffering

the use of ordinary and extraordinary terror, as well as the figures of terror, in maintaining or
challenging gender orders

private and public lives / private and public loves – politicization of emotional relationships and
family relations

crimes of passion and honour killings

ethnography of terror in public discourses, mass and social media

terror(ism): sublimity of the act of terror, the politicality of its effects

intimacy with the ‘terrorist’: on dreams, fantasies and fears.

Course co-directors:
Lada Čale Feldman, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia,
lcfeldma@ffzg.hr
Francesca Maria Gabrielli, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia,
fmgabrie@ffzg.hr
Silvana Carotenuto, Università degli studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Italy, silcarot@gmail.com
Elissa Helms, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, Helmse@ceu.edu
Sandra Prlenda, Centre for Women’s Studies, Zagreb, Croatia, sandra.prlenda@zenstud.hr
Renata Jambrešić Kirin, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb, Croatia, renata@ief.hr
Durre Ahmed, Centre for the Study of Gender and Culture, Lahore, Pakistan,
durresahmed@gmail.com

Eligibility:
IUC courses are conducted at postgraduate level. All interested postgraduate students may apply to
participate, although the course targets young scholars and postgraduate students with a defined
interest in women’s/gender studies, transnational studies, philosophy, sociology, literary and cultural
studies, postcolonialism, or anthropology. The course will be limited to 25 participants (15 students) in
order to provide sufficient space for discussion, seminar work and student presentations. Participants
must seek funding from their own institutions for the costs of travel, lodging and meals. Limited
financial support is available for participants from parts of Eastern Europe and some third countries
(please see http://www.iuc.hr/iuc-support.php). The IUC requires a payment of 40 EUR for the Course
fee. The working language of the course is English.
Application Procedure:
Please submit a proposal consisting of a short narrative describing your interest in the topic and your
CV. Place all current contact information at the top of your CV. Send submissions by e-mail to
fmgabrie@ffzg.hr (Francesca Maria Gabrielli) and international@zenstud.hr. Use the subject: IUC
Dubrovnik 2016. The proposal deadline is January, 20th, 2017.