The 9th Annual Miami University English Graduate Student and Adjunct Association (MEGAA) Symposium
Miami Vice: The Role of Immorality and Depravity in Constructions of the Self and Community
March 16, 2012, 9:00-4:00 Oxford, Ohio
“What’s vice today may be virtue, tomorrow.”
—Henry Fielding
“In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice.’
—Marquis de Sade
Greed, avarice, and lust; bribery, prostitution, and blackmail; sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll— vice is a sign and cause of social ills as well as an outlet of rebellion against structure and stagnation. How we (dis)associate ourselves with vice helps constitute our individual and group identities and affiliations.
Vice can be conceptualized as a cause of literal and figurative decay but also as a catalyst for a re-imagining of the body politic and the individual body. As de Sade notes, virtue and vice are both counterpoints and dependents — one cannot exist without the other. As we revise our interpretations of what these categories signify, we re-position ourselves and therefore develop our personalities and the cultures we exist in.
We encourage submissions from all academic disciplines and perspectives.
Questions of Inquiry and Threads of Discussion
Possible topics for presentations include, but are not limited to:
- Attempts of eradication of vice and the institution
- Defining and regulating vice
- How do vices shape/define individuals and societies?
- Relationships between government and vice
- Vice as trope. What roles does vice play in literature? In political rhetoric?
- How does vice figure into binaries of self and Other? Into notions of public and private?
- How does vice influence boundaries of scientific inquiry? Of medical inquiry?
- Vice and Power
- Exploitations of vice/virtue
- Technology, mass media and/as vice/virtue
- Media depictions of vice; media depictions of vice as vice
- Epistemological or ontological explorations of vice
- Explorations of virtue ethics
- Economics, vice taxes, and other monetary implications
- Depictions of vice and virtue in film, television, advertising, and performance
We are also looking to host several readings of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, throughout the conference and welcome submissions of original work. If submitting creative work, please indicate you are doing so on the proposal submission form.
Both single paper and full panel submissions are encouraged. Along with proposals for traditional academic paper presentations, we encourage proposals for non-traditional presentations including performances, multimedia displays, discussion formats, interactive sessions, poster presentations, artwork, and video or photography installations.
Featured Speakers
A list of featured speakers will be announced on the conference website at a later date.
Submitting Proposals:
Download the proposal form here. Please provide all speaker information and presentation titles on the proposal form. Remove all personal identifiers from the proposal itself. Please limit both individual and panel proposals to 500 words.
Proposal deadline: January 31, 2012: 11:59 p.m. EST
Email completed forms: Symposium Committee, MEGAAblog@gmail.com
Hard copy submissions are also accepted and can be mailed to:
MEGAA
English Department
356 Bachelor Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056
Official acceptances will be emailed to participants by February 14, 2012.