The upcoming conference aims at exploring and probing issues related to the many meanings and dimensions of security, insecurity, their interrelation and interactivity with other sensitive issues such as those of territorial belonging, cultural belonging, ethnic belonging, collective and individual identities, otherness and the perceived (real or imagined) threat from otherness.

Argument

Questions related to security and/or insecurity can take many shapes and involve different realms of human and social sciences. In political science and international studies, security is closely associated with territorial and state affairs. In sociology and psychology, the concept relates to issues as diverse as the individual self, individual and collective identity, social, cultural, or linguistic concerns.

The concepts of security and insecurity can not be detached from those of spatial, cultural, or ontological belongings. When feelings of in/security pervade individuals or human groupings, the latter display behaviours that challenge universal values and norms.

Collective and individual self-confidence leave place to fear, anxiety, and ontological doubts. Additionally, hostility and aggressiveness predominate in situation of insecurity. The questions of who “We” are is closely linked to who “They” are and who “We” differ from and whom “We” fear.

Literary productions, and research in the human and social sciences (education, linguistics, political and cultural studies) are often tinted with social, cultural and ontological dimensions related to security and insecurity.

Questions related to minority groups, for instance, and their marginalized cultures and identities, or issues that involve multiculturally shared or culturally disputed territories, or persistent unhealed colonial trauma have been concerns in the public spaces and academia. In/Security related concepts and issues have generated heated debates regarding the perception and construction of individual and collective identities, otherness, as well as hostile behaviours towards otherness : religious extremism, regionalism, tribalism, populism, strident nationalism, racism and xenophobia, islamophobia, etc.

The topical issues abovementioned, together with epistemological ones such as the formulation of ideological and identity-based/ culture-based discourses and/or the sources of knowledge about the concepts of security and their relation to collective entities (states, human groupings, minorities, ...), otherness, methodological frameworks, and social exclusion/reconciliation ideologies, all are worth researching in a world that is getting more and more globalized, more and more entangled, but that is still in search of stability (security in all its forms ?) and civilizational rapprochement.

Out of the above contextualization, the following questions might be of great interest :

• How do perceptions of security and insecurity take shape in the different contexts and human spaces, and more precisely in Western and/ or postcolonial spaces ?
• How are issues related to security and insecurity raised, mediated, negotiated, or re-constructed in multicultural spaces or between spaces of different cultures ?
• What implications are generated out of diverging discourses and (fiction and non-fiction) narratives about security, otherness and/ or conflicting collective identities and/ or cultural groups that share different and often antagonistic histories and memories ?

The upcoming conference aims at exploring and probing issues related to the many meanings and dimensions of security, insecurity, their interrelation and interactivity with other sensitive issues such as those of territorial belonging, cultural belonging, ethnic belonging, collective and individual identities, otherness and the perceived (real or imagined) threat from otherness.

Conference Themes / Tracks

1. Cultural security and insecurity
2. Identity security and insecurity
3. Linguistic security and insecurity
4. Territorial/ National/ State security and insecurity
5. Real or imagined senses of security and insecurity
6. Belonging and exclusion in Western and/or postcolonial spaces
7. In/Security and representations of the other in literature and cultural studies

Submission guidelines

Paper proposals/ abstracts of original contributions with other themes related to the concepts of security and insecurity are welcome.

Researchers are invited to send abstracts of original contributions to the following email address : sec.conf.biskra@gmail.com

Conference Languages : English, Arabic, French

Important Dates

• CfP Announcement : September, 25, 2021
• Abstract submission deadline : December 25, 2021
• Decision notification : January 05, 2022
• Conference Date : March 9-10, 2022
• Full paper submissions for review beforepublication (Edited book or special issue) : May 30, 2022

For any inquiries please contact sec.conf.biskra@gmail.com

Committees

Honorary Chairmen

• Prof. Boutarfaia Ahmed, President of the University of Biskra
• Dr Kethiri Brahim, Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Languages

Organizer and Conference Chair

• Kerboua Salim

Scientific Committee Presidents

• Kerboua Salim, University of Biskra
• Hoadjli Ahmed Chaouki, University of Biskra
• Chelli Saliha, University of BiskraMembers
• Bedjaoui Fewzia, University of Sidi Bel Abbes
• Ouahmiche Ghania, University of Oran
• Guendouzi Amar, University of Tizi Ouzou
• Kaouli Nadhir, University of Batna
• Seid Mostefa, University of Biskra
• Mehiri Ramdane, University of Biskra
• Kefali Walid, University of Khenchela
• Toufouti Youcef, University of Skikda
• Halimi Mohamed Seghir, University of Ouargla
• Souhali Hichem, University of Batna
• Benabderezzak Abdenacer, University of Biskra
• Saihi Hanane, University of Biskra
• Meddour Mostefa, University of Biskra
• Assassi Tarek, University of Biskra
• Djenane Taoufik, University of Tlemcen
• Hamadouche Mokhtar, University of Oum El Bouaghi
• Turki Barkat, University of Biskra
• Guerid Khaled, University of Biskra
• Guettafi Sihem, University of Biskra
• Sekheri Hadjira, University of Biskra
• Benabderezzak Hanane, University of Biskra

Organizing Committee

• Hammouda Mounir, University of Biskra
• Chenini Abdelhak University of Biskra
• Amrate Mostefa, University of Biskra
• Nasri Chahira, University of Biskra
• Bouhitem Tayeb, University of Biskra
• Sedrati Yasser, University of Biskra
• Elhamel Lamjed, University of Biskra
• Senouci Zakaria, University of Biskra
• Loulou Nadjiba, University of Biskra
• Bendouma Noureddine, PhD student, University of Biskra
• Saou Kenza, PhD student, University of Biskra
• Henouda Meriem, PhD student, University of Biskra
• Ben Abida Salima, PhD student, University of Biskra

Selected Bibliography

Barfoot, Cedric C., and Theo d’Haen. Oriental Prospects, Western Literature and the Lure of the East. Amsterdam, Atlanta, Georgia : Rodopi, 1998.

Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. New York : Routledge, 1994.

Brent J. Steele, Ontological Security in International Relations : Self-Identity and the IR State (Abingdon Oxon : Routledge, 2008).

Buruma, Ian and Avishai Margalit.Occidentalism : the West in the Eyes of Its Enemies. New York : Penguin, 2004.

Buzan Barry, Olin Waever, and Jaap de Wilde, Security : A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder : Lynne Rienner Publisher, 1998.

Carter, E., J. Donald, and J. Squires. Space and Power : Theories of Identity and Location. London : Lawrence and Wishart, 1993.

Hall, Stuart and Paul Du Gay, eds. Questions of Cultural Identity. London : Sage, 2003.

Lin, Ching-Yu and John Mc Sweeney, Eds. Representation and Contestation : Cultural Politics in a Political Century. Amsterdam, NY : Rodopi, 2010.

Mitzen Jennifer, “Ontological Security in World Politics,” CIDEL Workshop, From Civilian to Military Power : The European Union at a Crossroads ? (Oslo, October 22-23 2004), 2. URL : http://www.sv.uio.no/arena/english/research/projects/cidel/old/WorkshopOsloSecurity/Mitzen.pdf (accessed on February 23, 2013).

Schnapper Dominique, La communauté des citoyens : sur l’idée moderne de nation Paris : Gallimard, 1994.

Thakur, Gautam Basu. Postcolonial Lack : Identity, Culture, Surplus. NewYork : SUNY Press, 2020.