[spectre] Fwd: CFP: Westsplaining in Art History (online, 28 Jun 24)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
Betreff: CFP: Westsplaining in Art History (online, 28 Jun 24)
Datum: Wed, 21 Feb 2024 19:52:59 +0100
Von: ArtHist <arthist at lists.clio-online.de>

From: Matthew Rampley
Date: Feb 21, 2024
Subject: CFP: Westsplaining in Art History (online, 28 Jun 24)

Online, Jun 28, 2024
Deadline: Apr 12, 2024

‘Westsplaining’ in Art History – An Online Workshop

Organized jointly by:

•    Margaret Tali, Institute of Art History and Visual Culture, Tallinn
•    Magdalena Radomska, Piotr Piotrowski Centre for Research on 
East-Central European Art, Art Sciences Department, Adam Mickiewicz 
University,  Poznań •    Matthew Rampley, Centre for Modern Art and 
Theory, Masaryk University Brno
•    David Crowley, National College of Art and Design, Dublin

The term ‘westsplaining’ became popularized amongst political theorists 
in Central and Eastern Europe in the wake of the Russian invasion of 
Ukraine in 2022 and was used critically to denote the ‘phenomenon of 
people from the Anglosphere loudly foisting their analytical schema and 
political prescriptions onto the [Eastern European] region’ (Smoleński 
and Dutkiewicz). As such, it was a specific example of a wider, long 
criticized, problem to do with the colonial nature of knowledge 
production and the hegemonic status of (western) European and North 
American epistemic practices.

The critique  was a response to debates in political theory, but it 
might be applied to many other domains of inquiry, including the 
humanities. It has gained increasing currency in art history, and this 
workshop aims to consider the different forms of art historical 
‘westsplaining.’ The term implies the need for an intellectual 
archaeology, a recovery of local discourses and intellectual traditions 
that have been eclipsed by hegemonic western discourses. The workshop 
thus seeks to explore such alternative models of art historical 
analysis. It asks:

•    What is the ‘West’ in westsplaining and who / what does non-western 
mean? •    What does it mean to the use the term in the context of art 
history? What blindspots does it reveal?

Some have argued that in Central and Eastern Europe the critique of 
western hegemony has been used to shore up xenophobic nationalistic 
narratives. Consequently, the workshop also asks:

•    When might it be right to dispute accusations of ‘westsplaining’? • 
    Is there a danger that such accusations can sometimes be used as an 
avoidance strategy, as a way of not engaging with external perspectives? 
•    Does the fact that certain schemas are hegemonic mean they should 
always be disputed? •    Does the fact that this call for papers and the 
workshop will be in English mean that this event, too, is vulnerable to 
criticism ?

The organizers invite proposals for 20-minute presentations on the topic 
of ‘westsplaining’. We welcome proposals that discuss specific 
interpretative case studies in literature or exhibitionary practices, as 
well as broader conceptual and methodological issues.

Although the original focus of the term was Central and Eastern Europe, 
proposals are also welcome on topics with another geographical focus. 
Submissions should be sent to: westsplaining at gmail.com. The deadline for 
submissions is: 12 April 2024.


Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Westsplaining in Art History (online, 28 Jun 24). In: ArtHist.net, 
Feb 21, 2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/41282>.