Plath Profiles is an interdisciplinary journal that welcomes the submission of scholarly articles and book reviews on Sylvia Plath, including on the subject of Plath’s writings and relating to Plath’s work and life. With a newly established editorial board, we are making some changes to the journal, and most importantly, we no longer accept creative submissions. We are focusing on academic articles and book reviews.

For volume 15, we are open to receiving submissions that celebrate, respond to, and review Plath’s Ariel at 60. We are also looking for book reviews of the newly released (from 2023-) on Sylvia Plath. 

When Sylvia Plath’s poetry collection Ariel blazed onto the literary scene sixty years ago, on 11 March 1965, published by Faber, it was met with critical and commercial success. In less than a year, it sold fifteen thousand copies, and just like Plath herself predicted, the poems Ariel contained made her name. A year later, it met with similar success as it was published in the U.S by Harper & Row. The voice of Ariel is at once tender, brave, angry, proud, and curious. At 60, the collection has remained marvellously youthful, daring, and relevant. This Call for Papers celebrates the 60th  anniversary of this extraordinary collection by putting together the next issue of Plath Profiles. Academic articles may directly engage with Plath as a historical subject, literary giant, and contested site; may utilize feminist, postcolonial, poststructural, queer, multilingual, and other strategies to analyse Plath’s work; or may propose a new path for Plath studies. Profiles is an inclusive journal, and we particularly encourage topics from unexplored areas and authors from underrepresented backgrounds. We encourage submissions from postdoctoral students, early-career researchers, but also from established scholars. We are particularly encouraging diverse, interdisciplinary, and novel responses and critical approaches to Plath’s Ariel.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to: 

• Poetic Places (Gallipoli, Boston, France, England, Munich and other places)
• Plath and History
• Ariel and the BBC radio readings
• Plath and Film Studies
• Green Plath 
• Plath and the Thinginess of Things 
• Vulnerability and Emotional Labour
• Plath and Music (Beethoven, Mozart’s Don Juan, etc.)
• Teaching Ariel
• Translations and reception of Ariel in non-Anglophone countries
• Transatlantic Ariel

Submission deadline: 30 September 2025

Submission Guidelines:
Submissions are double peer-reviewed and subject to editing in collaboration with the author(s). Our response time is between 3-6 months. Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. AI-generated content is strictly prohibited.

For all submissions, the editors request the following:
Length:
o Articles should have a minimum of 4000 words and a maximum of 7000 words.
o Book reviews should have a maximum of 1500 words.
Formatting:
o All articles must be submitted electronically via the Scholarworks/OJS website. No submissions via email will be reviewed. Please save in Microsoft
Word, single-spaced 12-point type, .25 indents, no tabs, no unnecessary hard returns, and name and title on every page
o Use American spelling for articles
o Do not submit your work to other journals while it is under review with Plath Profiles. 
o Articles must include an abstract as part of the submission
Citation:
o Images and diagrams must be submitted separately, be fully credited, and have rights obtained in advance by the author.

• We are unable to acquire the rights to reprint Plath’s poems, photos, or other archival items for the author.

o Quotations from Plath’s works must fall within the guidelines of ‘fair use’. For more information, please see http://www.copyright.gov/fl s/fl102.html
o Articles must be fully referenced using MLA and cited with full and accurate notes. References must be from verifiable academic sources.
o Poor formatting, styling, or citation may result in the rejection of your submission.

Revisions:
o If an article is approved, it is the duty of the author to submit updates and revisions to their work by the agreed upon or stipulated deadline, which is
final. Failure to do so will result in the removal of the work from the slated volume.
o The Editor and the Editorial Board reserve the right to withdraw articles and their approval for articles at any time. Their decision is final. 

Justice and Morality in the North American Context

23-24 October 2025

Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Sousse

The legal maxim Fiat justitia ruat caelum, or “let justice be done though the heavens fall”, holds the belief that justice must be realized despite all the odds. Yet the term “justice” is rooted in the Latin word jungere, which means to bind and tie together (Duggal and Gohil 2021). As such, while the legal maxim cited above embodies the notion of absolute justice, the etymology of the word hints at justice’s ultimate goal which is creating unity and harmony in society through enforced laws. However, and despite existing solid justice systems, both national and international, humanity at times faces the impossibility of achieving justice.

What is justice then? Is it merely the application of legal texts and immutable standards within national and international judicial frameworks? Or is it the alignment of such standards to societal, cultural, and humanitarian dimensions? What if legal texts fail to achieve social harmony? This conference on Justice and Morality endeavors to rethink these notions and their conceptualization as they span over humanity with a specific focus on issues pertaining to North American history, politics, media, and culture while looking at the philosophical, political, cultural, humanitarian, and historical underpinnings of justice. Some topics we encourage may examine, though not exclusively, the following dimensions:

Resistance and the (im)possibility of Justice
Some forms of justice cannot be achieved within legal frameworks despite agreements that bind national and international political actors/institutions/governments. For instance, the inefficiency of the international legal system can be seen in the incapacity of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hold accountable perpetrators of injustice and even human rights violators. Possible themes of research can be:

• Justice or the lack thereof in U.S. foreign policy
• U.S. foreign policy on transitional justice
• Narratives of resistance and justice
• Indigenous resistance and the struggle for justice in North America
• Historicizing (in)justice
• Grassroots movements and transnational solidarity
• (Alternative) Forms of resistance: vengeance, commemorations, story-telling, and advocacy for reparations

Divine Justice and Religion in North America
As conceptualized in many religious traditions, divine justice is perceived as an absolute form of justice in its moral authority. For example, the invocation of divine justice in American public discourse is evident in debates surrounding issues such as abortion and capital punishment. Divine justice can also be seen in Indigenous traditions in North America which conceptualize justice through spiritual and communal frameworks rather than purely legalistic ones. Possible themes of research can be:

• Divine Justice and religiosity in the North American political tradition
• Advocacy in relation to legal provisions on the abolition of the death penalty and abortion
• Indigenous perspectives on justice and spiritual law in North America

Environmental Justice and Moral Policy Making
The present climate crisis is inherently caused by forms of extractive capitalism that heavily impact the lives of communities for the sake of sustaining fossil capitalism spurred by the U.S. global empire, American militarism, and the increasing production of greenhouse gas emissions. Looking into these new forms of oppression that hamper communities’ right in a safe and healthy environment while shedding light on structural
forms of injustice is necessary to assess the impact of the absence of morality in environmental policies on society. Possible themes of research can be:

• Case studies of environmental (in)justice in the U.S.
• Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice in North America
• U.S. policies on capitalism, industrialism, and modes of production
• The role of Native nations and Indigenous-led movements in climate advocacy for land and water protection.
• Environmental campaigns and justice movements and their impact on U.S. policy reform

Equity, Race and Gender
A very significant concept tied to justice and society is that of inequality. Addressed by one of the most prominent theorists of justice in the 20 century, John Rawls, in his eminent work Theory of Justice (1971), this concept stipulates that “all social values—liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the social bases of self-respect—are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any, or all, of these values is to everyone’s advantage” (Rawls 55). Rawls’ premise that there could be justice in inequality indicates that equity matters in the process of
achieving justice. Possible themes of research can be: 

• Affirmative action and minorities in North America
• Equity, (in)equality and (in)justice in North America
• Gendered dimensions of justice processes
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG)

Media and Justice
Media outlets can play an important role in influencing the public’s perceptions of justice. While such outlets can provide a space of accountability, they can also amplify or obscure narratives of injustice. Moreover, the emergence of the digital age reformulated the paradigm within which justice can be represented, contested,
or manipulated. Possible themes of research can therefore be:

• Media representation of racial and social (in)justice in North America.
• The role of journalism in exposing systemic injustices
• Social media activism and its impact on justice movements
• Indigenous narratives, media representation, and justice in North America
• The ethics of media coverage in high-profile criminal cases.

Please note that:

Contributors are encouraged to send an abstract of 300 words to justice.morality25@gmail.com before July 15 , 2025.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent on August 15, 2025.

Selected articles will be published by Ecole et Littératures Research Lab.

Preferential hotel rates have been negotiated with our trusted travel agent.
Should you need accommodation, please contact
direction.commerciale@troppotravel.com or call +216 56 531 539.

1776-2026: Visions of Freedom

Bologna September 1-4, 2026

In the introduction to his book The Story of American Freedom (1999), Eric Foner wrote:
“Americans’ love of liberty has been represented by poles, caps, and statues, and acted out
by burning stamps and draft cards, running away from slavery, and demonstrating for the
right to vote. If asked to explain or justify their actions, public or private, Americans are likely
to respond, ‘It’s a free country’”. Published at the dawn of the new millennium, this statement
poses a lasting challenge, at once historical, cultural, literary and political: what does the
idea of freedom here imply? What do a series of images mean, considering that they can be
appropriated by different if not opposing perspectives? How many visions of freedom have
been pursued, accomplished, abused or exploited in the past 250 years? EAAS 2026
intends to address these questions, investigating the ever-changing reality of the United
States.

The Declaration of Independence (1776) famously recognized three main unalienable rights
– Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Indeed, after pointing out the “tyranny” of the
British Crown, the Declaration described the subjects of the colonies as “free people,”
deeming the ruler “unfit,” while urging the Colonies to become “free and independent
States.” The newly acquired freedom granted the new federated States the power to levy
war, sign peace treaties, contract alliances, establish commerce, paving the way to future
colonial/imperialist projects. Since the Revolution, pundits and politicians have celebrated
the exceptional character of American freedom (and empire), which they interpreted as a
pioneering achievement, capable of inspiring other nations, contributing through their
example to the larger cause of “liberty” and “democracy” around the world. From this
moment onward, American cultural productions, literature, visual art and film have
constituted a precious output to observe, map and question this national mythmaking, each
time celebrating or problematizing the nation’s ability to hold on to its promises and
premises: from the transcendentalists to the masters of American Renaissance, from the
novels and pamphlets of the Gilded Age, to the voices emerging from many margins (African
Americans, women, Indigenous people, Asian Americans, among others). American artists
of all genres and disciplines have contributed to redefine the very idea of American freedom.
Despite the importance granted to both freedom and liberty, since that beginning, the US
articulation of freedom has been exclusive, as gender, race, religion, and class have
determined who could benefit from such unalienable rights and in what manner. Notably, in
different ways, women, Black and Indigenous people would not be granted the rights
promised by the Constitution, and neither the 13th (abolition of slavery), nor the 14th
amendments (right to citizenship) passed soon after the Civil War brought about a truly equal
and just society. The promises of citizenship granted by the Constitution were quickly

jeopardized. Racial divide was complicated by industrialization, urbanization, and Jim Crow.
While class conflicts sometimes led to outbreaks of violence.

Despite such evident contradictions between the universal ideals professed and the law, the
centrality of freedom as a defining characteristic of US national identity has been confirmed
and renewed by its constant retooling for diverse propaganda purposes. “The land of the
free, the home of the brave” is an identity statement proudly sang by a variety of audiences;
yet increasingly during the 20th century, it was one that was consistently reappropriated by
marginalized groups, as well as by counter-cultural narratives, social movements and
discourse, to question the nation’s founding ideals in light of evolving and complex
international scenarios. The visions of (American) freedom were problematized after 9/11,
affecting not only politics inside and outside the nation, but also the rhetoric of the nation’s
ideals, in turn questioning the solidity, as well as the actual meaning of American democracy.
“How do we imagine and struggle for a democracy that does not spawn forms of terror, that
does not spawn war, that does not need enemies for its sustenance? […] How do we imagine
a democracy that does not thrive on this racism, that does not thrive on homophobia, that is
not based on the rights of capitalist corporations to plunder the world’s economic and social
and physical environments?” asked Angela Davis in The Meaning of Freedom and Other
Difficult Dialogues (2012). These questions are even more urgent today in the frame of a
growing democratic backsliding, and considering the threat posed by the illiberal regimes
around the world.

EAAS 2026 invites scholars to address the above by investigating the role that freedom
played/plays in the conceptualization of the United States as a real and an imagined
community. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• (American) Freedom / American Liberty
• Freedom, Peace, War
• “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave”: Freedom & Militarism
• The Rhetoric(s) of Freedom: Then, Now, Next
• Systemic Freedom and/or Systemic Slaveries
• Academic Freedom
• Freedom of Speech, Free Will, Censorship, Dissent
• Freedom, Media, Communication
• Technology and Freedom (as in Printing, Propaganda and the Dissemination of Ideals)
• Freedom/Unfreedom and Digital Media (AI, Language Models, Algorithmic Biases, Data Collections, Open Access, Open Sources)
• Freedom of Movement, Immigration & Mobility
• Freedom, Democracy, Security, Detention

• Economic Freedom (and Inequality), Consumerism, the Market
• Individual Freedom, Societal Wellbeing
• Freedom & Race and Ethnicity
• Indigenous Perspectives on Freedom: Sovereignty and Resistance
• Freedom, Labor & Social Movements
• The Limits/Borders of Freedom
• Freedom of Choice (Euthanasia, Abortion, Stem Cell Research, etc.)
• Freedom from Fear & National Security
• Freedom and Human Rights
• Religious Freedom, Conscience Claims, Tolerance
• Freedom, Federalism, Political Institutions (Presidency, Courts, etc.)
• Freedom & (National) Sovereignty
• Freedom in Art and Literature
• Freedom and Education
• Women and Freedom
• Teaching Freedom
• Freedom and Sustainability or Climate Change as a Challenge to National and GlobalFreedoms
• Health as Freedom (Disease, Epidemics, and Medicine) and Freedom from Illness (Public Health and Access to Care)
• Freedom and the Frontier: Expansion, Indigenous Displacement, Settler Colonialism, and Indigenous Sovereignty
• Freedom and the Family
• Gender and Sexual Freedom
• LGBTQIA+ Interpretations of Freedom
• Freedom: Global Perspectives and Legacies (e.g. Anti-colonial Movements and Comparative Freedoms)
• The commemoration, contestation, and denial of American values and rights of freedom
• The use and abuse of the American Civil Religion in freedom discourses

Submission Instructions
All proposals are to be sent starting from August 1st through the link posted
on this platform: Deadline October 15.
Panel proposals (three to four presenters and a Chair – with the possibility of one person
fulfilling both roles) are strongly encouraged and will be given priority. Proposals must
include:

• 350-word overview of the panel theme
• 350-word abstracts for each paper
• 150-word author biography

Individual proposals must include:
• 350-word abstracts for each paper
• 150-word author biographies

In addition, EAAS 2026 will include a poster exhibition presenting thematic explorations in a
different format, also proofed and selected. Posters will be on display online (conference
website) and in one of the conferences venues. Poster proposals must include:
• 350-word poster rational
• Graphic Pre-view (Format: pdf)
• 150-word author(s) biography/biographies

IMPORTANT DATES
• Abstract Submission from August 1, 2025
• Deadline: October 15, 2025
• Notification of Acceptance/Rejection: December 15, 2025
• Registration deadline for authors: April 30, 2026
• Conference Dates: September 1-4, 2026

For additional information please contact: visionsoffreedom@unibo.it