Call For Papers

May 5, 2000
University of Maryland

Co-sponsored by the Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity and the Cyberculture Working Group

As the Century turns, fundamental aspects of human experience including individual and community identity formation, the mind-body relationship, and the articulation and valuation of difference are becoming increasingly tied to our ideas of Cyberspace. Computer literacy, particularly in terms of the ability to access and use the Internet has become, on a global scale, another boundary separating the haves from the have-nots. And, while non-dominant groups have made some in-roads onto the information superhighway, these boundaries typically mirror existing borders of difference. To understand the meaning of race, gender, and ethnicity in the 21st Century, the project of examining and understanding cyberculture must be undertaken.

Proposals for panels and papers dealing with cultural diversity in/and Cyberspace are sought for this inter- disciplinary conference. Suggested themes include the construction of race in Cyberspace; barriers non-dominant groups face in obtaining internet access; the construction of gendered, sexed, and virtual bodies; teaching issues of diversity and/with Cyberspace in the classroom; American/ English hegemony of cyberspace; the study of online communities, particularly communities formulated around the articulation of difference.

Please submit one page proposals for papers (20 minutes in length) or a two page proposal for complete panels (2-3 speakers plus a moderator - 1 hour in length) along with a current cv for all presenters by March 1, 2000.

Contact Information:

Cyberculture Working Group
c/o Ed Martini
Department of American Studies
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-1354