The full call for papers:
Blog Archives
Postcolonial Discourse, Ethnicity, and Race in the United States: Past and Present
University of Warsaw
Institute of English Studies
May 13-14, 2010
We are proud to announce a conference that addresses the topic of a dialogue between the discourse(s) on postcolonialism and ethnicity/race in the United States. Our special key-note speaker is Professor Gerald Vizenor.
If the 1950s witnessed the forging of a link between anti-colonial struggles world-wide and ethnic movements in the United States, intellectuals of later decades have challenged what they perceived to be a simple way of relating race and ethnicity to the global postcolonialism. Nowadays scholars from various ethnic groups in the United States either suppress commonalities between postcolonialism and ethnicity/race or enthusiastically endorse postcolonial studies as offering a useful paradigm to discuss political dominance, victimization and resistance to hegemonic power.
Enthusiasts argue that post-colonial discourse provides a way out of American exceptionalism, encourages seeing parallels in the world outside the United States and leads to the strengthening of global solidarity, coalition building and comparative research. They point out that both postcolonial and ethnic studies have resorted to similar concepts such as double-consciousness, multiple identities, hybridity and/or contamination, and a “third space” that is neither essentialist, nationalist culture zone nor assimilation. Enthusiasts frequently use postcolonial studies to theorize the cultural space of exchange and resistance between the centre and the periphery, and among different ethnic groups.
Skeptics point out that applying postcolonial discourse in ethnic studies may lead to reductionism and offer a faulty perspective on ethnic identity. They warn against the danger of a hasty enunciation of the end of ethnicity in an inexorable victory of hybridity and point out that a principled rejection of ethnic difference, congruent with a post-ethnic paradigm, is at odds with an everyday practice in which racial and ethnic differences still matter.
We welcome submissions from the field of American Studies, thus encourage presentations which would use insight from political social, religious, cultural, media and literary studies. We invite papers that refer both to earlier historical periods and those that are interested in diagnosing the present moment. Theoretical analyses and case studies are equally welcome.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Postcolonial and ethnic identities
- Postcolonialism and ethnic histories
- Re-writing national narratives
- Postcolonialism and/or ethnic criticism
- The problematics of the term “post-colonialism”
- Diaspora spaces and communities
- Nationalism/transnationalism/tribalism/sovereignty
- Domestic and (neo)colonial violence
- Decolonization and resistance
- Resistance to (neo)colonial discourse (law, politics, economy, medicine)
- Postcolonial bodies
- Border studies
Please send an abstract of 400 words, by 30 January 2010, to Dr. Ewa Luczak at e.b.luczak@uw.edu.pl or Dr. Joanna Ziarkowska at j.ziarkowska@uw.edu.pl
Full conference fee: 50 EURO
Postgraduate conference fee: 40 EURO – Limited places available
A selection of the conference papers will be published in a collection edited by the conference organizers.
We are seeking contributions to the volume entitled The Dream, hopefully a sequel to two previous volumes in our “Readings in English and American Literature and Culture” series: Community and Nearness (2007) and The Body (2009). As with these earlier books, we are interested in critical papers dealing with the literature and culture of the last three centuries. All kinds of approaches and perspectives are welcome.
The Dream (and the Text)
Each text has its own dream: a dark character, a mysterious passage or turn, some repressed feelings, and even writing itself, dumb and blind. Dreams are interwoven into the very texture of literature, either as its potential or its negative. It is interesting to see how a text reveals its latent dreamy aspect and how criticism helps in the process. As the editors of The Dream, we want to give opportunity for analyzing the modes and strategies in which such revelations take place in a literary text or by means of cultural phenomena. Possible topics include:
- dreams in literary texts; texts about dreams and as dreams; literary space of the visionary, the gothic, etc.
- the notion of the Uncanny; psychoanalytical discourses; fiction of the repressed and repressed fictions; the subconscious and the unconscious
- applications of Freudian and Jungian dream theories to literary texts and cultural phenomena
- dream-sequences and the like literary strategies (e.g. tropism, ecriture feminine, cut-up technique)
- surrealism and its legacies
- magic realism
- the notions of the dreaming body and dream bodies; “altered states of consciousness”; fiction and rhetoric of the irrational
Our deadlines:
- proposal (300-400 words) – December 31th 2009;
- notification of acceptance – January 31th 2010;
- full text – September 30th 2010;
- publication of the volume (University of Opole Press) – first half of 2011.
Please contact Ilona Dobosiewicz (dobosiewicz@interia.pl) or Jacek Gutorow (dreadwork@interia.pl), the editors of the series.
International Pynchon Week 2010
Of Pynchon And Vice: America’s Inherent Others
June 09-12, 2010, Lublin
Call for papers and all information at http://amstud-lublin.edu.pl/pynchon/
Theory That Matters: What Practice after Theory?
University of Lodz
Department of American Literature and Culture
7-9 April 2010
“Theory is practice.”
— Michel Foucault
In his 1995 book-length introduction to literary and cultural theory, Peter Barry observed that while the 1980s “saw the high-water mark of literary theory,” the 1990s spawned much more critical approaches, and formulated both some radically skeptical responses and various ‘postscripts’ to the broadly understood field of critical theory. According to Barry, the mid-1990s brought a realization that the “moment of theory” had probably already passed. Well over a decade after his reflection, we would like to return to the “ticklish subject” of theory during an interdisciplinary conference that would serve as a platform for addressing the present-day efficacy of theory, its limits, uses, or, possibly, abuses.
Since 1960’s, the term “critical theory” has widened its scope. The changes taking place over several recent decades have introduced a shift in the understanding of the status of the literary text, the critical text, the function of the critic, and the ability of texts, and genres, to exchange identities. Such confluence may have been inspirational and enriching. Judith Butler claimed: “Theory is an activity that does not remain restricted to the academy. It takes place every time a possibility is imagined, a collective self-reflection takes place, a dispute over values, priorities, and language emerges.” For others, however, the burgeoning of theory may have invaded reading practices with academic dryness. In his 1992 essay, Richard Rorty complained that, in an anthology of critical readings of Heart of Darkness, “none of the readers had been enraptured or destabilized by [the novel].”
In relation to such conflicting perspectives, we are interested in how theoretical approaches and formations have been affecting the work of literary critics, writers, academics, scholars and practitioners who focus their research on texts, not only literary. We welcome presentations on the usefulness of theory. When confronted with the work of writers, artists, film directors, or with phenomena or processes of culture, is theory a revealing tool or does it sometimes appear as a too limiting professional frame? Does theory allow the critic to do justice to the object of the study, or does it abuse it, by depleting the text’s energy? Another question is whether engagements with theory help develop some new, specific approaches? Perhaps in the interpretive encounters of texts and “theory” new energy is released: textual, formal, artistic. If the theoretical moment at its most intense is now past, are there practices in our critical interactions and activities that have evolved from theory?
Please send a paper proposal and 200 word abstract, by 10 January 2010, to Dr Malgorzata Myk and Dr Kacper Bartczak.
Miedzynarodowa konferencja
organizowana przez
Zaklad Komparatystyki
na Wydziale Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego przy wspolpracy kwartalnika “Tekstualia”
W nadchodzacym roku przypada dwusetna rocznica urodzin wielkiego amerykanskiego pisarza Edgara Allan Poego i dla jej uczczenia Zespol Filologii Angielskiej Instytutu Neofilologii Uniwersytetu Warminsko-Mazurskiego pragnie zorganizowac konferencje poswiecona temu genialnemu tworcy, pod haslem:
“Edgar Allan Poe – artysta i wizjoner”. Odbedzie sie ona w dniach 6-8 maja 2009 w Bibliotece Glownej UWM w Olsztynie.
W dziedzinie prozy proponujemy nastepujace obszary badawcze:
- konwencje gatunkowe;
- strategie narracyjne;
- organizacja literacka tekstow;
- semantyka czasu i przestrzeni;
- kategorie odbioru i odbiorcy;
- intertekstualnosc, czyli echa literackie.
W dziedzinie poezji chcielibysmy skupic sie takich aspektach jak:
- fonosemantyka tekstu poetyckiego;
- uklady dzwiekowe;
- paronomazja, czyli zwiazki brzmienia i sensu.
Przewidujemy rowniez jedna sesje poswiecona adaptacjom i przekladom utworow Poego, jednak z uwagi na zdecydowanie literaturoznawczy charakter naszej konferencji liczba przewidzianych referatow w tym obszarze jest ograniczona.
Wszystkich zainteresowanych prosimy o zgloszenie checi uczestnictwa na adres e-mail:poe2009@uwm.edu.pl. Termin nadsylania gotowych referatow uplywa 31 marca 2009. Jednoczesnie zastrzegamy sobie prawo nieprzyjecia referatow niemieszczacych sie w ustalonych ramach badawczych. Na stronie internetowej http://human.uwm.edu.pl/poe2009 bedziemy umieszczac dalsze wazne dla uczestnikow informacje.
Chair of American Studies, Jagiellonian University
3rd International Conference
“The United States and the World: from Imitation to Challenge”
Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
29-30 May 2009
This two-day conference, hosted by the Jagiellonian University’s Chair of American Studies, will explore various aspects of the mutual connections between the United States and the world. It will concentrate on the problem of the model of American democracy, the presidential system, American politics, society, culture, and the world’s reflections about them – from imitation to challenge. The conference aims to provide a forum for discussion of a range of ideas concerning the above-mentioned topic, and the conference will reflect on the significance of this phenomenon in current research. The conference will provide an exciting opportunity for colleagues to debate new developments in the field, and it is hoped that selected conference papers will form the basis of an edited collection.
The steering committee – chaired by Prof. Andrzej Mania – welcomes proposals for individual papers and complete panels from scholars in all fields, especially from those examining aspects of American politics, philosophy, gender studies, law, culture studies, economy, and sociology.
Papers are welcome from individuals and/or panels (of not more than four papers) that explore one of three broad themes:
- The American impact on the world: normative and analytical aspects. Integration in Pax Americana and patterns of integration in other parts of the world, different and/or similar approaches to challenges to international order and dealing with international threats, continuity and change in politics.
- The American “export” of values: separation of church and state, human rights, idea of sovereignty, the rule of separation of powers, the rule of accountability, modern federalism, democratization patterns, presidentialism.
- The American credo, Americanism, American Studies: in search for a definition of America. American exceptionalism and uniqueness, contemporary American society, impact of/on American values.
Proposals for 15-minute papers should include the name, affiliation, and contact details (including email address) for all authors, as well as a brief (max. 250 words) abstract and paper title.
Proposals for whole panels should include the full details for each paper (as above), plus the name, affiliation, and contact details for the panel convenor, as well as a short (max. 100 word) panel synopsis.
For further details about the conference, please email
Dr. Lukasz Wordliczek at lukasz.wordliczek@uj.edu.pl
or go to http://www.transatlantic.uj.edu.pl/main.php?id=66
Proposals should be sent in PDF or Word format to the above address.
Key dates and deadlines:
- 15 January 2009: deadline to submit panel/paper proposals
- 31 January 2009: academic convenors confirm acceptance of panels and papers
- 15 February 2009: academic program and timetable are announced
- 1 March 2009: papers can be uploaded
- 15 May 2009: deadline to upload papers
- 29-30 May 2009: the conference
- 30 June 2009: deadline to submit revised papers
- 31 December 2009: publishing of selected papers in a hard copy ISBN themed volume
Conference fee is Euro 150. This covers conference registration fee, accommodation (3 nights), Friday and Saturday receptions, Friday and Saturday lunches, coffee breaks, and publishing of a post-conference volume.
Transatlantic Encounters: American Studies in the 21st Century
University of Lodz, Poland
27 – 30 September 2008
We are pleased to announce an upcoming international conference, entitled “Transatlantic Encounters: American Studies in the 21st Century” to be held September 27-30, 2008 in Lodz, Poland. The conference is organized in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of American Studies and Mass Media (ASM) at the University of Lodz. The conference will offer a forum for discussing issues related to American Studies as seen from the perspective of transatlantic and interdisciplinary research.
We invite proposals from individual scholars as well as groups of three to five presenters on topics including, but not limited to:
- media and society: film, radio, TV, the press, and the new media
- multiculturalism: approaches to and representations of
- globalization, regionalization, political leadership
- terrorism: military and intellectual responses to
- national identity, migration, and representation
- popular culture and its national and international contexts
- interdisciplinary American Studies/Transatlantic Studies pedagogy
Key-note speakers:
Emory Elliot (University of California, Riverside)
Alfred Hornung (University of Mainz)
Zbigniew Lewicki (Warsaw University)
Deadline for the submission of title and abstract of 200-250 words and proposals for panels (350 words, including names of presenters and titles of their presentations) is May 15, 2008.
Please submit abstracts electronically or by mail to the following address:
TRANS 2008
Department of American Studies and Mass Media,
University of Lodz
Skladowa 41/43,
90-127 Lodz, Poland
E-mail: trans2008@uni.lodz.pl
A selection of papers will be published by Peter Lang Publishers (Germany) in “American Studies and Media” Series. General Editors: Elzbieta H. Oleksy and Wieslaw Oleksy.
We invite scholars to contribute to the second volume of the “Readings in English and American Literature and Culture” series published by the University of Opole Press. The first volume (on Community and Nearness) was released in November, 2007. The second one, devoted to the issue of the body, is scheduled for publication in 2009.
Although the body features prominently in all academic disciplines, we would like to concentrate on cultural/ideological/literary constructions and manifestations of the body in English (British) and American literature of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century. We are open to various aspects and meanings of the issue, taking into account not only questions of corporeal self-construction but also such diverse, and yet interconnected, terms as “the body politic,” “canonical bodies” or “incarnation.” Thus we invite a wide range of voices which hopefully reflect the variety inherent in the somewhat general notion known as the “body.”
Possible topics include but are not limited to
- the body as site of social construction, contestation, identity, & authenticity
- mutilation and self-immolation; bodily disintegration; diseased body
- pornography and art; sexualized flesh
- gender and sexuality
- bodies in and as visual texts
- problems of perception and the phenomenological approach to the body
- the body politic and its corollaries
- body-mind dichotomy and its dilemmas
- body language; speech and sexuality
- embodied mind, virtual reality and artificial intelligence
“If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred” (Walt Whitman).
“In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art” (Susan Sontag).
Our deadlines are June 1, 2008, for 200-word abstracts, and October 31th, 2008, for whole papers (these should not exceed 20 pages; please follow the MLA documentation style). In case of inquiries contact Ilona Dobosiewicz (dobosiewicz@interia.pl) or Jacek Gutorow (jacek.gutorow@neostrada.pl); both at English Dept, University of Opole, pl. Kopernika 11, 45-040 Opole, Poland.
An International Conference organized by American Studies Center, University of Warsaw
May 19-21, 2008
The aim of the conference is to provide a space for an interdisciplinary and international conversation about nationalism. Theoretical perspectives, as well as case studies from various locations and fields, including sociology, politics, media studies, literature and the arts, are welcome. We invite original papers concerning both the history of nationalism(s) and its various present manifestations. Comparative perspectives are encouraged.
Examples of themes include:
Theories of nationalism and ethnicity
Religious contexts of nationalism
Hybrid identities
Colonialism and postcolonialism
Gender, sexuality and the nation
Collective memory and the politics of history
The idea of the chosen nation
Nationalism and civil religion
Nationalisms after 1989
Nationalisms and the European Union
Anti-Americanism and European identity
Minority rights in multi-cultural contexts
The visual culture of nationalism
Nationalism in age of globalization
Transnationism and nationalism
Presentations should be limited to 15 – 20 minutes to allow time for discussion.
Deadline for submission of abstracts (up to 500 words): February 29, 2008.
Proposals will be considered as they arrive with final notification of acceptance by 15 March.
Proposals should be sent to William R. Glass, conference co-ordinator, at nationalisms.conference@gmail.com