FRAGMENTS

What are the arts and humanities if not an assemblage of fragments? The definition of fragmentation is “the process or state of breaking or being broken into fragments.” Think of the break between rural nineteenth century Britain and the Industrial Revolution that would disrupt traditional, normative ways of life. What about modernism, that put into words and embodied an age of continuous fragmentation? Alternatively, think of the architectural inventions of the 1950s and the ways social unrest and cultural disruptions paved the way for avant-garde brutalism. In this conference, postgraduate candidates across the humanities come together what the concept of fragments means in their field of study. The scope is expansive: from history to literature to law, we welcome varied conceptualisations of fragmentation.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE: 15 JUNE/16 JUNE CONFERENCE, EVENING KEYNOTE 

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these fragments i have shored against my ruins

THE VISION

As per the School of Advanced Study’s ethos for inclusion, we wanted to create a postgraduate conference that transcended borders and geographical boundaries. The Doctoral Centre at the School of Advanced Study and SASiety envisioned a conference that could unite our Master’s students and doctoral candidates, whether they are in London, or abroad. Students now have the opportunity to be part of something that is bound to bring us all together – which is why our theme is so expansive! We hope you, no matter your discipline,  are able to join us.

Yes, we are looking at you. Whether you study classics, philosophy, literature, law, art history, modern languages and cultures, history, the commonwealth, or digital humanities, you are warmly encouraged to submit a paper! Most importantly, we know how intimidating conferences can be (trust us, we have been there) and so, we wanted to facilitate a safe space for first-time conference presenters or conference veterans! 

CALL FOR PAPERS: NOW CLOSED!

You are cordially invited to the first annual School of Advanced Study Postgraduate Conference organized by SASiety and the Doctoral Centre. We will be dissecting concepts of fragmentation in all varied forms through transdisciplinary lenses. See our first cpf poster or a .pdf of our cpf!

POTENTIAL TOPICS
fragments as points of separation and recovery – processes of fragmentation and their role in the ongoing (de)construction of, articulation, and projection of identities – fragments as markers of transitions or crises in literature, art, and history – dissecting source materials – cultural fragmentation, migration, and diaspora – fragmentation in the legal sector. 

SUBMISSION TYPES
Paper presentations
should last about fifteen minutes. The abstract should be no longer than three-hundred words.
Lightning talks are a wonderful chance to showcase your current research interests and raise awareness of new ideas. Tour lightning talk should last no longer than five minutes. The abstract should be no longer than a hundred words.

The submission form has closed — thank you for submitting your abstracts! 

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

15th June - Virtual Day
14.00 - OPENING RITES
Welcomes and introductions

14.10 - MAPPING THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES PANEL
Dr. Megan Bushnell, Dr. Marco Dosi, Elena Zolotariov

15.00 - WESTERN CIVILISATION AND CULTURES: FRAGMENTED LEGACIES

⭐Antimo Lucarelli | ILCS, "On the Meaning of Contemporary Fragmentation: Starting from Emanuele Severino".

⭐Haomin Li | Warburg Institute, "A Case of Pathosformel? The Nachleben of Leonardo's Rearing Horses".
15th June - Virtual Day, cont.
15.45 - BREAK

16.00 - GENERATIVE AI TOOLS: OPPORTUNITY OR THREAT
Niilante Ogunsola-Ribeiro, Simon Parr.

15th June - Virtual Day, cont.
17.00 - AT HOME AND ABROAD: TRANSNATIONAL FRAGMENTATIONS

⭐Richard Dwomoh | ICwS , "China's Media Training Impact on Press Freedom in Africa: An Examination of Agency in the Ghanaian Context".

⭐Haiyun Liu | CLACS, "Chinese Dragon and Anáhuac Eagle: Sino-Mexican Relations and Chinese Immigration in Porfirian Mexico, 1872-1910".

⭐Cornelia Kaufmann | ILCS, ""Shattered islands, Shattered Dreams — Nuclear Colonialism and its aftermath in Pacific Islander Literature".

17.45 - CLOSING REMARKS
16th June - In-Person Day
10.00 - OPENING RITES
Welcomes and introductions from the organizers.

10.10 - MORNING KEYNOTE
PROFESSOR CLARE LEES | IES , "Piecework: What Does Research Tell Us About the Arts and Humanities?"

11.00 - COFFEE BREAK

16th June - In-Person Day, cont.
11.30 - FRAGMENTED IDENTITIES: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON RACE, RELIGION, AND REPRESENTATION

⭐Mona Abdelhadi Habeb | ILCS , "Arab Identity in Transit: Arab Diaspora Representations in Contemporary Film".

⭐Zoe Abrahams | Warburg Institute , "Why is there a Black Manservant in a Jewish Morality Painting? Negotiating a Portuguese Jewish Identity between Amsterdam, the Atlantic, and the World to Come".

⭐Sarah Capes | CLACS , "'Indigeneity' — A Fragment of Eurocentric Modernity".
16th June - In-Person Day, cont.
12.30 - A STITCH IN TIME: PIECING TOGETHER THE TEXTUAL AND MATERIAL PAST

⭐Lalie Constantin | Warburg Institute, "Piecing the Garment and Global Histories: the Cultural Influence of Silk in the Late Medieval Era".

⭐Vito Guida | Warburg Institute, "Working with Fragments and Partial Sources: The Case of Gabriele Biondo".

13.15 - LUNCH AND NETWORKING
16th June - In-Person Day, cont.
14.15 - LOST AND FOUND: FRAGMENTS, RECOVERY, AND LOSS

⭐Janette Bright | IHR, "Foundling Tokens: Evidence of Lives Fragmented".

⭐Philip Winterbottom | IHR, "'Pray pay': Financial Fragments of Past Lives".

⭐Helen Strong | IHR, "Piecing It Together: Fragments of Childhood Experience in the Archive".

15.15 - COFFEE BREAK
16th June - In-Person Day, cont.
15.45 - UNVEILING SOCIETIES IN FRAGMENTATION: HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

⭐Jane Skelding | IES, "Decoding the Archive: Locating Marginalised Histories through Fragments of Language in the Census and Literature of the Early Twentieth Century".

⭐Tugce Yalcin | IALS, "Disclosure of Information in M&A Transactions in the Light of the Theory of Contract Law – Comparison of the Common Law and the Civil Law".

⭐John Duncan | ICwS, "Fragmented Subjectivities: How Neoliberalism Creates Diverse Class Subjects".

16.45 - COFFEE BREAK
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Fragment, n.
Brit. pronunciation/ˈfragm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈfrægmənt/

1. A part broken off or otherwise detached from a whole; a broken piece; a (comparatively) small detached portion of anything.
Fragment, n.
Brit. pronunciation/ˈfragm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈfrægmənt/

2a. transferred and figurative. A detached, isolated, or incomplete part; a (comparatively) small portion of anything; a part remaining or still preserved when the whole is lost or destroyed.
Fragment, n.
Brit. pronunciation/ˈfragm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈfrægmənt/

2b. An extant portion of a writing or composition which as a whole is lost; also, a portion of a work left uncompleted by its author; hence, a part of any unfinished whole or uncompleted design.
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OUR LOCATION

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Our conference will take place at Chancellor’s Hall in Senate HouseSenate House is the home of, you guessed it, the School of Advance Study, and really, we could not think of a better place to conceptualise and theorise different modes of FRAGMENTATION. This iconic building has not only served as an inspiration for the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984, it was also used as the Ministry of Information during the Second World War. Yes, we even have a room named 101. Shhh. 

OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

professor clare lees
morning keynote

Clare A. Lees is Professor of Medieval Literature, Director of the Institute of English Studies, and Vice Dean, School of Advanced Study, University of London.  She is a Fellow of the English Association and a Fellow of King’s College London.

Clare’s research interests include early medieval literatures, languages, and cultures of Britain and Ireland, gender and sexuality studies, and histories of place and belief. Her most recent work explores how modern and contemporary poets, writers, and artists engage with early medieval cultures. Her most recent engagement work includes the BBC2 documentary series, Art that Made Us (April 2022 and BBC iplayer) and consultancy work for Jeremy Deller’s short film Deliverers about the Lindisfarne Gospels, for the Laing Gallery, Newcastle (2022).

professor anna snaith
evening keynote

Anna Snaith is Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature at King’s College London. She has published widely on Virginia Woolf, global modernisms and literary sound studies. Her publications include Virginia Woolf: Public and Private Negotiations (Palgrave 2000), Modernist Voyages (CUP 2014), a scholarly edition of The Years for the Cambridge University Press Edition of Virginia Woolf (2012), an edition of A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas (Oxford World’s Classics 2015) and an edited volume on Sound and Literature (CUP 2020). She is currently on a Leverhulme Fellowship working on a monograph entitled ‘Noisescapes: Writing Sound in Interwar Britain’.

OUR TEAM

natalia fantetti
co-organizer

As co-organizer of the conference, Natalia is looking forward to using her experience in interdisciplinary research to bring together a range of perspectives from different academic fields. She is excited about the possibilities that the theme of “Fragments” offers and can’t wait to see what the SAS community comes up with in response.

monja stahlberger
co-organizer

 

As the co-organiser, Monja is bringing her German efficiency to the team by overseeing all activities and planning that goes on behind the scenes. Her goal is to pull together a conference that celebrates the wide variety of interdisciplinary research going on at SAS. Building a strong student community, in London and internationally, is key to a great postgraduate experience and with this conference, Monja hopes SASiety and the Doctoral Centre have created an event to bring everyone together for a celebration of our achievements as a student body. She envisions an academically stimulating conversation about all kinds of fragmentation in the humanities.

elena zolotariov
content creator | publicity officer

As the content creator and publicity officer for Fragments, Elena is passionate about creating engaging content that resonates with the postgraduate community at the School of Advanced Study. Through her expertise in graphic design and brand management, Elena hopes to inform and present different conceptualisations on fragments from visual adn literary perspectives. With the team’s commitment to delivering a successful conference, Elena hopes that each and every postgraduate candidate will gain valuable academic experience along the way.

Page and graphics designed by Elena Zolotariov | Postgraduate conference organised by SASiety’s Monja Stahlberger and Natalia Fantetti in collaboration with The School of Advanced Study’s Doctoral Centre, University of London | 2023