21st Century Soldiering: Mercenaries, Memorials, Movies

With wars distant and elusive to the Western public sphere, "the soldier" seems to have become their privileged source of representation. The laws, tactics, or economics of war appear of little public interest. The people of war on the other hand, attract us as exotic and authentic: soldiers' blogs, soldiers' interviews, soldiers' movies and the front line "soldier-infotainment" now run on all national TV channels are a rapidly growing industry.

At this CAST inspirational workshop, we ponder what happens to the democratic relationship between war and the public, once the people who fight them become the primary interface between violent conflicts "out there" and deliberation "back here". How, in news, art and cinema, is the contemporary soldier represented in public space, for what purposes and to what effect? And how, politically and juridically, is he mobilized, moulded, managed?

The workshop will deal with issues ranging from mercenaries and memorials to new soldier-centered war movies.

Please register by sending a mail to cf@cast.ku.dk no later than April 19, 2010.

For more info, check http://cast.ku.dk/