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Keynote Speakers: Professor Michael Dillon (Lancaster) and Professor Scott Wilson (Kingston) Introduced by Professor Regenia Gagnier (Exeter)Critical Theory: Violence and Reconciliation is a one-day interdisciplinary event designed to bring together postgraduate students and early career academics working in the fields of English, Modern Languages, Politics, Film and Drama. The central theme of the conference addresses interpretations of violence and/or reconciliation. How should we interpret violence? What constitutes reconciliation and is it always desirable? Is critical theory distanced from violence or an act of violence itself ?Possible themes include but are not limited to:* Violence and the ways in which it is represented (e.g. music, visual cultures, film, literature)* The Politics of Violence* Media representation* Communications technology* Violence and identity (e.g. race, class, gender and sexuality)* Visibility politics* Trauma Theory* Postcolonialism* Insurrection and RevolutionWe are interested in work that is specific to individual theorists such as Jacqueline Rose, Hannah Arendt or Alain Badiou or based on theoretical schools of thought such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminisms or eco-criticism.Writers and texts need not be canonical and we actively encourage papers discussing writers, texts, theories and thinkers from around the world.Whilst the majority of panels will follow the format of three 20-minute papers followed by questions, some of these panels will break with that traditional structure. For this second form of panel, participants will be asked to submit their papers in advance. These will be collated into the conference packs and distributed amongst attendees prior to the event. On the day, these participants are invited to deliver a short commentary on their paper and the floor will be opened for discussion. The aim of this format is to prepare participants in advance thereby fostering active, in-depth and focused debate.Abstracts (350 words) are invited by 12th July 2010. Please email abstracts and enquiries to Graham Matthews (gjm201@ex.ac.uk), Lara Cox or Sam Goodman at critical.theory.online@gmail.comConference website: http://www.sall.ex.ac.uk/content/view/2711/577/