I'm delighted to announce that I will be giving the keynote at AVATARS, 3rd Annual Comparative Literature Graduate Conference at Stanford University, on April 10 2009 at 5 PM. The title of my talk is "WYSIWYG. Avatars, Doppelgängers, Performers."
Here's a description of the event:
"Who can see us? How do we make ourselves visible, or readable, to the world at large? How do we portray or define ourselves— to ourselves?
The Sanskrit word "avatara" means "descent"; an avatar, in Hindu theology, embodies the descent of a deity from a higher to a lower realm. The term has recently been repurposed for use in online interaction and gaming— notably in the popular online multi-player environment Second Life— itself marking a kind of descent from the hieratic realm of theology into the de-divinized world of the Internet. The virtualization of certain areas of our societies has provided new fora for experimenting with and reflecting on the images we construct and project, the personae we mimic and adopt, and the ways in which we interact with each other. That said, virtual culture may merely highlight issues that have emerged in different forms through visual art and literature both transnationally and transtemporally: for example, the use of gender-altering pseudonyms as a method of alternative self-representation; the adoption of myriad personae as a tool in artistic creation and performance; and the veneration of icons both religious and social.
The third annual Comparative Literature Graduate Student Conference at Stanford University will trace the various descents, ascents, descendants and ascendancies of the avatar, as well as the various representational iterations of alternate or constructed personae, such as pseudonyms."
And here is the full program: Download Avatars
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