CONFERENCE ONLINE (via Zoom platform)
CFP:
In the time when human rights are violated on a regular basis, violence triumphs, and feeble democracies ever more often back down before authoritarian rule, there obviously arises the need to reflect on the possible ways of counteracting such phenomena. Our interdisciplinary conference is intended as a fitting opportunity for this reflection. We would like to look at various manifestations of dictatorship, violence and human rights violation, whether historical or current. We will describe them in political, social, psychological, cultural and many other terms. We also want to devote considerable attention to how the situation of human rights and dictatorship is represented in artistic practices: in literature, film, theatre or visual arts.
We invite researchers representing various academic disciplines: history, politics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, literary studies, theatre studies, film studies, fine arts, design, memory studies, migration studies, consciousness studies, dream studies, gender studies, postcolonial studies, medical sciences, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, cognitive sciences, economics, law and other.
Different forms of presentations are encouraged, including case studies, theoretical investigations, problem-oriented arguments, and comparative analyses.
We will be happy to hear from both experienced scholars and young academics at the start of their careers: doctoral students, graduate and undergraduate students. We also invite all persons interested in participating in the conference as listeners, without giving a presentation.
We hope that due to its interdisciplinary nature, the conference will bring many interesting observations on and discussions about the role of human rights and dictatorship in the past and in the present-day world.
Our repertoire of suggested topics includes but is not restricted to:
I. Societies
Genocides
Slavery
Nationalism
Chauvinism
Xenophobia
Ethnic cleansings
Religious dictatorships
The Holocaust
Apartheid
(Neo)Nazism
II. Individuals
Domestic violence
Mobbing
Bullying in school
Bullying in the army
Sexual abuse
Sado-masochism
Symbolic violence
Economic discrimination
Ageism
III. Defense of Human Rights
Human rights organizations
Humanitarian missions
Resistance movement
The ethos of a freedom fighter
Conspiracies, protests, revolts
Racial equality
Performative race
Women’s rights
Sexual minority rights
Disability rights
Human rights and animal rights
IV. Fallen Dictatorships
Democracy in transition
Post-communist countries
Amnesties
The revenge of the oppressed
Criminal courts/ courts of justice
Escape from freedom
Nostalgia for the regime
Dictator’s psychological portrait
V. Violence and Subjectivity
Politics of trauma
Fear, despair and utopia
Violence and language
Dictatorship as a social symptom
Dictatorship, remembrance and forgetfulness
VI. Violence in the (Post)Modern World
Cultural conditioning of violence
Dictatorship of the young
Dictatorship of the old
Dictatorship and conformism
The regime of political correctness
Democracy and the dictatorship of the majority
Democracy and liberalism
Human rights and the free market
Violence in the media
VII. Literature and the Arts
– Literature and art about human rights violation
– Literature and art about violence
– Literature and art engaged in human rights defense
– Literature and art violating human rights
Please submit abstracts (no longer than 300 words) of your proposed 20-minute presentations, together with a short biographical note, by 26 September 2025 to:
to: inconferenceoffice@gmail.com
Note:
As our online conference will be international, we will consider different time zones of our Participants.
Our email: inconferenceoffice@gmail.com