CfP: The Universe(s) of Refugees Conference (Lisbon, Portugese National Library, 14-15 October 2019).

To mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of  Daniel Defoe’s famous novel Robinson Crusoe (1719), CETAPS (NOVA-FCSH) and the Portuguese National Library  organize, on the 14th and 15th October 2019, a conference to debate past and contemporary experience(s)  of forced migration, namely real, imaginary and imagined universes of refugees, exiled  and shipwrecked, conditions and positions metaphorised by the novelist in the characters Crusoe and Friday.

Departing from the literary exile experience of Crusoe, who survived a shipwreck, and of Friday, the conference papers should approach and study, in an interdisciplinary way, a wide range of topics, issue and themes related to forced migration.  Interested academics and professionals should send an abstract for a 20-minute paper, until April 15, 2019  (300 words’ abstract and a short bio) to Rogério Miguel Puga, using the following email addresses: theworldofrefugeesconference@gmail.com and cetaps@fcsh.unl.pt  stating CRUSOE as email subject.

There will be no conference fees, so participation for speakers and the general public is free.  The scientific advisory board will select (blind peer review) the abstracts and delegates will be notified by email until 1st June 2019.
Conference themes:
. Democratic coexistence, (imagined) communities, citizenship, forced migration and refugees’ camps.
. Materialities of forced migration (cell phone (brought), the life jackets, (received) blankets and the boat, among other objects and ways of travelling.
. Forced migration, diaspora and religion.
. Forced migration, visual culture and the museum (artistic creation and curatorship).
. Sense of belonging, borders, frontiers, transnationalism, isolation, nationalism(s), non-places and forced migration.
. Forced migration, violence, emotions and the five senses.
. The economic(s) and geopolitics of wars.
. Forced migration and local, regional, national and global interests.
. Escape, survival, shipwreck, aid refusal and death.
. Forced migration, populism and self- and hetero-stereotypes.
. Forced migration, (technologies of) displacement, travel writing and the arts.
. Human beings trafficking and slavery.
. Refugees/exiled and gender.
. The (il)legal status of refugees in different countries.
. Migration and contemporaneity.
. The refugees crisis as humanitarian disaster.
. Artistic representations of the experience(s) and universe(s)of refugees.
. The exiled and refugee in Portuguese and world history.
. Translation, intercultural dialogue and refugees.
. Journalism and refugees and exiled. The journalists’ coverage and the (not so) famous media cases.
. Forced migration, asylum, deportation, human rights and duties.
. War, political, religious and social persecution, and refugees.
. Refugeees, education/training, labour market, Economics and social inclusion/integration.
. Robinson Crusoe, Friday and other literary refugees/exiled: fictional representations of forced migration (due to human pressure or natural disasters).
. Migration and natural, humanised, technological and cultural landscapes, soundscapes, foodscapes, smellscapes, and cityscapes.
. Testimonies of refugees /exiled, memories/narratives of war, trauma, voyages, crossings, arrival, humanitarian nutrition, social insertion, expulsion, loss, death.

Venue: Portuguese National Library (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, in the Entrecampos area, Lisbon).
Date: 14-15 October 2019.
Conference working languages: Portuguese, Spanish, and English.
Organization: Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (CETAPS), NOVA-FCSH, and Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal.