Cambridge American History Seminar For further details, pre-circulated papers and other seminars see the CAHS webpage. 28 November: Loïc Wacquant, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, and 2016-17 Pitt Professor, University of Cambridge Peculiar Institutions: Four Centuries of Race-Making in the United States Discussion will be based on a pre-circulated paper
15 years after 9/11 there are many conspiracy theories related to the events that have been discussed in films, literature and social media. However, this is not the only conspiracy theory of such long endurance. Many more, like the Jewish world conspiracy, the survival of Nazi Germany on the dark side of the moon, Area 51, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and many more have led to a large production of films, literature and social media (blogs or vlogs). For the second volume of Entertainment we are interested in papers that analyze these conspiracy theories and in how far they are created, stimulated or re-defined by these media. Articles should range between 5000 and 8000 words and use footnotes (following the latest Chicago Manual of Style). For detailed information on the journal and the submission procedure, check: http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/entertainment/about The deadline for an initial proposal (250 words and a short CV) […]
HISTORICAL FICTION IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 2000: CONTEMPORARY LITERARY 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 […]
These one-year residential fellowships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in Washington, DC, support full-time independent and dissertation research by scholars from abroad researching historical American art (circa 1550–1980) or by US scholars, particularly those investigating international contexts for American art. These awards are administered by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. For more information about deadlines, eligibility, application procedures, and funding, please visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum website: http://www.americanart.si.edu/research/opportunity/fellows/terra/
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 […]
Traces and Memories of Slavery in the Atlantic World University of Montpellier, France, 1-2 December, 2016 Keynote Speakers Ana Lucia Araujo (Howard University) Christine Chivallon (Research Director, CNRS) In Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of African American Identity (2001), Ron Eyerman explores the formation of African American identity through the cultural trauma of slavery. While trauma directly affected individuals who experienced slavery, Eyerman argues that, as a cultural process, trauma is "mediated through various forms of representation and linked to the reformation of collective identity and the reworking of collective memory". This international conference seeks to examine the foundation, the mechanisms and the scope of these memorial processes. It endeavors to explore a reality of slavery that rests on human memory, on a (re)constructed memory of individual, collective or family trajectories and migrations transmitted from generation to generation. The Traces and Memories of Slavery in the Atlantic World conference sets out to interrogate how descendants reconstruct the history of their ancestors […]
Retroviral Cultures: AIDS, Twenty Years On 1 December 2016, 2.00 PM - 6.00 PM Andrew Blades, Maria Vaccarella, Corinne Squire, MK Czerwiec Old Council Chamber, Wills Memorial Building 2016 marks the twentieth anniversary of the 11th International AIDS Conference in Vancouver, at which Taiwanese American researcher David Ho and his team revealed new antiretroviral combination therapies to the world. Before long, Andrew Sullivan was (in)famously writing in the New York Times of the 'end' of AIDS. Twenty years on, the global AIDS pandemic continues, and in the USA there are still 1.2 million people living with HIV. Cultural representations of HIV/AIDS in America – literature, film, television, art – no longer portray AIDS as a death sentence or as a ‘rupture in meaning’ (Edmund White); depending on access to healthcare and education, HIV is primarily a manageable long-term health condition. At the same time, Richard Canning has pondered that the […]
1 December 2016, 5:30pm-7:00pm BOOK LAUNCH FOR REAGAN: AMERICAN ICON Iwan Morgan will introduce and discuss his new biography of Ronald Reagan, published by IB Tauris in 2016.
'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 […]
Applications are invited for the BAAS Graduate Assistantship in American History at the University of New Hampshire, starting in August 2017 for two years. Candidates will normally be final-year undergraduates in American Studies and related fields and disciplines at a British university, but applications will also be accepted from recent graduates. Teaching Assistants receive a stipend, paid September-May. The stipend for M.A. students is approximately $14,800. Teaching Assistants do not pay tuition. They are responsible, however, for paying for two items: 1) Student fees (for Health Services, the Student Union, etc.), which are approximately $850 for full-time students; 2) Health insurance, which International students are normally required to purchase and which costs approximately $1000. Full details are at http://www.unh.edu/business-services/tuitgrad.html Full details are available at http://www.baas.ac.uk/the-new-hampshire-ta/ Applicants will be received by a BAAS panel, which will draw up a shortlist for an interview in early January. BAAS is committed to promoting best […]
Applications are invited for the BAAS Graduate Assistantship in American Studies at the University of Wyoming, starting in August 2017 for two years. Candidates will normally be final-year undergraduates in American Studies and related fields and disciplines at a British university, but applications will also be accepted from recent graduates. A BAAS Graduate Assistantship is awarded for two years of graduate study, assuming satisfactory progress toward the MA degree and adequate performance of GA duties. During the two years the GA could expect to assist in the teaching of two courses (leading discussions, marking essay exams, etc.), conduct research in support of a faculty member’s project, and participate in grant-supported activities that would lead outside the university. The GA could demand between 15-18 hours of work per week. The Assistantship provides an income sufficient to cover living expenses, plus remission of tuition fees while the recipient of the award pursues […]