Theoretical Misfits: An Interdisciplinary Conference
2nd Annual EGO Conference
Submission Deadline: February 15, 2002

The 2nd Annual English Graduate Organization (EGO) Conference will be held April 4-6, 2002 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The theme of this year's interdisciplinary conference is "Theoretical Misfits." What role does the figure of the misfit (and related concepts of grotesquerie, gothic, the Other, and the abject) play in global and local cultural studies and theory? Does the role of the misfit arise from new theories, cultural shifts, evolving technologies, and/or recent discoveries? How do recent re-thinkings of the misfit change how we think of culture and theory? Do past mis-fits help us think through the future regarding these issues?

We invite papers and/or presentations that investigate these notions from a variety of perspectives, including American and British literature and culture, Film and Media studies, History, Romance Languages, German and Slavic Languages, Anthropology, Sociology, Fine Arts, Architecture, Music, and Political Science. Abstracts connecting the theme of last year's conference topic, "Souths: Global and Local," with "Theorizing the Misfit" are also welcome (to read last year's cfp, go to the 2001 conference website at http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/ego/conference01/).

While we are especially interested in abstracts/proposals which address the following suggested topics, we encourage a diversity of approaches and topics.

• Cultural misfits: the disenfranchised.
• Intellectual misfits: public intellectuals navigating between spheres.
• Spatial misfit: implications of geography as both location and idea within academic study.
• Architectural misfits: retro/nostalgic design, planned communities, public/private spaces in the 21st century.
• Rebels looking for a cause? Teenage misfits.
• Performativity: intentional (mis)fits.
• Hip hop, punk rock, noise: still misfits?
• Multi-media misfits: video games, hypertext, and virtual reality in academia.
• Economic misfits: capital (un)development.
• Genders and desires that cross the line(s).
• The English-only debate: language misfits?
• Revisionism in historical studies: misfit history?

Proposals for papers or presentations should be sent to:

ego-l@clas.ufl.edu

EGO c/o Department of English
PO BOX 117310
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-117310

This conference is sponsored by the English Department, ACCENT, the Graduate Student Council, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Student Council, Goerings Bookstore, Custom Copies and is organized by the University of Florida English Graduate Organization.