Equality Equals…? Conference

Equality Equals…? Conference

April 5th-6th 2013

Sponsored by the Department of Communication Studies Graduate Student Association at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill




Call for Participants: The conception of “equality” is often understood to be a self-evident good. But is it? The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Communication Studies’ conference, Equality Equals…?, seeks to explore the complex relations of equality. In the current contexts of “Occupy Everywhere,” neoliberal universities and education, the public, the stage, the family, and others, “equality” is yet again emerging in complicated ways that include questions of social, political, economic, and cultural import. In some cases, equality is celebrated; in other cases, it is an undesirable goal. For some, equality seems impossible, thus putting under question the utility of equality as a moral/ethical conviction.

As an interdisciplinary attempt to speak to the complex, transforming, and often contradictory conceptions of equality, this conference is concerned with the multiple perspectives that may exist on equality. How, for example, might class, sexuality, gender, race, age, space, technology, politics, personal and professional relations, performances, and more (re)make and be (re)made by, and in relation to, conceptions of equality? How do notions of equality constrain and/or enable various perspectives and possibilities?

For more details, please review the attached conference call. Interested presenters should submit a 250-word proposal to equalityconference@gmail.com by January 18th, 2013. Please put "Equality Equals" in the email subject line, and include your name, department, and university in the email. Accepted presenters will be contacted early 2013.

Armond R. Towns
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Communication Studies
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill