We live within a global culture that is being rapidly transformed especially due to developments in technology (e.g. social media) and emerging cultural geographies. Russell Belk (2005) aptly titled his work, “Hyperreality and Globalization.” Thus the two themes for the conference are “hyperreality” and “cultural hybridization.” Conference themes are suggestive and not deterministic.  We recommend conference participants to explore themes that reflect their contemporary interests

Conference Location – Why Disneyland? In practical terms, Disneyland is less than a half hour drive from the University of California, Irvine. As a cultural imaginary, here is a quote from Jean Baudrillard that describes it as follows:

“Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas all of Los Angeles and the America that surrounds it are no longer real, but belong to the hyperreal order and to the order of simulation.”

A second theme for the conference is “cultural hybridization,” implying that thanks to virtual media and other related developments, we are witnessing a transnational imaginary and global cultural connectivity that has not been seen before — leading to transformations in cultural patterns and practices. The CCT forum affords the unique opportunity to explore related themes.

Deadline: December 15, 2016

Notification of Accepted Works: February 27, 2017

For more information please feel free to contact Conference Chair Alladi Venkatesh at (avenkate@uci.edu).

Full information can be found at the conference website: http://merage.uci.edu/Events/merage/CCT2017/ 

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