Venue:
Girne American University is organizing the first Semiotics congress in Cyprus. The theme of the Congress is “LIVING IN BETWEEN” (east of west, west of east). Cyprus as an island in the eastern Mediterranean, located at the point which western culture defines as “east” (of west) while at the same time staying “west” (of east) and located between the Greek side and Turkey. Moreover, it is located between the north and the east of the Mediterranean... But “being in between two points” is not limited to the island of Cyprus and the Cypriots. “Living in between”, “being in between”, “living in between points” is a spontaneous position which we are experiencing in our daily life. What does it mean to live “in between the points?” What are the points? Are they science and religion? Are they being conservative and liberal? Are they men and women? Are they childhood and old age? Are they intellectual and physical? Are they quantum physics and cosmology? Are they the sacred and the profane? Are they nature and nurture? Architects try to establish links between solid and fluid, teachers try to teach between their meetings and family matters, novel writers try to fill the gap between their senses and the logical side of their brains, meaning occurs at a place in between author and reader. Everything takes place in between those who are living, but also between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. To live “in between the points” is to understand the nature of the human mind- where it begins and where it ends, but more importantly all oppositions are surpassed by the ultimate pair of opposites -“life and death”. It was at this point that the human spirit was born and it was at this point that art, philosophy, science, and even religion were born as well. These are all methodologies of attempting to discern the exact nature of what lies between the two points. The in-between will never relate to what is beyond the points and the true mystic and quiet observer of this fact will come to understand that the two points are really the same point, the beginning and the end. The concept in between recalls oppositions. The notion of opposition has a double origin in semiotics, from philosophy, and logic in particular, where is has been current at least since the inception of Plato’s famous method for defining terms by binary divisions, and from Saussurean linguistics, particularly as this heritage was developed in the phonology of the Prague School. Sometimes such oppositions may appear to be resolved in favour of dominant ideologies, but tensions between them always remain unresolved. Derrida systematically demonstrates .
In this congress, we would like to put the emphasis on the phenomen of “living in between points”, “being in between” in terms of semiotics. Maybe that which lies beyond the two points is unknowable to the mind of man which has been composed by knowledge of the in-between?
Then the question is -Can semiotics have a role to decipher the “in between”?

Paper Submission:
Authors are invited to submit their papers, representing original, previously unpublished work. The symposium language is English. The symposium will consist of invited talks and regular presentations. Please submit an abstract of 200 to 250 words carefully composed to give a clear sense of your proposal. Please also include a short list (3 -7) of keywords for our program index and be sure to state specifically any APA requirements. Papers are given 30-minute slots, typically 20 minutes for presentation, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion. All submitted abstracts will be reviewed, and accepted abstracts will be published in the symposium proceedings. Authors can get guidelines for writing the papers from the following web address:(Selected papers will be aired online before the symposium).

Important Dates:
Abstract Submission Deadline: January 15, 2008
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: January 30, 2008
Paper Submission: April 15, 2008
Registration:
Online registration is available on the congress web side.
Congress registration and accommodation;
booking will only be made when requests are accompanied
with appropriate payment.
Seminar registration fee -100 Euro
IASS members - 80 Euro
Students - 20 Euro

Accommodation:
List of the hotels can be found at the congress web site.

Method of Payment:
Payment method can be found at the congress web site.