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What is alterity and how do we represent it? How do we, as human beings, craft personal and communal identities, and achieve a sense of social belonging? To what extent do we rely on inherited biases about class, gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity when fashioning our self-image? As the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir observed in her well-known feminist manifesto, the concept of Otherness occupies a central place in human consciousness. Social identities are inherently relational, and people often define themselves in terms of what they are not. This comparative impulse

manifests itself in complex ways in the history of art and architecture. Given the global upswing in nationalist sentiment and nativist movements built on hardened definitions of Otherness, we feel that such dialogue is more important than ever.

The Rutgers University Art History Graduate Student Organization seeks proposals that address any of

the above-mentioned questions. Abstracts are welcome from all historical periods, geographical areas,

and cultural, theoretical, and methodological perspectives. Submissions within the fields of art and

architectural history, archaeology, history, visual and material culture, media studies, and gender

studies will be considered for 20-minute presentations in English. After the symposium, one paper will

be selected for possible publication in Volume 36 of the Rutgers Art Review, a peer-reviewed, open-

access journal produced by graduate students in the Department of Art History.