Feeling Fragmentary Call for Proposals

The isolation of the past year as a result of COVID-19 safety measures has left many of us feeling as though parts of ourselves are missing with fewer connections to the wider world. In many ways, we are feeling fragmentary. Yet, fragments in their material form are often sculptural and present critically important clues for scholars of all kinds. Taking its cue from these evocative items, “Feeling Fragmentary” is a symposium that aims to build community across the UW campus via short presentations that not only point toward speakers’ larger research practice, but together through assemblage form a new kind of “whole.”

SEEKING PROPOSALS:

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Material Culture Focus Group invites graduate students to apply for the virtual symposium taking place on Friday, May 14th, 2021. This is an event by and for graduate students at UW–Madison with the goal of connecting individuals with mutual interest in Material Culture.

The Material Culture Focus Group defines material culture broadly: as a methodology in which practitioners use objects, materials, or physical processes as their primary entry point for inquiry. The Group is designed to serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas and research related to the study of objects, artifacts, cultural landscapes, the built environment, and other material traces/facets of daily life.

Graduate students from any department at UW–Madison are encouraged to participate as presenters, moderators, or attendees whether they label themselves art historians, anthropologists, folklorists, social or cultural historians, literary scholars, designers, artists, archivists, or scientists.

Proposals are due by 11:59PM (CDT) on April 16, 2021. See CfP page for full details: https://cdmc.wisc.edu/feeling-fragmentary-a-graduate…/

ADDITIONAL HOSTS:
This event is organized through the Center for Design and Material Culture and the Design Studies department at the School of Human Ecology.

IMAGE:
Coverlet Fragment, ca. 1740-1839, Cotton, wool, 89×30 cm, HLATC Collection, Gift from the Estate of Professor Helen Louise Allen, W.L.US.1548.