In 2021, Signum University’s Annual Texas Language and Literature Symposium (TexMoot) invites you to join us virtually, as we consider the conditions and consequences of corporeality in ancient and medieval literature, classic sci-fi and fantasy, and contemporary pop culture. Please submit your proposal at TexMoot.org.
The symposium will take place on February 13, 2021. The theme will be “Embodiment: Do You Need Some Body to Love.”
In this age of pandemic when our own bodies are particularly vulnerable, humanity has embraced technology more than ever before to go on working, communicating with friends and family, and carrying on with the particulars of everyday life. But in this new normal where faces on screens have replaced most of our physical interaction, what’s been lost? What is necessary to make a human human in the first place, and what happens when the body has been superseded… is it no longer necessary to carry on with the essential functions of human existence?
This year, given the speculative nature of the topic and the digital venue, we are looking for submissions for roundtable discussion topics and audience-interaction ideas. There will be no traditional academic papers this time. Why dedicate time to listening to someone read aloud a paper that we could have read in print? Instead, let’s take advantage of things we can do when we have gathered together synchronously that we can’t do when reading a paper.
Therefore, we’re going to have sessions in which someone talks for 5 minutes, suggests some ways the audience can interact, and ends with a provocative conversation-starting question to initiate 15 minutes of curated conversation on the topic. These 5-minute talks can be more academic or more casual, according to your preference and experience. Each presentation will have a ‘Room Host’ to moderate the discussion and handle the technology in the background.
Here are some ideas for audience interaction:
- Take a poll or survey
- Request expertise on a subject
- Ask built-in questions with quick answers
- Float a theory and see who gives it a thumbs-up
- Appeal for reading suggestions or other sources
Get TexMoot updates on the TexMoot Facebook page.
