Why do we continue to desire psychoanalysis? What is the nature of that desire? What can psychoanalysis teach us about the social arrangements of our increasingly globalized world, and especially, about the psychic origins of our most pressing social problems (racism, sexism, homophobia, nationalistic violence, terrorism, genocide)? Do psychoanalytic theories have anything to say about the highly "dispersed" identities of new information technologies?

Presentations should be broadly interdisciplinary. The conference will end with a roundtable in which we try collectively to pull together the threads of our discussion--and to assess where our desires have led us. We plan to publish selected papers from the conference in a collection of essays with a major university press.

Keynote speaker:  Slavoj Zizek (Ljubljana)
Plenary speakers: Toril Moi (Duke)
                         Kaja Silverman (Berkeley)
                         Henry Sussman (SUNY Buffalo)

Please send abstracts of 20-minute papers by 30 September 2002 to: Paul Allen Miller, Chair, Comparative Literature Program, Humanities Building, Columbia, SC 29208, or e-mail them to pamiller@sc.edu.

The registration fee for the conference will be $40.00 for faculty, $20 for graduate students with a valid id. This fee includes, a reception on Saturday night. If you wish to attend the banquet on the night of Thursday, February 13th, there will be an additional charge of $25.00.

Conference participants will be lodged at Claussen's Inn. Claussen's Inn is Columbia's Landmark Bed & Breakfast Inn and was voted #1 in lodging by Columbia Metropolitan Magazine. A single room will run for $89.00 and comes with a complimentary continental breakfast, and free wine and sherry in the evening. Additional guests may be added for $15.00 per person. A small number of suites are available at a reduced rate. To obtain the conference rate, reservations must be made by January 13, 2003. Participants should call 1-800-622-3382.

In case there are no vacancies at Claussen's Inn, there are also rooms available at Clarion Town House Hotel, 1615 Gervais Street. The rate for single rooms is $73.00 and for double rooms $78.00. Individuals will call in to make their own reservations. Reservations must be received by 01/14/2002. After this date reservations will be accepted on a space and rate available basis only. Please call 1-800-277-8711 or 803-771-8711 to make reservations.