{"id":167,"date":"2008-02-24T09:13:53","date_gmt":"2008-02-24T09:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/annualconference\/french-association-for-american-studies\/afea-conference\/previous-conferences\/2009-conference-besancon-the-fear-factor\/call-for-workshops-172\/167\/"},"modified":"2021-04-12T11:35:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T11:35:42","slug":"call-for-workshops-172","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/french-association-for-american-studies\/afea-conference\/previous-conferences\/2009-conference-besancon-the-fear-factor\/call-for-workshops-172\/167\/","title":{"rendered":"Call For Workshops"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Fear Factor<\/strong> <\/p>\n

2009 Conference \u2013 American Studies Association of France <\/u><\/strong>:
\nMarie-Claude Chenour<\/a> – Paris X ;
\nJohn Dean<\/a> – Universit\u00e9 de Versailles ;
\nMarie Lienard<\/a> – Ecole Polytechnique.
\n<\/p>\n

Whether it be real or imaginary, fear haunts America. The sociologist Barry Glassner even speaks of the nation as a \u201cculture of fear\u201d. Idiomatic American English buzzes the fear factor\u2019s sensations and appearances: from the dreaded Other<\/em>, whether they be human (conspirators) or natural (wilderness) — on through the impulse \u201cto put the fear of God\u201d into\u201d someone or thing. Could fear be the diametrical opposite of liberty? Could it be the paradox of a democracy where theoretically all is permitted but, in fact, unbounded liberty is impossible? Could the reoccurring role of violence be the result of an original, visceral fear?<\/p>\n

One finds the creature, the phantasm, the dreaded or desired, the objects of anxiety, horror, the sublime of the contemptible which each in their own way have helped to create America\u2019s social structures \u2013 its laws, political programs and policies, and institutional forms. US urban architecture increasingly creates structures of fear (CF in particular Mike Davis\u2019 City of Quartz: : Excavating the Future in Los Angeles<\/em>). Why? Is fear in its American context, as Glassner suggests, a thing created in order to distract the nation\u2019s poor? Insecurity, after all, is a money maker that helps cause people to seek out symbolic substitutes (such as a \u201cgated community\u201d).<\/p>\n

Is fear a political tool? What forms did fear take Stateside and abroad for America and Americans after the trauma of 9\/11? What did Americans seek to redeem or regain by taking global action against fear? (Or as the US comedian David Cross said in 2002: \u00ab You cannot win a War on Terrorism. It\u2019s like having a war on jealousy. \u00bb) How does one explain the irrational focus and manifestations of certain kinds of fear which pepper the culture \u2013 such as road rage, allergies, fear of flying, the duct tape mania, & “secondhand” tobacco smoke? Specially when other far more serious and concrete perils endanger the culture, yet receive relatively little attention in comparison — such as the forgotten at the bottom of the economic and health-care pyramid ?<\/p>\n

We thus propose an exploration of fear in its numerous and multi-faceted representations as our next, 2009 AFEA congr\u00e8s<\/em> theme. American literature, civilization, and the arts each offer their respective cornucopia of riches.<\/p>\n

With American Civilization one may begin with the 1607 cannibalism at Jamestown recorded by John Smith and William Bradford \u2019s 1620s Massachusetts Bay Colony call to his fellow Europeans who became Americans and transported husbands, \u201cWives, Little Ones and Substance over the vast Ocean into this waste and howling Wilderness”; to Pearl White who starred in the great, feminist \u201cThe Perils of Pauline\u201d movie adventure of America\u2019s silent film era and proclaimed: \u201cI have actually gotten to like fear…\u201d; the nation\u2019s re-occurring waves of Nativism and conspiracy fears; down to present-day US fears of terrorism and the civil right\u2019s torture of The Patriot Act (aka: \u201cUniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001\u201d). <\/p>\n

The US arts and society relation is thickly laced with fear. One may cite photography (Weegee & others); film (horror, fantasy, science-fiction); painting (Albert Pinkham Ryder); architecture (prison design and experience); the manuel & graphic arts (Norman Rockwell\u2019s \u201cFreedom from Fear\u201d); cartoons & comic strips (from Dick Tracey through the insurgent Mikhaela Reid & others); music (popular genres from gospel & blues to metal); theater (classics: Eugene O\u2019Neill, Miller); journalism (tabloids); radio and TV (Twilight Zone, NBC\u2019s \u201cFear Factor\u201d); and throughout the mass media present and past.<\/p>\n

Fear in its many American manifestations in the civilization has served numerous ends. It has helped to increase American public awareness of physical and spiritual dangers, to incite panic, to serve the interests of The Powers That Be, to foster America\u2019s local, national, and international frictions and alliances. In the end, the social and cultural issues of fear remain an open question — an area ripe for our critical pickings.<\/p>\n

With literature one may perhaps critically analyze fear in its various forms from derision to distortion, the marks of anguished silences and the hidden extremes of doubt. One finds it in the intimate, subjective, and muted style of impressionistic writing or in expressionistic cries of distress. Fear murmurs forth in confession or explodes in the curse. A significant body of outstanding literary genres \u2013 the gothic, the grotesque, horror — are built on the spine of fear; as exhibited in Poe, James, Lovecraft, elements of which extend down through Paul Auster<\/p>\n

Through literature one may delineate three kinds of fear, three main axes of the American experience: external, the fear of danger from the outside; internal, danger from within; and the fear to be abnormal (fear of legitimacy). One finds, for example, in post-war US literature the theater of the absurd, the methodical and meticulous examination of suicide with Robert Lowell or Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Ginsberg\u2019s rage in \u201cHowl\u201d, Pyncheon\u2019s obsessions in V. Amid the conservative consensus of the 1950s many American writers felt dreadfully hemmed in. The earlier, significant WWI generation of writers was lost and certainly expressed repulsion against all-American conformism and provincialism, the dread of \u201cMain Street\u201d which caused many to take refuge in Paris. Further back one confronts the immense unknown territories of the frontier experience and the presence of evil in all its forms.<\/p>\n

In addition there is the anxiety of influence and authorship themes (as with Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar), the anxiety of writers (especially women and minority writers) who, at the moment they took pen to write, were paralyzed by feelings of illegitimacy.<\/p>\n

Does fear persist as the American double, its \u201cblack sun\u201d as Kristeva wrote? We propose to explore together the specificity of fear in the American conscience, in the nation\u2019s institutions and everyday life, and in its rich and various creative forms. <\/p>\n

American Civilization has a fearful embarrassment of riches with regard to this theme. One may begin with the 1607 cannibalism at Jamestown recorded by John Smith and John Winthrop\u2019s 1620s Massachusets Bay
\n Colony call to his fellow Europeans who became Americans and transported husbands, \u201cWives, Little Ones and Substance over the vast Ocean into this waste and howling Wilderness”; to Pearl White who starred in the great, feminist \u201cThe Perils of Pauline\u201d movie adventure of America\u2019s silent film era and proclaimed: \u201cI have actually gotten to like fear…\u201d; down to present-day US fears of terrorism and the civil right\u2019s torture of The Patriot Act (aka: \u201cUniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001\u201d). <\/p>\n

For fear in its many American manifestations has served many ends. It has served to increase American public awareness of physical and spiritual dangers, to incite panic, to serve the interests of The Powers That Be, to foster America\u2019s local, national, and international frictions and alliances. In the end, the issue of fear has remained an open question in everyday America\u2019s real and imaginative life. Here is an area ripe for our critical pickings.<\/p>\n

– July 1, 2008: workshop proposals deadline.
\n– July 14th: workshop news back to the proposers.
\n– October 31, 2008: deadline for workshop composition & suggested papers.<\/p>\n

More Info Civilization (John Dean) La Peur \/ The Fear Factor – an American Timeline<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fear Factor 2009 Conference \u2013 American Studies Association of France : Marie-Claude Chenour – Paris X ; John Dean – Universit\u00e9 de Versailles ; Marie Lienard – Ecole Polytechnique. Whether it be real or imaginary, fear haunts America. The sociologist Barry Glassner even speaks of the nation as a \u201cculture of fear\u201d. Idiomatic American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2009-conference-besancon-the-fear-factor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Admin","author_link":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/author\/yanb\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Fear Factor 2009 Conference \u2013 American Studies Association of France : Marie-Claude Chenour – Paris X ; John Dean – Universit\u00e9 de Versailles ; Marie Lienard – Ecole Polytechnique. Whether it be real or imaginary, fear haunts America. The sociologist Barry Glassner even speaks of the nation as a \u201cculture of fear\u201d. Idiomatic American…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1146,"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/1146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afea.fr\/annualconference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}