1st Global Conference:
Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century: The European Context

Tuesday 29th - Thursday 31st July 2014
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Presentations
In 2012 the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet its citizens are deeply disturbed by an atmosphere of concerns, fears and anxieties which form the horizon within which they live and work. Some of these are nurtured by real events whilst others appear to be rooted in imaginary or perceived phenomena. This inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary conference seeks to explore the issues which lie at the interface of fears and anxieties in the context of 21st-century Europe.

The project will focus both on interpretations of contexts in which fears and anxieties are relevant, for example, issues pertaining to literature, media, ethics, religion, politics, psychology, sociology, visual arts etc., but also on contexts such as the economy, health care, immigration, standard of living which are often the cradle of fears and anxieties. It is our intention to explore the scope and function of these complex emotions in the fragile fabric of contemporary Europe. We invite proposals on any area related to the conference purpose and encourage creative and challenging presentations.

Our hope is that this inaugural conference will grow into a wider research-orientated set of activities, to include symposia, workshops, courses and schools centred explicitly on analysing European fears and anxieties. Such activities seek to include a wide range of diverse perspectives, insights and practices, drawing from academic, business, professional, NGO, voluntary and practitioner contexts.

Inter- and transdisciplinary presentations, papers, reports, case studies, works-in-progress, cultural comparisons, narratives, workshops are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:

1. Physical Health Fears
- fear of infectious diseases, diseases of affluence, diseases of poverty
- fear of newly emerging diseases, microbes, viruses, etc
- fear of disabilities caused by illness or accidents
- fear of addictions
- fear of pain and suffering
- health fears in the Internet Age - cyberchondria, self-diagnosing, Dr Google
- professions dealing with health fears
- creating, experiencing, depicting health fears
- representations of health fears

2. Mental Health Fears
- depression, of neurosis, of schizophrenia
- fear of panic disorders
- chronic stress in everyday life of 21st century
- anxieties and phobias
- 21st-century emotions: mental confusion, sadness, anger, hatred
- fear of growing old
- new mental diseases in the Internet Age
- professions dealing with mental health fears, psychotherapy and support
- creating, experiencing, depicting mental health fears
- representations of mental health fears

3. New Technology/Media Fears
- computer addiction, video game addiction, Internet addiction disorder;
- hyperactivity on the Internet and the problematic of social isolation, compulsive social networking
- psychofans and cyber stalking, cyberbullying, electronic harassment
- creating, experiencing, depicting new media fears
- professions dealing with new media fears
- fear of the use of new technologies, surveillance, privacy, security

4. Civil Society Fears
- fear of social exclusion
- demographic crisis and its consequences
- fear of crime and violence; criminal groups
- bystander effect and social insensitivity
- fear of social pathologies;
- fear of adolescents, school-shootings, teen moms
- paedophilia, home violence etc
- fear of minorities and majorities, of 'others', of multiculturalism, of globalisation, of McDonaldization
- fear of social changes in the Internet Age
- professions dealing with civil society fears
- creating, experiencing, civil society fears
- representations of civil society fears

5. Eco and Environmental Fears
- fear of natural disasters, of climate change, of global warming and of weather-related disasters
- fear of man-made disasters, transport disasters;
- fear of environment pollution; poisoned food and drink etc.;
- professions dealing with eco and environmental fears;
- creating, experiencing, reporting, representing eco and environmental fears
- human security

6. Economic Fears
- fear of unemployment and of labour-related migration
- fear of financial crises, of inflation, of price rise, of cutting wages
- professions dealing with economic fears
- creating, experiencing, reporting, economic fears.

7. Political Fears
- fear of terrorism, of nationalism, of jingoism, of xenophobia
- fear of military conflicts, of genocide
- fear of bioterrorism and of the use of chemical weapons
- fear of integration or disintegration, of Westernization or Easternization
- fear of neighbouring countries
- fear of politicians
- fear in post-communist countries
- professions dealing with political fears
- creating, experiencing, reporting, representing political fears

8. Existential and Religious Fears
- fear of atheism
- the rise of humanism, secularism
- fear of fundamentalism; radicalisation
- fear of other religions and other religious communities
- millenarian fears;
- professions dealing with existential and religious fears.

This is just an indicative list. We extend our invitation to all scholars, professions, practitioners, ngo's voluntary sector workers who deal with and respond to peopleâАЩs fears and anxieties.

In order to support and encourage interdisciplinarity engagement, it is our intention to create the possibility of starting dialogues between the parallel events running during this conference. Delegates are welcome to attend up to two sessions in each of the concurrent conferences. We also propose to produce cross-over sessions between these groups âАУ and we welcome proposals which deal with the relationship between Testimony and Fear and Anxiety in 21st Century.

What to Send
Proposals will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word proposals should be submitted by Friday 7th March 2014. If a proposal is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 16th May 2014.Proposals should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: F&A1 Proposal Submission

All abstracts will be at least double blind peer reviewed. Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs:

Magdalena Hodalska and Catalin Ghita: آدرس ایمیل جهت جلوگیری از رباتهای هرزنامه محافظت شده اند، جهت مشاهده آنها شما نیاز به فعال ساختن جاوا اسكریپت دارید
Rob Fisher: آدرس ایمیل جهت جلوگیری از رباتهای هرزنامه محافظت شده اند، جهت مشاهده آنها شما نیاز به فعال ساختن جاوا اسكریپت دارید

The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All proposals accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected proposals may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the conference.

Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation.

For further details of the conference, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/hostility-and-violence/fears-and-anxieties/call-for-presentations/

Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.