Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Dr. Sophie Fuggle, Nottingham Trent University, Dr. Amina Zarzi, University of Oxford.
2023 marks the 150th anniversary of Jules Verne’s Le Tour du monde en 80 jours (Around the World in 80 Days), first published in book form in 1873. While Verne’s text remains celebrated for its depiction of swashbuckling adventure (as evidenced in a recent adaptation for British television), the Western, colonial and racist bias of this work appear obvious in hindsight. Verne’s 19th century depiction of travel, participation and agency depended on various processes of inclusion and exclusion both within and beyond the métropole which took place in a context of racialised colonisation in these realms. Such considerations provide a springboard for the theme of this year’s conference, which focuses on questions encompassing travel writing, inclusion and exclusion in voluntary, forced, temporary and permanent migration as expressed in Francophone texts across a variety of time periods. How have depictions of travel mutated since the period in which Verne was writing? Which legacies of inclusion and exclusion from colonial periods remain, or have reversed, in 21st century postcolonial writing? How has the writing of travel contributed to the formation of discourses of knowledge, such as those now being explored under the banner of the medical humanities?
This is an interdisciplinary call for papers, inviting contributions from researchers working across all fields of languages, cultures and societies. We welcome proposals for papers and panels on topics including, but not limited to:
- Travel writing and transport
- Disability and travel
- Travel and time
- Bodily inclusion/exclusion in travel
- Travel and medical considerations/health
- Travel and trauma
- Geographical inclusion/exclusion
- Travel, writing, and genre
- Transnational discovery
- Travel and language
Please send abstracts of 250-300 words plus 50-100 words of biography to Conference Secretary, Dr. Christopher Hogarth (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Papers can be in English or French.
The deadline for receipt of abstracts is: 16 July 2023. This year’s conference will be held in person
The Society is committed to providing support for Early Career Researchers and will hold a dedicated ECR event in the conference programme, details of which will be available at a later stage.
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