HISTORICAL FICTION IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 2000: CONTEMPORARY RESPONSES TO THE PAST Call for papers: One-day symposium on 21st-century American historical fiction Date of conference: Saturday 18 March 2017 Location: University of Nottingham, UK Call for papers deadline: 1 December 2016 Historical fiction in English constitutes its own enduring tradition but in recent years, it has enjoyed a surge of critical acclaim and commercial popularity, as such scholars as Kate Mitchell and Nicola Parsons have argued. This one-day symposium at the University of Nottingham will explore how recent writers in the United States have engaged with the form. In what sense are American writers reinterpreting the past to produce what Elodie Rousselot has termed “neo-historical fiction”? Which periods are they examining? And why do US writers favor particular historical eras and episodes over others? Potential topics for papers (lasting no longer than 20 minutes) might include, but are certainly […]

***DEADLINE EXTENDED Britain, Canada, and the Arts: Cultural Exchange as Post-war Renewal 15-17 June 2017 CALL FOR PAPERS Papers are invited for a major international, interdisciplinary conference to be held at Senate House, London, in collaboration with the School of English, Communication and Philosophy (Cardiff University) and the University of Westminster. Coinciding with and celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, this conference will focus on the strong culture of artistic exchange, influence, and dialogue between Canada and Britain, with a particular but not exclusive emphasis on the decades after World War II. The immediate post-war decades saw both countries look to the arts and cultural institutions as a means to address and redress contemporary post-war realities. Central to the concerns of the moment was the increasing emergence of the United States as a dominant cultural as well as political power. In 1951, the Massey Commission gave formal voice in […]

'Borders vs. Bridges: (Trans)nationalism in the Americas since 1968' 3rd Annual Conference, 11-12 May 2017 For a long time, transnational trends have inspired social, political, economic and cultural transformations across the globe.  In the Americas, and particularly since 1968, there have been numerous examples of bridge-building across borders.  From Human Rights and transitional justice processes to solidarity movements and the international trade agreements of more recent times, building bridges between nations has been seen as a means of progress across the Americas. Today, developments across the region seem to signal a 'centrifugal' tendency towards isolationism and nationalism.  Propelled by complex social phenomena such as migration, human displacement, economic instability and political upheaval, many are turning to the erection of barriers - real and imagined - as a means to cope with uncertainty.  In the US, discourses based on nationalism are on the rise.  Meanwhile, in Latin Americas, the slowdown of […]

CFP: Freedom After Neoliberalism 9-10 June 2017, University of York, UK The conference invites proposals for 20 minute papers on the topics of freedom and neoliberalism. We seek specifically to explore the concept of freedom beyond its limited economic function in neoliberal theory, and to consider perspectives on a future beyond neoliberalism and perhaps beyond capitalism. We are interested in papers that engage with neoliberalism and freedom from a variety of disciplinary, theoretical, or thematic perspectives. Submit to: freedomafterneoliberalism@gmail.com Deadline for submissions: 16 December 2016 More information and full CFP: https://freedomafterneoliberalism.wordpress.com/2017-conference/

The American New Wave: A Retrospective An International Conference to be held at Bangor University, North Wales 4 th -6 th July 2017. In 1967, amidst the dying embers of the old studio system, two films were released that extinguished them apparently for good. Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate suggested the nascent promise of an American New Wave, as directors were emboldened by the collapse of the Production Code; inspired by the stylistic flourishes and narrative seriousness of their European counterparts; carried along by the youthful revolutionary fervour embodied by the optimism of the Civil Rights Movement and protests against the Vietnam War, and granted a creative freedom unheard of in Hollywood as producers and executives floundered desperately for the next big hit after a series of costly flops. Arguably, The American New Wave lasted only thirteen years, flaming out in spectacular fashion with the financial disaster of Michael […]

Imperial Cultures of the United States University of Warwick, 5 May 2017 It has been nearly 25 years since the publication of Donald Pease and Amy Kaplan’s seminal collection of essays, Cultures of United States Imperialism (Duke, 1993), a volume which built on and expanded in new directions a field of foreign policy and imperial studies initiated largely by William Appleman Williams and the Wisconsin School in the 1950s and 60s. Since then, of course, ‘US imperialism’ has become a familiar (if still deeply contested) concept for historians, political analysts, sociologists, literary critics, and scholars of other cultural forms. Meanwhile, U.S. foreign policy itself has moved in decisive new directions: the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, interventions in Libya and Pakistan, the changing relationship with Cuba and Iran, and so on. This one-day symposium seeks to revisit and reassess the continuing currency of ‘U.S. Imperialism’ as a concept and its place […]

Black Love: A Symposium The 80th Anniversary of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God September 14-16, 2017 CALL FOR PAPERS On September 18, 1937, Zora Neale Hurston’s seminal novel Their Eyes Were Watching God was published. It initially received tepid praise, at best, along with needlessly harsh criticism from fellow fiction writer Richard Wright for its supposed counterrevolutionary minstrel image. Ushering in a new era of protest literature, Wright objected to Hurston’s publication of a love story at the height of Jim Crow oppression during the Depression. Yet Hurston’s work, with themes of sensuality, self-discovery, spirituality, and voicedness inspired by the writer’s own bittersweet love affair, has endured in African American literary history. Black women writers and scholars, such as Alice Walker and Sherley Anne Williams, began to reclaim Hurston as a pivotal writer in the African American literary tradition in the 1970s. By 1980, Hurston’s significance was […]

Journal of Design History Special Issue Locating Design Exchanges in Latin America and the Caribbean   Guest editors: Patricia Lara-Betancourt (Modern Interiors Research Centre, Kingston University, London, UK) & Livia Rezende (History of Design Programme, Victoria & Albert Museum/Royal College of Art, London, UK)   Call for Papers The Journal of Design History is calling for submissions to a special volume of research articles on Locating Design Exchanges in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to be published in 2018. Its aim is to unearth exchanges, connections and comparisons in design and material culture among Latin American and Caribbean nations and between the region and other global geographies since 1800. With 626 million inhabitants who speak mostly Spanish and Portuguese, but also English, German, Dutch, Italian and many native languages, the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region is a culturally rich area whose economic prosperity, social movements, biodiversity and natural […]

DEADLINE EXTENDED ‘Borders vs. Bridges: (Trans)nationalism in the Americas since 1968’ 3rd Annual Conference, 11-12 May 2017 For a long time, transnational trends have inspired social, political, economic and cultural transformations across the globe.  In the Americas, and particularly since 1968, there have been numerous examples of bridge-building across borders.  From Human Rights and transitional justice processes to solidarity movements and the international trade agreements of more recent times, building bridges between nations has been seen as a means of progress across the Americas. Today, developments across the region seem to signal a ‘centrifugal’ tendency towards isolationism and nationalism.  Propelled by complex social phenomena such as migration, human displacement, economic instability and political upheaval, many are turning to the erection of barriers – real and imagined – as a means to cope with uncertainty.  In the US, discourses based on nationalism are on the rise.  Meanwhile, in Latin Americas, the […]

Call for Papers Family Sagas in World Literatures and Audio-Visual Cultures Reimagining Nations Across the Globe Centre for World Literatures – Centre for World Cinemas and Digital Cultures University of Leeds, 28-29 June 2017, 9am-5pm The family saga is a constitutively transnational and multi-media genre, bridging highbrow and popular cultures. The genre counts some of the bestsellers of world literature, including not just novels, but also serial narratives (trilogies, cycles), and comics, ranging from the late nineteenth century up to the present day. Being serial narratives that appeal to audiences, family sagas have also been adapted to or produced for cinema, radio and TV series. Examples of family sagas include:  Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart, Eça de Queirós’s Os Maias, Mann’s Buddenbrooks, Woolf’s The Years, Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, Haley’s Roots, Cunningham’s Flesh and Blood, Spiegelman’s Maus, Mo Yan’s Big Breasts and Wide Hips, Ferrante’s Neapolitan Cycle, Reitz’s Heimat, Giordana’s […]

Call for Papers: Insiders and Outsiders: Historical Perspectives on Power Relations in Modern America. The QMUL Biennial Symposium in American History At a rally in North Carolina on 5 November 2016, Donald Trump described his political journey: “I went from being the ultimate insider to being an outsider like they’ve never seen before.” Three days later he was elected the 45th President of the United States. Trump’s victory is redrawing the boundaries between insiders and outsiders in modern America. Yet the construction of these categories has always been contested, and that process of contestation is key to understanding power relations in the United States. We welcome proposals for papers that explore any aspect of this dynamic, including themes such as: populism, immigration, identity, and the public sphere(s). Date: June 16th 2017. Venue: Queen Mary University of London. Keynote Speaker: Professor Mae Ngai, Columbia University. Comment: Professor Eric Foner, Columbia University. The QMUL Biennial Symposium in American History seeks […]

Event: 03/10/2017 – 03/11/2017 Abstract: 01/15/2017 Categories: American, 1865-1914, 20th & 21st Century, African-American, Colonial, Revolution & Early National, Transcendentalists Location: Boston University Organization: New England American Studies Association NEASA New England American Studies Association (NEASA)– Call for Papers Hoaxes, Humbugs, Pranks and Play: Functions and Expressions of Foolery in American Society and Culture March 10-11, 2017 Boston University The New England American Studies Association’s (NEASA) annual spring conference offers an opportune moment to pursue connotations of playfulness and trickery, and of enjoyment and leisure. The emergence of myriad manifestations and sites of playfulness across social sectors has profoundly impacted American society and culture. Childhood has become a playful time to be treasured; diversionary activities have come to dominate cultural products; even nostalgia has acquired a pronounced lucidity. Play is also big business: gaming, sports, and other recreation activities are their own sectors of the economy. We therefore invite contributions […]