Military Technical Academy “Ferdinand I” and New Bulgarian University are pleased to announce The 2nd International Conference on Military Culture and War Experience that will be held on 15th – 17th October 2020 in Bucharest, Romania. The conference will be hosted by Military Technical Academy “Ferdinand I” and organized in partnership with New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria.

The ever-growing debate over whether the propensity toward war is an innate feature of human beings or, on the contrary, a socio-political construct and cultural phenomenon, has created more advocates of both sides than exclusive answers. This is mainly because the definition of war has always been inclusive and subject to a persuasive rhetoric meant to either secure public support or elicit utter dissociation.

From words and expressions like: threat, hostility, attack, conflict, clash of arms, opposing forces, defense, violence, death, destruction, usually associated with the broad term “war” and which tend to come to one’s mind when exposed to messages on the subject, to more recent and topical keywords such as holocaust, concentration camps, gas chambers, crime, terrorist attack, asymmetry, cyber warfare, counterstrike, displacement, refugees, or to abstract words like peace, justice, power, freedom, evil, hostility, bravery, cowardice, it seems that every important military and political functional concept, within a particular mind-framing discourse, is inherent to war, although military culture is in essence heavily based on the principle of defense and peacekeeping.

During human history, the definition of war has suffered major changes regarding core concepts, capabilities and manpower, two of the main factors of this ongoing transformation being the refined communication strategies used to report on war and the development of state of the art technology. The war discourses, metaphors and euphemisms we live by structure today’s world and some of the times make language act as a “terrorist organization” (Collins, Glover 2002) that shapes and “domesticates” public response to ideas that otherwise would have been unthinkable or unacceptable. By using war metaphors in communication and discourse, a distinctive frame of mind is set to acquaint the public with the unsettling psychological background of the message, before anything else, so that the tensional context is included in the reception and interpretation process.

Thus, a set of beliefs sedimented through the extensive use of structural metaphors related to war is accessed whenever particular metaphorical clusters, meant to shape emotional meaning, are used. They automatically set the reading and decoding vibe and fashion the unconscious emotional response to texts/discourses on such topics, mainly due to the past experiences and various definitions of war that have along the history of humankind established a trend of thought on the matter.

TOPICS AND SCOPE

This conference aims to create a multinational and multidisciplinary forum for discussions on changes in the rhetoric of military culture and war experience with emphasis on language/communication competence and performance within NATO and on the analysis of historical, (inter)cultural, personal and social identity contexts from the philological and cultural studies perspective. We invite scholars as well as practitioners from different fields of expertise including literature, visual arts, cultural studies, gender and identity studies, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, language acquisition, etc, and all those interested in exchanging theoretical and practical approaches to these topics. We suggest the following topics; however, papers on other aspects of the conference theme are also welcome:

• War in literature, biographies and visual arts;

• Postwar fiction;

• Utopian and dystopian fiction;

• Hero cults, myths and legends;

• Poetry of the World Wars;

• Confessional poetry;

• Military anecdotes and slang;

• War metaphors and identity conflicts;

• Trauma and migration;

• Diplomatic language and discourse;

• Power effects of language;

• Totalitarian communication and propaganda;

• Foreign languages and language policies in the military;

• Language skill as a main interoperability tool in NATO;

• Military cross-cultural competence;

• Military strategic communication;

• Military technical vocabulary;

• Media coverage of war and terrorism;

• Gender, race, age and disability in the military;

• Implications of military culture and stereotypes;

• Deployment and military families;

• Education and (re)adjustment to military/civilian/ veteran life.

The official language of the conference is English, though presentations may also be delivered in any other language provided they are accompanied by a PowerPoint in English. We welcome proposals for individual 20-minute papers, panel sessions where 3 or 4 speakers address a shared topic, and workshops where contributors address questions of practical activism. Please, send your abstract and a short bio-bibliography no later than 30th April 2020, by registering on https://mcwe2020mta.wixsite.co..., or contact us at: mcwe2020.mta@gmail.com.

PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES

The accepted paper abstracts will be published in the Book of Abstracts, available to all participants. Abstract proposals should be sent no later than 30th April 2019. Full papers are expected by 30th August 2020 and authors are advised to use the following guidelines:

• Language: English.

• Page-limit for articles: no more than 12 pages, works cited included.

• Margins: left - 25 mm, right – 25 mm, top – 25 mm, bottom – 25 mm, header and footer –15 mm.

• Paper setup: A4, 1,15 line spacing, 20 mm margins, justified;

• Title of the article: caps, Times New Roman 14 pt, bold, centered, 50 mm above the text;

• Author’s name, scientific title and academic affiliation: Times New Roman 12 pt, bold, 2 lines below the title;

• Abstract: approximately 250 words in English, Times New Roman 11 pt, italics, 2 lines below the author’s name, in English;

• Five Keywords: one line below the abstract, in English (TNR 11 pt);

• Text of the article: 2 lines below the keywords, in English, Times New Roman, 12 pt, justified;

• No endnotes (footnotes only): font size 10, numbering: continuous; no page breaks in the document; all graphic elements set in line with the text.

• Bibliography / Works Cited: single column format, Times New Roman 12 pt, italics, at a distance of 2 lines from the end of the paper. Sources must be quoted according to the latest edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers;

• Biodata: 2 lines below the Bibliography; Times New Roman 12; justified.

Every submitted paper must represent original and unpublished work: it must not be under review or accepted elsewhere and there must be a significantly clear element of novelty distinguishing a submitted paper from any other prior publication or current submission. Full papers are subject to PEER REVIEW and will be evaluated according to their significance, originality, technical content, style, clarity, and relevance to the conference theme.

Accepted papers will be published in Journals with ISSN such as: Journal of Philology and Intercultural Communication, Journal of Military Technology or in a prestigious collective volume. More information will be available as soon as possible.

VENUE

The conference will be held at Military Technical Academy “Ferdinand I”.

Address: 39-49 George Coșbuc Blvd., Bucharest, Romania, 050141.

REGISTRATION FEE

Further information will be made available on the conference website as soon as possible.

IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for proposals: 30th April 2020

Abstract acceptance notification: 31st May 2020.

Deadline for full paper submission: 30th August 2020.

Early Registration: 31st July 2020.

Late Registration: 30th August 2020.

Conference dates: 15th-17th October 2020.

Conference dinner: 16th October2020.

CONTACT

For more details on submissions or conference organization, please check our website: https://mcwe2020mta.wixsite.co... or contact us at: mcwe2020.mta@gmail.com.

We look forward to welcoming you at the conference!