Category: Conferences

CFP: Bodies and Boundaries in Irish and American Literature

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy
Bodies and Boundaries in Irish and American Literature, to be held in Dublin City University on September 05-06, 2023, entirely in person.
 
This conference intends to explore twentieth and twenty-first century literature through the lens of literary geography and theories on space, place and embodiment. Indeed, by using the different approaches of literature and geography to “think beyond taken-for-granted categories, levels, and terms” (Hones, 688), literary geography allows a discussion that redefines not only the genres but also how one experiences a text according to different spatialities and bodies. 

Papers addressing the following themes are especially welcomed and encouraged: 

  • Literary geography in relation to Irish literature, American literature, or Irish-American literature (20th-21st centuries) 
  • The body as a boundary 
  • Bodies and boundaries in literature 
  • Fictional accounts on: race; sexuality; gender; disability; social status; the “future body” 
  • Ecocriticism 
  • Political/ non-political bodies
  • Gendering bodies and boundaries 
  • Keynote speakers: June Caldwell, Nessa Cronin, Sophie White and Emilie Pine. 
If you are interested in participating in the conference, whether by giving a presentation or organising a panel, please send an abstract (300 words maximum) and a short biography (100 words) to: laetitia.nebotdeneuville2@mail.dcu.ie. If you want to attend the conference, please send an email to the same email address. Please specify your home institution for both cases. 
 
Deadline for abstract submission and attendance registration: May 22, 2023.

Full details here:

Bodies and Boundaries CFP

 

IAAS Annual Conference 2023 – CFP announced

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

 

Irish Association for American Studies

Annual Conference

“In/Security”

University of Limerick

Hybrid event: virtual and in-person

28-29 April 2023

The Irish Association for American Studies is an all-island scholarly association dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary American Studies in Ireland. It invites paper and panel proposals for its 2023 Annual Conference, which will take place 28-29 April at the University of Limerick. The hybrid event will be the first IAAS Annual Conference since 2019 to include an in-person element.

“There are others out there on whom my life depends, people I do not know and may never know. This fundamental dependency on anonymous others is not a condition that I can will away. No security measure will foreclose this dependency; no violent act of sovereignty will rid the world of this fact” (Judith Butler, Precarious Life xii).

The theme for the 2023 IAAS Annual Conference is “In/Security.” Inderpal Grewal argues that “constructs of security have come to dominate everyday life in the US imperial state” (Saving the Security State 2). Certainly, questions of security have dominated the US news agenda this year, from the inquest into the breach of the Capitol on 6 January 2021; to geopolitical threats of energy shortages, a cost-of-living crisis, cyber-attacks, and nuclear war; to the FBI’s retrieval of documents endangering national security from a former President’s home. Actual and perceived threats to security – personal, institutional, and technological – have increasingly become the norm in US politics, as allegations of voting fraud and campaigns of intimidation continue to reverberate across elections. Meanwhile, the rising risks of wildfires and storms are a reminder that climate change represents an existential threat to human society that requires us to act now to secure a liveable future.

This year, we invite proposals that consider security, safety, defence, and protection, as well as their opposites: insecurity, precarity, vulnerability, and danger. We will think about security at various scales, the various senses and feelings of terms like “security” and “safe,” and the different ways in which notions of security and its absence structure cultural, social, political, and economic discourses in the Americas.

We welcome papers from all disciplines in American Studies, broadly defined. Possible paper and panel topics may include but are not limited to:

  • Texts and events that dramatize questions of (in)security at various scales: personal, societal, national, global
  • Levels and forms of security forces, threats, risks, defences, protections, allies, and immunities
  • Senses (meanings and feelings) of security and insecurity, vulnerability, and precarity
  • Resource (food, water, energy, housing) security and insecurity, and the geopolitics of resource security
  • Securing the (environmental, biodiverse, just) future; risking the future
  • Financial securities and insecurities
  • Job security, precarity, safety nets, and their absence; welfare and wellbeing
  • Technologies of security – drones, doorbells, digital systems – and their ownership
  • Home security, domestic threats, and safe spaces; private security, personal safety, and safekeeping
  • Questions and definitions of care: carefree (secure, from the Latin securus, meaning without care), careless, and caregiving

The conference organisers welcome individual proposals or panel proposals. Individual participants should submit abstracts of no more than 300 words for a 20-minute paper. Panel proposals will normally consist of an overall proposal of 200 words, plus individual abstracts of no more than 150 words for each of 3 papers for 1½-hour sessions. However, proposals for innovative, alternative panel formats are also encouraged. All proposals should include a short academic biography (50-100 words) for each presenter. Please also indicate if you prefer to attend online or if you are able to attend in person. Priority for online presentations will be reserved for those with accessibility issues or those who are outside of Ireland. Due to limited capacity, we may not be able to meet all requests for online presentations.

Papers from all disciplines in American Studies are welcome, including literary studies, history, politics, economics, geography, science, philosophy, media studies, film studies, photography, art, music and dance, cultural studies, international relations, and others, and from any theoretical or practical perspective. The IAAS and the Annual Conference are dedicated to equality, diversity, and inclusion, and we welcome papers from under-represented groups. The deadline for submissions, to IAAS2023@ul.ie, is 31 January 2023.

All presenters at the Annual Conference must be members of the IAAS. More information is available here: https://iaas.ie/memberships/.

The 2023 IAAS Annual Conference will be hosted by University of Limerick and run by Tim Groenland, David Coughlan, and Clair Sheehan. For more information, contact us at IAAS2023@ul.ie.

Heidelberg Center for American Studies 20th Annual Spring Academy Conference (20–24th March 2023)

Posted on by Jack Heeney

Heidelberg Center for American Studies 20th Annual Spring Academy Conference

Heidelberg, Germany, 20–24 March, 2023

*Call for Papers * 

The twentieth HCA Spring Academy on American Culture, Economics, Geography, History, Literature, Politics, and Religion will be held from March 20-24, 2023. The Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) invites applications for this annual one-week conference that provides twenty international Ph.D. students with the opportunity to present and discuss their Ph.D. projects.

The HCA Spring Academy invites participants to work closely with experts in their respective fields of study and offers workshops held by visiting scholars.

We encourage applications that pursue an interdisciplinary approach and range broadly across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Papers can be presented on any subject relating to the study of the United States of America. Possible topics include American identity, issues of ethnicity, gender, transatlantic relations, U.S. domestic and foreign policy, economics, as well as various aspects of American history, literature, religion, geography, law, musicology, and culture. Proposals should include a preliminary title and run to no more than 300 words.

Participants are requested to prepare a 20-minute presentation of their research project, which will be followed by a 40-minute discussion. The presentations will be arranged into ten panel groups.

In addition to cross-disciplinary and international discussions during the panel sessions, the Spring Academy aims at creating a pleasant collegial atmosphere for further scholarly exchange and contact.

Accommodation will be provided by the Heidelberg Center for American Studies.

Thanks to a small travel fund, the Spring Academy is able to subsidize travel expenses for participants registered and residing in soft-currency countries. Scholarship applicants will need to document the necessity for financial aid and explain how they plan to cover any potentially remaining expenses. In addition, a letter of recommendation from their doctoral advisor is required.

 

START OF APPLICATION PROCESS:                                          August 15, 2022

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:                                                November 15, 2022

SELECTIONS WILL BE MADE BY:                                                January 2023

PLEASE USE OUR ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM:             www.hca-springacademy.de

MORE INFORMATION:                                                                 www.hca.uni-heidelberg.de

FOR FURTHER QUESTIONS:                                                        springacademy@hca.uni-heidelberg.de

Recent Bursary Winner Report: Máiréad Casey, NUI Galway

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

 

The International Gothic Association annual conference is one of the largest and most prestigious dissemination opportunity for an early career researcher in the fields of Gothic and Horror studies. I attended this conference shortly after submitting my PhD thesis. As such, it presented a unique and timely opportunity to connect with an international selection of scholars in my field. As this was the first event of its kind that I was able to attend in person since the covid-19 pandemic, it was a cherished opportunity to see new research, network, and meet scholars and publishers in my field in person.

            The theme of “Gothic Interruptions” was particularly relevant to my research on horror representations of political and feminist consciousness after The Great Recession. With the CFP asking “How do these Gothic circumstances, terrifying as they may be, lead to change, looking toward new futures?” IGA2022 provided an exceptional intersection of my research interests and expertise. Participating in the conference permitted me to locate my own work on contemporary American horror cinema within that academic conversation.

My PhD research analysed American gender politics in the post-recession era as mobilised around the issue of sexual violence and as seen through selected demon-possession films produced in that time. My paper, “Demon Girls, Interrupted: Sexual Violence and Raised Feminist Consciousness in American Horror Cinema” used the case study of the 2011 film Lovely Molly (Sánchez) as an example of how contemporary demon-possession narratives relate to a reactionary, “popular” misogynist backlash to feminism’s fourth wave, particularly towards feminist theory and activism relating to sexual violence, harassment, and misconduct. I had a wonderful experience presenting my paper on a panel with researchers that were engaged in feminist and horror research and received thoughtful and supportive feedback and questions from the panel chair and attendees.

 

Dr Máiréad Casey is an early career researcher with a PhD in Film and Digital Media from Ollscoil na Gaillimhe/University of Galway (formerly NUI Galway) under the supervision of Dr Conn Holohan. She currently teaches at Trinity College Dublin and can be reached at caseym4@tcd.ie

 

PopMeC: Animals in the American Popular Imagination Conference 2022

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy
We’re glad to share the details for PopMeC’s Animals in the American Popular Imagination virtual keynote talks:

Brett Mills: Jaws, from the Shark’s Point of View
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 6PM CEST

Christy Tidwell: Prehistoric Futurism: Dinosaurs, Kids, and the Future in the Jurassic Park Franchise
Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 6PM CEST

The talks will be held on Zoom. Registration is free / pay what you want at 

https://popular-animals.com/index.php/registration/

You can find a brief description of the talks and speakers on our official website
______________________

Animals in the American Popular Imagination | Conference 2022
Organized by

PopMeC

 and AACCP
Follow on Twitter

@POPanimals_2022

Facebook

official website

The Alan Graham Memorial Lecture 2022: Professor Joy Porter, “Wildness and Indigenous American Futures”

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

 

The IAAS was honoured to invite Professor Joy Porter to deliver the Alan Graham Memorial Lecture, 2022–the keynote talk for our annual conference. This is now available to watch on our Youtube channel.

 

“In wildness is the preservation of the world” said Henry David Thoreau, but was he right? Does the idea of the wild instead enshrine outdated thinking that works to prevent the West from addressing the wicked problems of a warming world? Is wildness better dispensed with? This lecture addresses these questions as the globe grapples with a series of profound and indeterminate risks created by humans themselves – war, unprecedented inequality and the extinction of the earth’s vital natural producers- the birds, amphibians, mammals, reptiles and fish that have declined 68% since 1970. It considers the role for wildness in the coming era of synthetic biology where nature will routinely be altered by humans at the genetic level and it explores the role that conservationists anticipate “wild” Indigenous peoples will play in helping to restore the biodiversity without which our species cannot survive.

 

The IAAS opened this event to the public, because of the generous sponsorship of the School of English at Dublin City University. No part of this talk may be reproduced without prior consent. Please contact info@iaas.ie.

 

Prof. Porter is PI of the Treatied Spaces Research Group at the University of Hull which co-ordinates a portfolio of externally funded research with the aim of making treaties and environmental concerns central to debates across disciplines, policy registers and public discourse. She is PI of the Brightening the Covenant Chain AHRC Standard Research Grant, is currently a Leverhulme Major Research Fellow, and is a Lead Editor of the Cambridge University Press Series : Elements in Indigenous Environmental Research. Her most recent books are Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Native American Environmentalism (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). You can catch the collaborative exhibition Joy and her Group organised, featuring the work of Anishinabeg artist and researcher Celeste Pedri-Spade until July 2022 at the American Museum & Gardens in Bath, UK and digitally via the Treatied Spaces website. Joy is also PI Host 2020-24 for British Academy Global Professor Gregory Smithers’ project “Native Ecologies: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Climate Change”.

Dartmouth Summer Institute Scholarship 2022 

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

Dartmouth Summer Institute Scholarship 2022 

 

The UCD Clinton Institute is offering a scholarship  for one PhD/early career scholar to attend the Future of American Studies Summer Institute in Dartmouth College 20–26th June 2022

Application Procedure:

  • Applicants must be a registered member of the IAAS (Irish Association for American Studies). For details on membership, visit here.

Applicants should submit:

  1. A summary of their current research/thesis, including comment on the work they hope to advance through participation at the Summer Institute (max 500 words)
  2. A writing sample (max 5,000 words)
  3. CV

The Scholarship will cover the cost of a return flight to Boston, internal travel from the airport to Dartmouth College and the registration fee for the week (which includes accommodation).

Applications should be sent to Catherine Carey (catherine.carey@ucd.ie) and should arrive no later than the 1st April 2022

 

CFP: Transatlantic Studies Association 20th Annual Conference

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

Transatlantic Studies Association
20th Annual Conference
University of Kent, Canterbury
4-6 July 2022

_________

Call for Papers

Submissions are invited for the 2022 Annual Conference

KEYNOTE LECTURES

Professor Jussi Hanhimäki (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies)

“Pax Transatlantica: America and Europe in the Post-Cold War Era”

AND

Dr Sarah Meer (University of Cambridge)

“American Claimants: Transatlantic Tales of Humility and Grandeur”

AND

Professor Mark Webber (University of Birmingham)

“NATO in a Tripolar World: Does the New Strategic Concept Deliver?”

 

PLUS

A Roundtable discussion on:

The End of an Era? The Transatlantic Alliance in International Politics from 9/11 to Covid-19
_________

 

The TSA is a broad network of scholars who use the ‘transatlantic’ as a frame of reference for their work in a variety of disciplines, including (but not limited to): history, politics and international relations, and literary studies. All transatlantic-themed paper and panel proposals from these and related disciplines are welcome.

The conference is organised around a number of subject themes, each of which is convened by members of the conference programme committee. If you would like to discuss your paper or panel proposal prior to submission, please contact the relevant programme committee members. This year’s subject themes are:

Diplomatic and international history
David Ryan, david.ryan@ucc.ie, Chris Jespersen, christopher.jespersen@ung.edu

Political and intellectual history
Joe Renouard, jrenoua1@jhu.edu, Gaynor Johnson, G.L.Johnson@kent.ac.uk

Social, cultural and religious history

Finn Pollard, fpollard@lincoln.ac.uk, Kathryn Gray, kathryn.gray@plymouth.ac.uk

International Relations and Security Studies

Michele Testoni, mtestoni@faculty.ie.edu, Joe Renouard, jrenoua1@jhu.edu

Literature, film, and theatre
Donna Gessell, donna.gessell@ung.edu, Finn Pollard, fpollard@lincoln.ac.uk

Transatlantic memory and heritage 

 Kristin Cook, kc31@soas.ac.uk, Kathryn Gray, kathryn.gray@plymouth.ac.uk 

Latin America in a transatlantic context         

 Robert Howes, robert.howes@kcl.ac.uk, Thomas Mills, t.c.mills@lancaster.ac.uk

Ethnicity, race and migration 

Thomas Mills, t.c.mills@lancaster.ac.uk, Tony McCulloch, tony.mcculloch@ucl.ac.uk

Special subject theme:

 The TSA is pleased to join SOAS and the University of York in welcoming proposals that seek to better understand the UK-US nuclear relationship as enshrined in the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA). This arrangement formalizes the US support for the UK’s nuclear weapons system, and regulates exchanges of sensitive nuclear materials and know-how between the two countries. The Mutual Defence Agreement has been regularly renewed since its inception, with the next renewal due in 2024.

 

While the nuclear relationship is commonly thought of as being at the heart of what is referred to as the “special relationship”, there is no academic centre in either the US and UK that has a sustained focus on this topic, and scholarly literature about it is sparse. The TSA thus encourages proposals for papers that elucidate and interrogate the Mutual Defence Agreement and UK-US nuclear relationship, drawing on traditional strategic studies, peace studies and critical perspectives.

 

For queries, please contact Professor Dan Plesch: dp27@soas.ac.uk

 

Conference Format

The TSA fully intends to hold its 2022 annual conference as a full in-person meeting. If there are unexpected and significant limitations on gatherings and international travel, the TSA Management Committee will reconsider the format accordingly. While primarily an in-person meeting, we will reserve a limited number of slots for online panels. These panels must be wholly online (i.e. all presenters and the chair will participate online); individual paper submissions will not be considered for online delivery. If you wish your panel to be delivered wholly online, please explain briefly when making your submission why this needs to be the case and/or why the panel would benefit from this format of delivery. Please note that panels and papers accepted for in-person delivery will not subsequently be considered for online delivery.

 

Other formats

In addition to the subject themes above, we welcome papers and panels on any aspect of transatlantic studies. Interdisciplinary papers and panels are particularly welcome, as are innovative formats, such as roundtables, workshops or multimedia presentations.

 

Submission Instructions

Panel proposals should constitute three or four presenters and a Chair (as well as a discussant if desired). Panel proposals should be sent by email as one document attachment to tsakent2022@gmail.com, and include:

  • 300-word overview of the panel theme;
  • 300-word abstracts for each of the papers;
  • 100-word author biographies;
  • 2-page CVs for all participants.

 

The subject line of the email for panel proposals should read: ‘TSA Proposal-[Last name of panel convenor]-[Subject theme]’ (state ‘Other’ if not falling under listed themes) (E.g. ‘TSA Proposal-Smith-Diplomacy and International History’).

 

Individual paper proposals should be sent by email as one document attachment, and include:

 

  • 300-word abstract for the paper
  • 100-word author biography;
  • 2-page CV.

 

The subject line of the email for paper proposals should read: ‘TSA Proposal-[Last name of presenter]-[Subject theme]’ (state ‘Other’ if not falling under listed themes) (E.g. ‘TSA Proposal-Smith-Other).

 

Please note: all submissions must come to the conference email address to be considered by the programme committee.

Travel Grants

The TSA particularly welcomes proposals from new members and junior scholars. Travel grants of £150 each are available to support early career scholars presenting a paper at the conference. As a result of funding from the Halle Foundation, the TSA is able this year to offer a number of additional travel grants to support early career scholars presenting a paper on any aspect of relations between the United States and Germany.

 

If wishing to apply for a travel grant, applicants should indicate this in the body of the email when submitting their paper or panel. If papers are believed to qualify for Halle Foundation funding, this should be indicated. In addition to the materials requested above, travel grant applicants should include a brief statement explaining why it is important for them to attend the TSA conference. For further details about TSA travel grants, see the TSA website: www.transatlanticstudies.com.


Deadline for panel and paper proposals: 15 January 2021
All paper and panel proposals, and travel grant applications, should be sent to the conference email:

tsakent2022@gmail.com.

 

Contact details

Chair of TSA: Thomas Mills: t.c.mills@lancaster.ac.uk

 

Vice-Chair of TSA: Kristin Cook: kc31@soas.ac.uk

 

Local Organiser: Gaynor Johnson, G.L.Johnson@kent.ac.uk

 

TSA Charity Number: SC039378

www.transatlanticstudies.com