Intense Episodes --- Workshop Call for Papers
About the Workshop
Organised by Yichi Zhang, Evgeniya Pakhomova, and Nathan McAllister, and funded by the Ladislav Holy Trust, this workshop seeks to explore the possibilities of a different representational focus: intense episodes.
To write about such moments is to attend to feelings that might be freshly, powerfully, or profoundly experienced, and which unfold within a compressed temporality. 'Intense' here stands for the moments when people, things, and their social situations are stretched taut, like a string on the verge of snapping completely. A focus on intensity means shifting from the small disturbances and intricacies of everyday life towards drama, outburst, and affective excess in all their liveliness. We aim to capture moments of frenzy, wildness, rebellion, conflict, pain, wonder, desire, fantasy, or rapture that manifest as fresh wounds or heightened spirits, ignited crowds or wailing individuals. The goal is not to reject the study of the quotidian, but to explore what remains outside the brackets and think of new, creative ways to engage with the intense.
We therefore want to investigate the analytical insights that may arise from focusing simultaneously on the degree of feeling and temporality of the event. Possible directions include:
- How might their uncharacteristic episodes of intensity help us to better understand the motivations and desires of our research participants?
- In what ways are intense episodes felt, created, and lived through? How do people make sense of their feelings in these events?
- What affective conditions and temporalities are manifested in such explosive moments? Do intense episodes contain within themselves glimpses of other pasts and futures, or do they offer an escape from time?
- How may we theorise intense moments? What would a theory that positions them at the centre of analysis look like?
- What may an ethnographic method attuned to intense episodes look like? How may we identify an intense episode in the field?
- What creative strategies of representation can move beyond the current ethnographic modes?
This one-day event will bring together PhD students and early-career researchers to create a space of conversation with a proposed outcome of publication of an edited volume or special issue. The workshop will be chaired jointly, with a discussant invited to provide constructive feedback.
Subsistence costs (lunch, afternoon tea, and a networking dinner) will be covered. Limited funds have been allocated for travel costs of the participants, available on a needs basis.
To Participate
Submit a 250-word abstract by November 29th via https://forms.gle/fsMyYiP2g2nok3Pf7 . Selected contributors will be notified by January 15th.
All are welcome to attend as audience members for the discussions and to participate in the Q&A parts of the event. For any enquiries, please contact [email protected].