CfP: Symposium: Network Politics: Objects, Subjects and New Political Affects

Network Politics: Objects, Subjects and New Political Affects

October 22-23, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

A Symposium co-sponsored by the AHRC funded "New Configurations

of Network Politics" project at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

UK, and the Infoscape Centre for the Study of Social Media, Ryerson

University, Canada

In the network age, the question of political agency is becoming

increasingly troublesome, with a pressing need to reflect upon how

collective distributed networks as well as non-human actants

re-define the field of the political.

This symposium will investigate what counts as a political object or

subject , and how such objects/subjects circulate and are controlled

in the context of developing critical approaches to networked

politics.

The symposium seeks to build upon object-oriented philosophy, which

has shifted the language of coding and programming into the domain

of 'tool-being'. In so doing a correlate possibility of a 'web' of

subject-oriented objects emerges, opened up by hyper-personalized

web services and control techniques that shape and recombine

pseudo-subjects from the bio-political detritus of data-mining

software and algorithmic protocols. In the face of such new

assemblages, what sites, actants, and tactics potentially reinvent

new political affects?

The symposium welcomes interventions on related questions and topics

that answer or complicate the notion of the 'objects' and 'subjects'

of network politics. The symposium seeks paper proposals that touch

upon the following set of themes: 

- Theories and case studies of object/subject-oriented politics

- Networking of political artifacts: politicizing "participatory culture"

- New epistemologies for networked politics

- Politics 2.0: personalization, customization and surveillance

- Activist platforms and recursive publics

The event takes place October 22 & 23, 2010 at Ryerson University,

Toronto and is co-hosted by the Infoscape Centre for the Study of

Social Media and the AHRC funded project New Configurations of

Network Politics at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge UK.

Deadlines:

Paper proposals (400 words): due 2 August, 2010

Acceptances: August 15, 2010

Please email proposals to Network Politics Project -

contact AT networkpolitics.org or directly

contact 

jussi.parikka AT anglia.ac.uk

and/or

joss.hands AT anglia.ac.uk

For other inquiries about the event please contact

gelmer AT ryerson.ca

Symposium programming commmittee: Jussi Parikka (Anglia Ruskin U.),

Joss Hands (Anglia Ruskin U.), Greg Elmer (Ryerson University),

Ganaele Langlois (U. of Ontario Institute of Technology), and

Alessandra Renzi (Ryerson University)

EMERGING EXCELLENCE: In the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008,

more than 30% of our submissions were rated as 'Internationally Excellent' or 'World-leading'.

Among the academic disciplines now rated 'World-leading' are Allied Health Professions Art English Language Geography & Environmental

Studies; History; Music; Psychology; and Social Work & Social

Policy & Administration.

Visit www.anglia.ac.uk/rae for more information.