{"word_count": 830, "character_count": 6249}
ArgumentSome say that the 21st&#160;Century or modernity altogether made humans more concerned with doing rather than being. As the classical Greek civilization valued the most reflexive thinking as a form of freedom from natural necessities, contemporary times profoundly involve individuals and the imaginary accompanying social practices in a restless logic of consumption, competition and engagement that profoundly &#8211; or some would say, radically &#8211; suspends or indefinitely postpones the autonomous capacity of human beings to question and reflect upon the social order and the meaning of social practices. The fast advancement of the logic of post-industrial societies, the gradual dissolution of alternative models to the capitalist logic and a multitude of other alerting factors pushed ahead a global spread culture of one-dimensional productions of meaning that advances a closure rather than a constant reflexive re-evaluation of cultural/social practices.The Second Euroacademia Global Forum of Critical Studies&#160;aims to bring into an open floor the reflexive and questioning interaction among academics, intellectuals, practitioners and activists profoundly concerned with evaluative understandings of the world we&#8217;re living in.The focus of the forum is to initiate an arena where no question is misplaced and irrelevant as long as we acknowledge that evaluation, critical thinking and contestation are accessible trajectories to better understand our past, present and alternative scenarios for the future.The &#8216;fatal strategies&#8217; of post-industrial societies to keep individuals captive, busy and seduced by contingent social arrangements and economic practices minimized the questioning detachment required to evaluate and give meaning through reflexive criticism and unlimited interrogation. Various labels were given to our unfolding times from apocalyptic ones to some more comforting yet not by chance lacking some vital optimism. Despite a wide-spread discontent and suspicion towards the daily realities of our current societies, most of the big questions are often left outside by the self-involved active pursuit of an imagined well-being that is no longer transgressed by harsh critical evaluation of its meaning.The Second Global Forum of Critical Studies: Asking Big Questions Again will be held on 21 - 22 February 2014, in Prague (Czech Republic)General Panels&#160;When it&#8217;s about critical thinking and critical studies there is intrinsically an unending open list of topics to be included.The Euroacademia Forum on Critical Studies proposes the 5 sections (that are by no means exclusive):&#8226; Theory/Philosophy&#8226; Politics&#8226; Cultural Studies&#8226; Political Economy&#8226; Arts and Performance Papers on the following topics (and not only) are welcomed:Diagnostics of Our Times: Where Is the 21st Century Heading?Our Societies Are As Good As It Gets: How to Escape the Closure of Meaning?Consumerist Societies and the Captivity of ThinkingThe Being/Doing NexusAssessing Models of CapitalismMarkets, Capital and InequalitiesThe Remains of Individual AutonomyHow Plural Our Societies Truly Are?Debating Ideal vs. Real MulticulturalismSocial Narcissism and ConsumerismThe Role of Critical Thinking: Proposing Alternative MethodologiesAre There Any Alternatives to Capitalism Left?Social Causes and the Pursuit of Social BeliefsProtest and Social ChangeRe-Thinking RevolutionsHegemony and the Remaining Possibilities for Social CriticismLoneliness and Isolation in the Era of Mass CommunicationLiving Low Cost: Values, Meaning and Market ExchangeIdeology and Other Dominant NarrativesCritical EconomicsPost-Modernism and the Critique of ModernityMarx and the 21st CenturyDebating the End of CommunismNon-Oppositional SocietiesConsolation, Complicity and Passivity TodayWho Still Waits For A Revolution?C. Castoriadis and the Project of AutonomyFrench Thinking and Alternatives for ThoughtEastern Europe and the Enrollment to the School of CapitalismChina and the Logic of GrowthCrises of CultureLeft and Right: Political Spectrum and Pluralism Re-DiscussedArt as an Exchange ValueOriginality and ComplacencyLiteratures and AuthorsHeroes and Heroines in Electronic LiteratureFiction and the Fictionalization of the Contemporary WorldFilm and the Persisting Hunger for Heroic ImaginationThe Illusory Charity and Imagined forms of Contemporary HumanismsThe Growing Social Irrelevance of PhilosophyReplacement of the Logic of Becoming by the Logic of EarningHow Do We Look Back at Tradition?Just Wars or Unjust Thinking?The Myth of CosmopolitanismFacing the SelfCommunication, Media and SimulacrumScience, Pragmatics and Vocation: Who Pays What We Can&#8217;t Sell?Is There Still a Postmodern or Any Other Kind of Condition?Post-Marxist Way of Looking at FactsThe School of Suspicion and Evaluative ThinkingFeminist Readings of Our Contemporary WorldPost-Colonialism and the Refurbished Other(s)Theory and PowerQueer Theory and Living After the Sexual RevolutionSubaltern TheorySubmission guidelinesYou can apply on-line by completing the Application Form on the conference website or by sending a 300 words abstract together with the details of contact and affiliationuntil 15th of January 2014at application@euroacademia.euImportant Dates15 December 2013 Deadline for Submitting Panel Proposals15 January 2014 300 words abstracts and details of affiliation16 January 2014 Latest notification of acceptance18 January 2014 Sending the Registration Form20 January 2014 Payment of the conference fee5th of February 2014 Sending the draft paper to be uploaded on the web site of the conference10th of February 2014 Publication of the conference program and uploading the draft papers on the website21st of February 2014 The conference commences at 9.30 amSelection CommitteePollyn Chrysochou, The University of CyprusDomsodi Dana, Scuola Superiore Sant&#8217;Anna, Pisa, ItalyEmanuel Crudu, IMT Institute for Advanced StudiesCassandra Sciortino, University of California, Santa BarbaraDavide Bradanini, IMT Institute for Advanced StudiesCiucurescu Cristina, EuroacademiaFor each panel, specific additional members are part of the selection committee based on thematic expertise.