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SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY                                             

Faculty of Business and Enterprise    

 MONASH UNIVERSITY   

Department of Management  

ACSCOS 2012 – The 5^th Australasian Caucus of the Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism

10-12 December 2012 - Metropole Hotel and Conference Centre, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia

MEMORY

Call for Papers

We are pleased to announce that the 5^th Australasian Caucus of the Standing Conference on organizational Symbolism (ACSCOS) will be held at Metropole Hotel Apartments and Conference Centre, Melbourne from 10 - 12 December, 2012. ACSCOS is a caucus of the Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism (SCOS http://www.scos.org ) and we recognise SCOS' long and innovative contribution to critical and avant garde organizations studies. Similar to earlier conferences, this ACSCOS will be a meeting ground for those broadly interested in critical analysis of organization/s, management/s. We look forward to a stimulating, collegial, productive and supportive gathering of colleagues from Australasia and beyond wishing to join us in creating a memorable programme of events.

Theme

The theme of ACSCOS 2012 Conference is MEMORY and the way organizational discourse, practice, symbolism and narratives deal with it. Memory is posited on the juncture between past and future. The relationship between past and future has fascinated artists and writers for many centuries. Perhaps the most dramatic representation of memory is captured in Paul Klee's painting Angelus novum. Commenting on this painting Walter Benjamin (1974; see also Löw 2005) describes Klee's angel as the Angel of history who is forced by the events of the present to move away from the past. He describes it as a terrified angel starring into the catastrophes of the past surrounded by events, destruction, and wanting to help, but a wind from Paradise catches it by surprise and unable to close its wings the angel is pushed towards the future with its gaze turned towards the past. Others have represented memory as dissolution of time and its artefacts as in Dali's famous painting Persistence of memory. More recently, Deleuze (1988) has defined memory as "the real name of the relation to oneself, or the effect on self by self". He wrote these words in his book on Foucault who, himself, dedicated the last years of his work to the formation of subjectivity through technologies of the self, techniques, routines, and above all memory (Foucault, 1988). But memory is not something we should always trust. Paul Ricoeur (1955) once said that memory alone is fallible. Memory has represented a point of analysis for many other scholars such as Julia Kristeva (1982), Hannah Arendt (1958), Jacques Derrida (1996), Helen Cixous (1997) to name just a few. Memory can be conceptualised in many ways, it can evoke deeply contradicting associations, allow for various strategies to emerge, hunt or help us. Memory's nature is symbolized here by the lizard (our Australasian version of the SCOS dragon) which adapts and distracts and which also represents the animal that needs to be tamed in the organization and society. Hence, the idea behind this topic is that memory is placed between past and future while the present supposedly represents a neutral watershed dimension - and yet because the past cannot be changed and the future is uncertain only the present is fallible, and can trick us by making us remember in one way or the other. But perhaps the fallibility of memory (our present condition) could also depend on the methodology we use to recall events, issues, acts, facts, to tame feelings, to give them meaning and so forth - in other words: to symbolize organization. Thus, this Conference gives us the opportunity to investigate memory in conjunction with our methodologies for the sake of the betterment of our theories and understanding of organization. The event is well placed in SCOS's critical tradition: it revitalizes an aspect of organization that is often relegated to the psycho/scientific dimension opening up a critical reflective space. We intend to look at memory as something which is part of what we are (or are not). Memory is a powerful strategy that people use consciously or unconsciously to symbolize success, failure, power, or lack of power, habits of servitude, freedom, independence and ACSCOS 2012 is interested in finding out how through memory organization could be a struggle but also as a cunning creation of our selves.

Below we propose a list of possible sub-themes which could be clustered into conference sessions. Papers addressing the theme might consider the following topics, although the list is far from exhaustive:

Sub-theme 1: Work, People, Organization and Memory

• Organizational memory
• The people's memory
• Power and memory
• Slavery and memory
• Poverty and memory
• Passive memory
• Violent memory
• Stupid memory

Sub-theme  2:  Feelings and Memory

• Memory and happiness
• Memory as fears
• Memory and pains
• Memory and regret

Sub-theme 3: Self and Memory      

• Memory and remorse
• Memory and joy
• Memory as an attempt to forget
• Memory reproducing the past

Sub-theme 4: Environment and Memory

• Ecological memory
• Designed memory
• Pathological memory
• Manipulated memory

Sub-theme 5:  Past Memory

• Sentimentality of memory
• Sense memory (scent, colour, sound, taste)

Sub-theme 6: Remembering

• Memory leaps
• Children's memory
• Constructed memory
• Minority memory
• Gender memory

Sub-theme 7:  Technology and memory

• Digital memory
• Contingent memory
• Fractal memory

Sub-theme 8:  Difficult Memory

• Ghostly memory
• Bad memory
• Wrong memory

Sub-theme 9: Forbidden Memory

• Animality and memory
• Crime and memory
• Dirty memory

Sub-theme 10: Science and Memory

• New memory
• Memory and the brain
• Memory and the heart

Sub-theme 11: Forgetting

• If I only could forget...
• Genealogy

Sub-theme 12: Open Stream

• Organization
• Organizational symbolism
• My research

Open stream

An open stream will facilitate discussions/presentations of research on organizational culture and symbolism that do not connect directly to the conference theme. Papers are therefore invited on any aspect of theory, methodology, fieldwork or practice that may be of interest to the ACSCOS community. If submitting to the open stream, please indicate this clearly on your abstract.

Panel discussions

Two panel discussions will take place during the conference: on 11 December from 12.30-1.30 and on 12 December from 12.30-1.30. Each panel will include two/three discussants and a moderator.

Guidelines for submission

We envisage papers and abstracts that directly address the Conference theme or other issues within the broad theme. Two alternative forms of submission are invited for the colloquium: abstracts up to 800 words or full papers of up to 7,000 words.

Abstracts: Will be peer-reviewed.

Full papers: Will independently double-blind peer reviewed.

Accepted papers will be published in the Colloquium proceedings. If you do not wish your abstract/paper to be published, please indicate at the time of submission.

To guarantee the blind-reviewing process please include author details on a separate coversheet sheet.

Please follow Harvard style for formatting.

Submission: Your papers and abstracts should be emailed to

 memoryconference@swin.edu.au by 31 July 2012

Notification of acceptance: will be given by the 15 August 2012.

Venue

ACSCOS 2012 would be held at the Metropole Hotel and Conference Centre in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne  http://www.metropole.org

Brunswick Street is one of Melbourne's most interesting streets, is close to the city of Melbourne and is very easily accessed by trams and buses. Brunswick Street and its neighboring streets Smith, Johnston and Gertrude Streets are home to many cafes, restaurants, pubs, and bars, several galleries, and a range of interesting shops. A feature of these streets is that there are virtually no chains. Only original and individually standing shops and commercial activities, galleries, cafes, pubs and bohemian eating places characterize these streets.

http://www.metropole.org/index.htm

http://www.brunswickstreet.com.au/

Accommodation - Melbourne Information Center:

http://www.informationcentres.com.au/melbourne/accommodation-search.html

http://www.visitmelbourne.com/Regions/Melbourne/Accommodation.aspx

Conference sponsorship

ACSCOS 2012 is being sponsored by:

• Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology
• Department of Management, Monash University

SCOS Sponsorship

-          A further Sponsorship by SCOS (£500) has allowed us to offer two registration bursaries for doctoral students, each for £250 to be remitted after the Conference. To apply, please state in less than 50 words how receipt of a bursary will assist you to attend ACSCOS 2012. Email your application to memoryconference@swin.edu.au

Registration and Fees

AU$280 early bird until 30 September 2012

AU$350 full from the 1 October 2012

Fees are inclusive of GST

For registration go to: www.swinburne.edu.au/business/ACSCOS

Full registration includes opening reception, lunches, teas, & the conference dinner. Details regarding the dinner will be advised close to the conference start. Partners are welcome to attend the opening reception and dinner at a cost of AU$165.

Prior to ACSCOS you may also be interested in attending the 26^th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference which will take place in Perth from 5-7 December 2012 (see  http://www.anzam.org/conference )

After ACSCOS you may wish to attend the ABEN Conference from 12-14 December 2012. To be held at the Metropole Hotel and Conference Centre. For more information contact events-mm@deakin.edu.au .

On the topic memory there is currently a Special Issue for Organization entitled: Narratives and Memory in Organizations - Deadline: June 1, 2012 – which you might want to explore. For info contact one of the special editors: Albert Mills albert.mills@SMU.ca  

Accommodation

Participants should book their own accommodation for the Conference. Rooms will be available at the Metropole Hotel Apartments & Conference Centre under the following rates (parking and wifi included):

Hotel Studio Room $156.00 per room per night

1 Bedroom Junior Suite $180.00 per room per night

2 Bedroom 1 Bathroom Apartment $280.00 per night

2 Bedroom 2 Bathroom Apartment $312.00 per night

When booking, please mention ACSCOS to ensure that you receive the conference rate. If looking for other accommodation, surrounding suburbs include Carlton and Collingwood. Any city hotel is also suitable because the Conference venue is accessible from trams in either Bourke (Tram No. 86) and Collin (Tram 112) Streets.

Enquiries

Please direct your enquiries to

memoryconference@swin.edu.au or

Michela Betta mbetta@swin.edu.au

Susan Mayson susan.mayson@monash.edu

More info to be found at: www.swinburne.edu.au/business/ACSCOS

Local Organizing Committee

Michela Betta, (Co-Chair) Swinburne University

Susan Mayson, (Co-Chair) Monash University

Julie Wolfram-Cox, Monash University

Jan Schapper, La Trobe University

Robert Jones, Swinburne University

James Latham, Swinburne University

Advisory Board

Allison Pullen, Swansea University

Bob Westwood, University of Technology