1st Global Conference Intellectuals - Knowledge, Power, Ideas

1st Global Conference
Intellectuals - Knowledge, Power, Ideas

Thursday 8th May - Saturday 10th May 2008
Budapest, Hungary

Call for Papers
This inter- and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to explore the
role,
character, nature and place of intellectuals and intellectual work in
contemporary society. Whilst the ‘intellectual’ emerges as a
particular
category with the development of modernity, the ‘knowledgeable’ and

knowledge producers have been an important historical agent and social

actor since the early Greek philosophers, and knowledge production,
whether religious, scientific or philosophical, has been important in
shaping social, political, economic and cultural change. Intellectuals

and the knowledge they produce have been subject to competing
representations: from an ‘elect’ producing knowledge for its own
sake to
different forms of philosopher king, servant of the state or dissenting

movement intellectuals connecting politically with change in the social

world. In contemporary ‘knowledge’ societies, much of the focus on
the
intellectual as a ‘public’ figure, residing within the media
intelligentsia or institutions of higher learning, but competing
theories of intellectuals and their work identify elitist, meritocratic

and radical alternatives about who intellectuals are, what they do, how

they are connected to and divided from other social institutions, and
why we understand them the way we do.

The Project underpinning this inaugural conference seeks to build both

an evidenced and critical understanding of the intellectual and
intellectual work in the past and a critical understanding of
intellectuals and intellectual work in the present, and its prospects
for the future. In doing so, it recognises that the interdisciplinary
basis of such an analysis will take in the fields of cultural studies,

education studies (with a particular focus on higher education),
history, literature, philosophy, politics, sociology, social theory and

open avenues to wider and more diverse disciplinary connections, and
the
project welcomes interdisciplinary explorations.

Some indicative themes are suggested below to indicate the types of
issues that might be addressed in conference papers and workshops.

A. History, the Intellectual and Intellectual Work
How do we understand intellectuals and intellectual work in the past?
What relationships characterised the categorisation, role, nature and
place of intellectuals within society and social institutions in the
past? How have the roles, natures and places of intellectuals changed
through history? How have we come to understand the intellectual both
before and after that particular identification emerged within the
onset
of the enlightenment project and modernity? What different models or
characterisations of the intellectual emerge historically and how
persuasive are they? What do historical understandings of the
intellectual tell us about the intellectual today?

B. Intellectuals, the Academy and Higher Education
What are the role and functions and positions that intellectuals have
taken within learning institutions? What overlap and interplay is there

between the academy and the intellectual? How have learning
institutions
developed in relation to the production of intellectuals and knowledge?

What moral, cultural, political and educational principles underpin the

academy and the learning institution? How has the association between
academy and intellectual been impacted on by recent developments in the

role and place of higher learning institutions within economy and
society?

C. Intellectuals and their Troubling Relationship to Knowledge
What is knowledge? Is it a commodity, ‘mere’ information or
something
more intrinsically apart from the production of information? What, if
anything, is the difference between knowledge and information? What
different relationships does the intellectual have with knowledge and
how do we understand them? What is the place of various types of
credentials in contemporary society and how does that relate to
intellectual status and intellectual work? To what extent is knowledge

only understood within the social context of its production and to what

extent has it a universal or divorced from social context?

D. Intellectuals and the Knowledge Society
How has the intellectual changed in their role, character and place in

the knowledge society? How have the internet and ICT’s changed the
way
intellectuals work and intellectual work is produced, distributed and
exchanged? How has the knowledge society changed our understanding of
the intellectual in society? Have we moved from the primacy of the mode

of production to the primacy of the mode of information?

E. Public Intellectuals and the Intellectual in Public and Political
Life
What is a public intellectual and how is a public intellectual
distinguished from other intellectuals and knowledge producers? What
roles and places do public intellectuals have in past and contemporary

societies? Are intellectuals and is intellectual work always political?

What political and public roles do intellectuals play?

F. Intellectuals and Cultural Life
How have intellectuals impacted on cultural life, in shaping everyday
experience, providing frameworks for understanding and producing
cultural enrichment? In what ways have intellectuals played a role in
shaping the cultural milieu? What is the relationship between the
intellectual and the artist or producer of cultural knowledge and
products? What is the relationship between intellectuals and the
aesthetic?

G. Intellectuals and the Development of Bodies of Knowledge
How do intellectuals produce and create knowledge? How should we
understand the processes of knowledge production and creation as social

and political and well as research processes? How should we understand

notions of discovery, exploration and speaking truth in the context of

critical perspectives on knowledge creation? How have particular bodies

of knowledge developed historically and come to play determining roles

in social, cultural, political and economic change?

Papers will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts

should be submitted by Friday 18th January 2008. If an abstract is
accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by

Friday 18th April 2008.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to both Organising Chairs;
abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this
order: author(s), affiliation, email address, title of abstract, body
of
abstract. We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals
submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should
assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in
cyberspace!
We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or
resend.
Paul Reynolds
Social and Psychological Sciences,
Edge Hill University
United Kingdom
E-Mail: Reynoldp@edgehill.ac.uk

Rob Fisher
Network Founder & network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
E-Mail: ikp@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the Critical Issues programme of research
projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and
interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are
innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this

conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected

papers will be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume.

For further details about the project, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ci/intellectuals/int.html

For further details about the conference, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ci/intellectuals/int1/cfp.html

=============
Dr Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net



Paul Reynolds
Reader in Sociology and Social Philosophy
Programme Leader in Sociology and Social Psychology
Department of Social and Psychological Sciences
Edge Hill University
St Helens Road
Ormskirk
Lancs L39 4QP
Tel: 01695 584370
email: reynoldp@edgehill.ac.uk