Dogs

in Southern African Literatures

Call for papers

 Dogs –once you start looking for them – appear pervasively in the literatures of Southern Africa.  Sometimes they are central characters (as in Jock of the Bushveld).  Most often they appear peripherally or incidentally – pet dogs, feral dogs, guard dogs, wild dogs, companion dogs – tangential but apparently necessary.  What are they doing there?

            We invite the submission of papers for a book collection, in conjunction with a conference.  While the book is envisaged as an exploration primarily of literary representations of dogs, the colloquium hopes to open up more interdisciplinary spaces as well, including the visual arts.  We hope in this way to attract in-depth essays on dogs in a wide range of genres (by ‘literary’ we include, amongst others, travel accounts, memoirs, diaries, historical material, magazine journalism, even training manuals), and from a wide range of disciplinary and theoretical approaches (historical, anthropological, psychological etc.).  While J M Coetzee’s treatment of dogs (and animal issues generally) and Marlene van Niekerk’s remarkable dogs in Triomf are of obvious importance, we hope to elicit explorations of neglected periods, spheres, cultures and regions of dog-presence, from earliest days to the present, throughout South Africa and neighbouring states.

            The following possibilities are intended to be suggestive, and not at all restrictive:

 

• Representations of dogs in specific genres (e.g. poetry, drama, children’s literature, folklore, orature, fiction etc.)
• Colonial and postcolonial, apartheid and post-apartheid representations
• Culturally, regionally, nationally specific representations
• Urban dogs, rural dogs, feral and in-between dogs
• Textual politics of realism, fantasy and anthropomorphism
• Dogs in theory (structuralist/formalist, postmodern, posthuman, Critical Animals Studies approaches etc.)
• Dogs and aesthetic movements (e.g. the Romantic dog, the Modernist dog)
• Dogs as symbol and metaphor
• Dogs and ‘Africanism’ (African philosophy, religion, cosmologies)
• Dogs and animal rights issues (cruelty, welfare, experimentation, etc.)

?  Wild canids (jackals, hyaenas, foxes)

?  Dogs and their uses (companions, guards, policing, racing, etc.)

?  Dog breeds and breeding as social markers

 

It is envisaged that a selection of papers from the conference would be considered for the book project, but contributors may wish to propose book chapters without necessarily attending the conference.  The conference will take place on 11-12 April 2017 on the campus of the Stellenbosch University at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS, http://stias.ac.za/). Abstracts should reach Sam Naidu, Dan Wylie, Joan-Mari Barendse and Andries Visagie by 30 November 2016 at the conference e-mail address DogsConference2017@gmail.com.

 

Honde

in die Literatuur van Suider-Afrika

Oproep vir referate

 

As ’n mens eers op die uitkyk is vir honde in die literatuur van Suider-Afrika duik hulle net mooi oral op.  Soms tree hulle op as hoofkarakters (byvoorbeeld in Jock of the Bushveld). Meestal maak hulle net sydelings of terloops hulle verskyning – troetelhonde, drosterhonde, waghonde, honde as metgeselle – op ’n raaklyn, maar nietemin nodig. Hoe verklaar ’n mens hulle aanwesigheid?

            Ons wag voorleggings in vir bydraes met die oog op ’n boekpublikasie en ’n gepaardgaande kongres. Hoewel die boek as ’n verkenning van hoofsaaklik literêre representasies van honde voorsien word, is die gedagte met die colloquium om interdissiplinêre ruimtes, met insluiting van die visuele kunste, oop te maak. Op dié manier hoop ons om deurdagte boekbydraes oor honde vanuit uiteenlopende genres (onder “literêr” sluit ons onder meer reisverslae, memoires, dagboeke, historiese materiaal, tydskrifjoernalistiek en selfs afrigtingshandleidings in) en vanuit wyd uiteenlopende dissiplinêre en teoretiese benaderings (histories, antropologies, psigologies ensovoorts) te ontvang. Hoewel J.M. Coetzee se aandag vir honde (en vir dierekwessies oor die algemeen) asook Marlene van Niekerk se merkwaardige honde in Triomf vanselfsprekend van belang is, hoop ons om verkennings van verwaarloosde periodes, sfere, kulture, en omgewings met hondeaanwesigheid, vanaf die vroegste tye tot die hede, uit te lok.

            Die volgende moontlikhede is bedoel om bloot aanduidings te gee en geensins om beperkend te wees nie:

 

• Representasies van honde in spesifieke genres (byvoorbeeld poësie, drama, kinder- en jeugliteratuur, folklore, orale literatuur, prosa ensovoorts)
• Koloniale en postkoloniale representasies, asook representasies uit die apartheids- en postapartheidsperiodes
• Stedelike honde, plattelandse honde, drosterhonde en tussenin-honde
• Die tekstuele politiek van die realisme, fantasie en antropomorfisme
• Honde in die teorie (strukturalistiese/formalistiese, postmodernistiese, postmenslike, mens-dier-studie-benaderings ensovoorts)
• Honde en estetiese stromings (byvoorbeeld die hond van die romantiek, die modernistiese hond)
• Honde as simbole en as metafore
• Honde en “Afrikanisme” (Afrika-filosofie, religie, kosmologieë)
• Honde en diereregtekwessies (wreedheid, welsyn, eksperimentering ensovoorts)
• Wilde hondagtiges (jakkalse, hiënas, vosse, wolwe)
• Werkhonde (honde as metgeselle, waghonde, polisiehonde, wedrenhonde ensovoorts)
• Honderasse en -teling as sosiale onderskeidingstekens

 

Die gedagte is dat ’n keuse uit die referate uit die kongres vir die boekprojek oorweeg sal word, maar bydraers kan voorstelle vir boekhoofstukke maak sonder om noodwendig die kongres by te woon. Die kongres sal op 11-12 April 2017 op die kampus van die Universiteit Stellenbosch by die Stellenbosse Instituut vir Gevorderde Navorsing (STIAS, http://stias.ac.za) plaasvind. Referaat- en boekhoofstukvoorstelle moet Sam Naidu, Dan Wylie, Joan-Mari Barendse en Andries Visagie teen 30 November 2016 bereik by die e-posadres van die kongres: DogsConference2017@gmail.com.

Last Modified: Tue, 20 Sep 2016 12:23:40 SAST