Is it possible to revitalize our thought and praxis as, and about, modern human subjects?

Declensions of the word reflect not only the role it plays within a sentence but also its status as an element acted upon by the sentence.

Declensions of the self reflect not only the role the self plays as one who uses a myriad of modes of representation to construct his or her world, but also the extent to which s/he is subject to, and constructed by, those codes, languages, symbols, metaphors and modes of representation.

A bestiary is a carefully staged spectacle consisting of these modern dichotomies: the real and the ideal; the said and the unsaid; the rational and the irrational; the bound and the free; the familiar and the exotic; word and language; self and world. It makes the self at once the beast within the cage—the spectacle—and the spectator: the one who gazes through the bars, the one who is subject to that gaze and the architect of their predicament.

The dearth of frank discussion about the fears, desires and anxieties of the modern subject is of urgent concern to us. The abundance of writing about these matters, and the lack of current, public discussion of them calls for action.

As Graduate Students in Political Science, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, we invite reasoning about the irrational, speech about the unspeakable, thought concerning the modern human beast in all of its forms and follies, in theory and practice.

It is our intention to publish a selection of articles (20-30 pages) from the presentations that address the theme of the conference in a particularly relevant fashion.

Sincerely, The 5th Graduate Student Conference Organizing Committee
Jean-Jacques Defert
Dan Webb
Trevor Tchir