The 64th BAAS Annual Conference, University of Sussex 25-27 April 2019, University of Sussex Keynote Speakers: Barbara Savage (University of Pennsylvania/University of Oxford), Robyn Weigman (Duke University), Jonathan Bell (UCL) Conference Themes Proposals are welcomed on any subject in American Studies, and submissions are particularly welcome that address our two broad themes: LGBTQ+ History. Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots and the heritage of the Brighton area, the conference welcomes submissions relating to the American sexuality, civil rights and sexual dissidence. Activism and Radical Thought. Inspired equally by the East Sussex career of Thomas Paine, we also encourage papers exploring the history and culture of radical thought and activism from all sides of the political spectrum. Submission Guidelines Given the size and scope of the conference, we will give preference to fully formed panel proposals, but will also accept individual paper proposals where possible. All individual […]

CFP - Indigeneity, Nationhood, and Migrations of the Book We are pleased to invite submissions for the 27th annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing (SHARP), to be held in Amherst, Massachusetts—primarily at the University of Massachusetts—from Monday, 15 July, to Thursday, 18 July 2019, with optional book-historical excursions on 19 July. (Details on pre- and post-conference activities will follow.) The conference theme is “Indigeneity, Nationhood, and Migrations of the Book.” Areas of inquiry may include, but are certainly not limited to, the following: • The indigenous book: concepts, definitions, evolution • Making marks to new media: varieties of communicative practice • Cross-cultural encounters, diglossia, heteroglossia, and cultural hybridity • The uses of print by colonizers and colonized • Decolonizing book history, libraries, and archives • The formation and material expression of national literatures • Meanings and manifestations of the vernacular: national languages, lexica, […]

40 years of Alien An academic symposium hosted by The Centre for Film, Television and Screen Studies Bangor University, UK Friday 24 May 2019 Keynote Speaker: Dr Rikke Schubart (University of Southern Denmark) Alien has left an indelible mark on popular culture. Conceived primarily to cash in on the popularity of science-fiction films in the late 1970s, directed by a person known for making adverts (Ridley Scott) and starring an unknown actor in the lead role (Sigourney Weaver), it transcended its humble origins to frighten and disturb audiences on its initial release. Its success has led to three direct sequels, two prequels, one ‘mashup’ franchise, a series of comic books, graphic novels, novelisations and games, and has an enormous and devoted fanbase. For forty years, Alien (and its progeny) has animated debate and discussion among critics and academics from a wide variety of disciplines and methodological perspectives. Hosted by the […]

CFP: The 12th Biennial Symbiosis Conference, 11-14 July 2019, University of Dundee, Scotland. The 12th Biennial Symbiosis Conference will take place at the University of Dundee, Scotland, 11-14 July 2019. As ever, we welcome paper and panel proposals on all areas of Transatlantic literary exchange. In addition to the general call for papers, there will be three special themes: •    Transatlantic Bicentenaries: George Eliot and Herman Melville amongst others •    Transatlantic Crime Fiction •    Transatlantic Comics You can find more information on the conference website. Please send proposals to Dr. Aliki Varvogli (a.varvogli@dundee.ac.uk), using ‘Symbiosis 2019’ as your subject. Deadline for proposals: 30 January 2019.

Call for Papers: American Literature Association 30th Annual Conference, May 23-26, 2019 Westin Copley Place 10 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02116 Conference Director:  Olivia Carr Edenfield Georgia Southern University Conference Fee:  For those who pre-register before April 15, 2019:  $100 ($75 for Graduate Students, Independent Scholars, and Retired Faculty). After April 15, the fees are $125 and $100. Deadline for Proposals:  January 30, 2019 The ALA website contains details and instructions for submitting proposals as well as important information for representatives of participating author societies. Proposals from individuals and program information from author societies should be sent to Professor Olivia Carr Edenfield via email (carr@georgiasouthern.edu) by January 30, 2019, following the instructions on the website: www.americanliterature.org

CFP: 3rd Sexual Cultures Conference: PLAY University of Turku 28-29 May, 2019 Confirmed keynote speakers: Tom Apperley (University of Tampere), Kane Race (University of Sydney) & Katrin Tiidenberg (Tallinn University) The 3rd Sexual Cultures Conference focuses on the notion of play, understood as autotelic practices of pleasure where the enchantment of the activity is an end in itself. As the game studies scholar Miquel Sicart nevertheless notes, the pleasures of play can be ambivalent indeed: “Play is not necessarily fun. It is pleasurable, but the pleasures it creates are not always submissive to enjoyment, happiness, or positive traits. Play can be pleasurable when it hurts, offends, challenges us and teases us, and even when we are not playing. Let’s not talk about play as fun but as pleasurable, opening us to the immense variations of pleasure in this world.” Building on this understanding of play, as well as sex, as […]

Interventions: New Perspectives on Politics, Freedom, and Democracy May 10, 2019 – Leicester, UK.  Keynote address from Professor Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway. Deadline for abstracts and panel proposals: February 1st, 2019.  Please send all submissions to interventions2019@gmail.com. Interventions 2019 aims to critically explore pertinent socio-political issues and their cultural representations. Papers of twenty minutes might include, but are not limited to: •    Post-truth politics •    Neoliberalism and freedom •    Democratic participation •    Class and austerity politics •    Globalisation, migration, and citizenship •    Censorship, offense, and free speech •    Autonomy and marginalised identities •    Resistance and activism in the arts and humanities •    Theoretical interventions with regard to freedom and democracy •    Cultural responses to political events •    Social media and social movements •    Politics and the academe •    Corporations, governments, and accountability •    Politics and mental health •    Technologies and democracy •    Anti-semitism and Islamophobia

Queer Celebrity Conference University of Portsmouth 6th-7th June 2019 Keynote Speakers: Professor Richard Dyer (King’s College, London) Professor Jack Halberstam (Columbia University) Dr Michèle Mendelssohn (University of Oxford)   The focus of celebrity studies on the cultural mediation and function of a diverse range of public personalities has foregrounded an ever-growing archive of queer celebrities. This conference aims to explore how the entry of queer figures into the public imagination, in different historical periods and geographical locations, has had a transnational, even global, impact, changing perceptions, attitudes and the way individuals live their lives. LGBTQ figures, for example, have risen to public prominence and become positive role models, while negotiating their fame alongside cultural associations of homosexuality with crime, scandal and blackmail. The refusal of closeted celebrities to come out underlines the detrimental effects of homophobia on popularity, but also celebrity culture’s preoccupation with the open secret. ‘Straight’ celebrities have […]

CALL FOR PAPERS: DIGITAL⇌CULTURE 2019 A one-day conference hosted by the Digital Culture Research Network, and supported by the Midlands3Cities DTP (M3C) Cohort Development Fund   Date: Friday 10th May 2019 Venue: University of Nottingham Abstract Submission Deadline: Friday 15th February 2019 The Digital Culture Research Network is pleased to open the call for papers for our second annual conference – ‘Digital⇌Culture 2019’. This year’s theme of ‘ACCESS’ seeks to respond to the continued ways in which digital technologies are profoundly impacting social, cultural, and institutional interactions with content, data, and platforms. Rapidly changing modes of knowledge and value production, means of accessibility, and concerns around privacy and censorship have given rise to increased scrutiny of the current digital landscape and our interactions with(in) it. Submission For this one-day conference we invite researchers, particularly early career researchers, from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to present theoretical and empirical research related, but not limited, […]

This symposium invites Postgraduate Researchers and Early Career Researchers in the field of American Studies to evaluate and analyse the relationship between the Americas and ‘space’. This could include a geographical approach to ‘space’ and ‘place’, an ecological focus on the environment, the art of mapping, the relationship between the country and the city, the American notion of ‘the frontiers’, a transatlantic focus on the relationship between the Americas and other spaces, or even a more literal look at America’s role in exploring outer space. The interdisciplinary nature of this symposium aims to subvert the common use of space as ‘a context’ by bringing it to the forefront of the conversation to interrogate how the Americas are spatially constructed. Due to an emphasis on interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration, proposals are welcomed from PGRs and ECRs working across different periods, themes, landscapes, and disciplines within American Studies including, but not limited […]

Back in March 2020, with events dropping like flies from university calendars everywhere in the face of the global pandemic, we at OxEARS decided to enter the brave new world of remote seminar participation. We hope it will not seem an exaggeration to say that our move online has been a roaring success. With the opportunity to welcome experts not just from Oxford, not just from the UK, but from all around the world, the seminar has gained a new lease of life as a forum for scholarly exchange. Going into the academic year 2020-21, therefore, we will be continuing with this approach amidst the ongoing uncertainty about the safety of face-to-face meetings. Although it is a shame not to be able to invite our presenters and guests to the Turf Tavern or the King’s Arms after a meeting, the advantage of being joined by participants in London, Edinburgh, Turin, […]

What Happened? Continuities and Discontinuities in American Culture The 27th Biennial Conference of NAAS & the 11th Biennial Conference of SAAS Uppsala, Sweden, May 20-22, 2021 While it appears to be perennially tempting to see one’s own time as exceptional and unprecedented, it is nevertheless safe to say that our present time is perceived by many as characterized by crises of different kinds (democratic, humanitarian, environmental, medical, and economic crisis) to an unusually high degree. As a result, the stakes are high when it comes to identifying causes and cures and the political, media and academic communities are all concerned in their different ways with constructing narratives that make sense of what is happening: Backlash, renewal, apocalypse? Whatever their political, ideological or theoretical underpinnings or agendas, all mobilize tropes of either continuity – understood for instance as progress, degeneration or intensification – or discontinuity – understood for instance as a break […]