About the Human Condition Series
Recognizing the call for critical reflection and multidisciplinary research into the human condition, a group of inspired faculty members representing sociology, psychology, women’s studies, political science, literature and film studies, has founded The Human Condition Series (a title inspired by Hannah Arendt’s classic, The Human Condition)”. A constitution was drafted and signed by the founding members on June 1st, 2007.
The Series' Objective
The series is a practical, research-based response to the human condition, which investigates both its oppressive circumstances and its exceptional capabilities. The express purpose of the series is to examine fundamental problems and contradictions in human actions such as the life-negating consequences of unprecedented economic prosperity; namely war, natural degradation, insecurity and terror. These objectives are therefore defined by themes that are deeply embedded in the current unfolding realities of our contemporary world. For example, in 2007 we held critical presentations on the question of new forms of Empire. In 2008 we will expand the presentations and examine the complex phenomenon of Terror.
The International, Multidisciplinary Conference Format
The organizers seek to ensure utmost academic integrity in designing a conference with a broad scope and a program which will accomplish multidisciplinary examination of the annual theme in three ways. Firstly, the program plans a series of individual talks and interviews with three internationally renowned keynote scholars whose acknowledged expertise reside in diverse disciplines and research. In the program these scholars are also scheduled to come together in a roundtable discussion on questions of the conference theme that require critical interchanges between different disciplines and experiences. All talks, interviews and roundtables will be filmed and transcribed for both educational (libraries) and publishing purposes.
The second way we intend to enhance multidisciplinarity in relation to the theme is by ensuring that the sub-themes that designate the concurrent sessions bring together panels and presenters of different scholarly and artistic backgrounds. Sessions under the organizing sub-themes will therefore have presenters of diverse perspectives exchanging different forms of research on similar topics.
The third way in which the conference will foster linkages between appropriate disciplines or fields is by emphasizing themes. The sessions of presenters and panels are not divided by discipline and/or field but by themes so as to ensure that a variety of scholars and researchers engage in an exchange of scholarship from different disciplines and fields. As well, the conference’s results (keynote lectures, transcribed interviews and roundtables, and selected articles of presenters) will give us a collection of publishable research materials produced by the interchange between presenters of different disciplines and fields.
The Series in National and International Context
This conference will contribute to research in Canada by bringing together different scholars and researchers from across the country who can engage in critical and creative exchanges of their on-going work. It will also contribute by bringing Canadian scholars and students in direct contact with the work of some of the most internationally renowned experts in the fields of the annual theme. These contacts and exchanges between Canadian and international scholars will in turn contribute to the ways the theme is treated in international debates and research projects.