Academic disciplines often push practitioners to divide the world into discrete categories. Category labels not only tell the researcher and the reader what constitutes a particular object of study, they delimit the boundaries of a discipline. This orthodoxy faces a counter-history that rejects sharp divisions, either on a disciplinary or a categorical level. As a result, the cleavages between disciplines such as sociology, history, economics, and political science, are now under attack. This conference seeks to build upon these critiques by examining the middle ground between theoretical, ontological, epistemic, disciplinary, and methodological spaces in all academic disciplines.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Connecting multiple literatures together and demonstrating the deficiencies of each set or deficiencies stemming from divisions between the literatures;
• Addressing how different methodological approaches might be combined in new and different ways; • Revealing how answers in one discipline may inform questions of other disciplines;
• Voicing a theoretical, methodological, or ontological perspective that has been previously dismissed by the orthodoxy of academia;
• Deconstructing theoretical value commitments and revealing spaces and alternatives.
  

The conference is designed to be inclusive. Proposals are welcome from graduate students in all disciplines at NAU, UA and ASU. Abstracts for papers and poster presentations should be e-mailed to political.science@nau.edu and include title, description, preferred format (paper or poster), author name, author affiliation (school, college, department), and contact information (phone number and e-mail).

Proposals must be received by November 22. The conference will take place on Friday, January 29, 2010 at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.

This conference is being organized by the Graduate Association of Political Science (GAPS). Supporters include the Department of Politics & International Affairs, NAU Student Activities Council, College of Social and Behvioral Sciences, College of Education, Ethnic Studies Program, Women and Gender Studies Program, School of Forestry (partial list).

REGISTER HERE