The 16th annual conference of the Space Between society will explore the notion of ‘crossing’ − whether of oceans, borders, classes, genders, disciplines or genres − as it relates to literature, art, history, music, theatre, media, and spatial or material culture in any country between 1914 and 1945. From 1930s writers and intellectuals crossing the class divide to the surrealist crossing of a sewing machine with an umbrella, from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando to Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, from crossing the dance floor to spying and wartime betrayal, tropes and examples of crossing proliferate across the culture of the period. We invite proposals for papers considering any aspect of crossing whether literal or metaphorical, spatial or social, successful or unsuccessful. Topics might include:
- crossing time and space
- transatlantic crossings of American (North and Latin) and European cultures
- crossing between east and west
- crossing the Mediterranean
- crossing travel and colonialism
- crossing the breach between peace and war
- crossing between friendship and enmity
- crossing picket lines
- broadcast media crossing the airwaves
- border crossings
- double crossings, voluntary and involuntary
- identity crossing
- cross dressing
- cross purposes
- cross-cultural activity
Keynote speaker: TBC
Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words along with a short biographical statement to Nick Hubble at Nick.Hubble@brunel.ac.uk by 2 December 2013.
Conference Organising Committee:
Erica Brown, Sheffield Hallam University
Richard Hornsey, University of Nottingham
Nick Hubble, Brunel University
Phyllis Lassner, Northwestern University
Michael McCluskey, University College London
Ann Rea, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown