Transnational Space and the Politics of Place
May 8-9, 2009
UCLA
(Program [PDF])
The concept of space is central to reflecting on transnational communities that share languages, media or texts rather than physical terrain. Theories of transnational space are also instrumental in order to account for those who have been expelled from their land or remain on the margins of their new cities. How are space and place conceptualized within these various communities and their cultural productions? Artists and intellectuals sketch new spatial imaginaries in their work by destabilizing prevailing discourses on space and place, thus laying the groundwork for the revision of those discourses. Through translation and mediation, furthermore, the circulation of discourse transnationally generates new spatial metaphors of encounter and dialogue. Yet the processes by which these map onto particular histories are shaped, too, by inequities of power. Consequently, transnational imaginaries are sites of contention as well as recognition. This conference shall take a closer look at both the politics of place and the circulation of spatial knowledge in transnational context, in order to raise new questions about the broader claims of transnational spatial discourses today.
Friday, May 8, 2009, Royce Hall 306
9:15 am
Welcome
Royce Hall 306
Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih, co-directors, UCLA Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
THE VISUAL, THE MOBILE, AND THE TRANSNATIONAL: ARCHITECTURES OF SPATIAL THOUGHT
Moderator: Liz Constable, (University of California, Davis)
Greg Cohen, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow (UCLA)
“City of the Planalto: The Filmic Brasília and the Nature of Late-Modern Spatiality”
Travis Workman, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
“Bilingual Writer as Architect: Intensive Space and Lyricism in Yi Sang’s Poetry”
Tom Conley, (Harvard University)
“Space in Transit: On Geographies of Film Noir”
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Lunch Break
1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
NETWORKS, AND SPATIAL REGIMES: EMBEDDED POWER AND PERFORMANCE INTERVENTION
Moderator: Shanna Lorenz, (Occidental College)
Dorita Hannah, Professor of Spatial Design (Massey University)
“Black Wi(n)dow: Architectural Performativity and Spatial Cruelty”
Sarah Valentine, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
“Shifting Borders in End-of-the-Soviet-Era Film”
Marcela Fuentes, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
“From Site-specific to Locative Arts: Placing Artistic Gestures in Transnational Context”
4:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Coffee Break
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm:
Keynote Speech, Royce Hall 314
Edward Soja, (UCLA)
“Struggles Over Geography: On the Spatial Turn in the Human Sciences”
Introduction: Greg Cohen, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
Saturday, May 9, Royce Hall 306
9:30 am to 12:00 pm –
PANEL ONE: RACING RELIGION IN (POST)NATIONAL SPACES
Moderator, Sondra Hale, (UCLA)
Fatima El-Tayeb, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
“Cosmopolitanism and the Construction of Muslim Identity in ‘Postsecular’ Europe”
Sze wei Ang, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
“Religion and Regionalism as Racial Supplements”
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, (Emory University)
“Identity and Self-Determination: Authority is in the Eyes of the Beholder”
12:00 pm -1:30 pm
Lunch break
1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
GENDERED MODERNITY IN A TRANSNATIONAL ARAB WORLD
Moderator: Karina Eileraas, (UCLA)
Maya Boutaghou, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
“Translation in Desired Transnational Spaces: Mayy Ziyada in Cairo”
Sonali Pahwa, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, (UCLA)
“Gendering Space in Transnational Media: Women’s Talk Shows on Arab Satellite Television.”
Ronald Judy, (University of Pittsburgh)
“Imagining an Arabization of Global English-language Literary Theory”
4:00 pm
Closing Reception