Second International Conference of the Intercontinental Crosscurrents Network Institute of Arts and Humanities, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, Nov. 3 – 5, 2016 Convener: Department of English and North-American Studies (DEINA) and the Centre for Humanistic Studies (CEHUM) Networks are structures of relation, alignment, assembly, and linkage, however loose and asymmetrical their construction. They seem, first of all, combinative, their “work” deriving from or yielding to a common purpose or unifying theme. Along these lines, networks constitute structures of support or specific forms of exchange and solidarity, in essence bringing relations into being that can begin to exist across the norms and epistemologies of the status quo. This focus on the productive aspects of networks, which often goes hand in hand with a celebratory discourse of accomplishments or injustices addressed, obscures another important question, however, namely, the extent to which networks operate on, or are, or can be, in themselves, […]