CfP: Scholar-Activism in the Twenty-first Century (British Library)

Maria Curie-Sklodowska University Lublin, Poland May 10-11, 2018 Department of American Literature and Culture, in cooperation with the Video Game Research Center, is organizing a two-day international conference “ExRe(y) 2018. Exhaustion and Regeneration in Post-Millennial North-American Literature and Visual Culture.” We seek proposals for papers and panels that focus on the topic of exhaustion and regeneration in American and Canadian literature and visual culture (film, visual arts, video games, television, and others) of the last seventeen years, from the year 2000 to the present day. Topics may include but are not limited to the following:  post-millennial literature of exhaustion and replenishment psychological and emotional exhaustion and regeneration (mental disorders, breakdowns, burnout, psychotherapy) disease and recuperation environmental crisis and sustainable design globalization as the agent of exhaustion and replenishment scarcity and accelerationism exhaustion of/with politics apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic scenarios in texts of culture the many faces of passing: longevity, death, immortality, […]

As our current political and cultural climate elucidates, the modern world has become increasingly fascinated by surveillance systems. Popular television series’ such as Westworld and The Handmaid’s Tale speak of our fears of being controlled by those watching us, whilst remastered movies such as Blade Runner 2049 harness our inherent desire for, and ultimate reliance upon, technology’s advancement. The systems of hypersurveillance shored up in these examples demonstrate not only our Orwellian fear of being immersed in such systems, but also our active participation in their creation and perpetuation. In both examples, it is the architectural frames and division of boundaries which plays a fundamental part in controlling and dominating the individual. Westworld’s Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) controls his androids and their ‘roles’ via the vast network system at Westworld’s headquarters, which in turn controls the space of the ‘game’; Offred is controlled by Gilead’s network of spies and informers, […]

Writing, the State, and the Rise of Neo-Nationalism: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Concerns  In January 1868, John William De Forest took to the pages of The Nation with a call that would resound over the next century and a half: the writing of the "Great American Novel." In so doing, he asserted both the shaping force of the nation on the arts, and the importance of the arts for the national imaginary. On the sesquicentennial of De Forest's essay, the College of General Studies at Boston University will host a conference to explore the broader intersection of writing and the nation. This conference will meet on Boston University’s campus in London, England, on June 30, 2018. The conference will feature a keynote address by Daniel Karlin, Winterstoke Professor of English at the University of Bristol. The exigency of ongoing scholarly consideration of the relation between the nation and writing could not be […]

Call for Papers: The Cartographic Imagination: Art, Literature and Mapping in the United States, 1945-1980 A two-day international conference funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art, in conjunction with the Centre for American Studies at the University of Kent and the Départment d’Etudes Anglophones at the University of Strasbourg. Dates: 18-19 May 2018 Venue: Reid Hall, 4 Rue de Chevreuse, 75006, Paris, France Organizers: Monica Manolescu (University of Strasbourg); Will Norman (University of Kent) Keynote speakers: Pamela Lee (Stanford University), David Herd (University of Kent) and Stephen Collier (Simon Fraser University) This conference investigates spatial representations and practices in postwar US literature and art, and their intersection with mapping. We are particularly interested in the ways in which American space is constructed, imagined, reconfigured, displaced, and questioned in writing and in artistic form. The conference will examine the specificity of the literary and artistic appropriation of cartographic tropes, as well as […]

43rd Annual Conference of the British Association for Canadian Studies, Senate House, London/ 19-21 April 2018 Keynote: Professor Margaret Macmillan 2018 - A Century Later: Memory, Remembrance and Change  On the centenary of the end of the First World War, BACS’ 2018 Annual Conference will look beyond the war itself, at its impact upon Canada, engagement with and use of memory, and Canada’s place in the wider world. Change in the past century will very much be explored in the broader context of today’s Canada and its future. We are extremely pleased to announce that we will have Professor Margaret Macmillan as one of our keynotes. As per usual practice, therefore, papers addressing other themes in Canadian Studies will be very welcome, including those that look at the 50th Anniversary of Pierre Elliott Trudeau becoming prime minister and Canada’s role in the ever-shifting politics of 21st century North America. The organisers of […]

Special Issue Call for Papers: Foodways in the South Guest Editor: Angela Jill Cooley, Minnesota State University Publication Schedule: Volume 56, no. 1 (Fall 2018) Submission Deadline: December 1, 2017 The Southern Quarterly invites submissions for a special issue on foodways in the South. We are interested in interdisciplinary scholarly articles, unpublished archival materials, and photo essays that examine how food and drink, and the culture, literature, and practices surrounding them, express the ethos of the South. We are looking for articles that encompass a broad chronology from the 16th to 21st centuries. Some topics that would fit this issue include foodways in the Global South, food justice initiatives, food and intersectional feminism, LGBTQ issues surrounding food or drink, Southern chefs or cookbooks, Southern restaurants or cafes, food festivals, regional drinkways, ethnographies, literary theory, critical race theory, food and the environment, public health, and dietetics. This is not an exclusive list. We would be interested in […]

LIT-TV: A Two-Day Symposium Exploring Contemporary US Television and “the Literary” Organisers: Dr Arin Keeble (Edinburgh Napier) and Dr Sam Thomas (Durham). Keynote: Professor Stephen Shapiro (Warwick University) We are seeking proposals for a symposium to be hosted by the School of Arts and Creative Industries at Edinburgh Napier University on May 5-6, 2018. Contemporary US television is frequently conceived of, promoted and analysed as “literary”. Following the game-changing impact of The Sopranos (1999-2007), The Wire (2002-2008) can potentially be identified as a paradigm case here: it was originally pitched to HBO as a “novel” for television; it has been famously compared to the serial works of Dickens; it has received enthusiastic endorsements from writers such as Junot Díaz and Zadie Smith; its creator David Simon has been suggested by some commentators as a worthy recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature; it has been studied and taught in university English Departments. Beyond The Wire, there […]