We are delighted to announce our Summer Bursary Winners!
Our Early-Career Conference Bursary Winner was Dr. Alan Carmody, while our Postgraduate Conference Bursary Winners were Máiréad Casey and Bowen Wang.
Congratulations, all!
Irish Association for American Studies
Postgraduate Symposium
Evolutions and Involutions of Human Rights in the Americas
Trinity College Dublin – Trinity Long Room Hub
In-person event
18th November 2023
Organizers: Ginevra Bianchini and Midia Mohammadi, IAAS PG Caucus co-chairs
For the 2023 IAAS Postgraduate Symposium we invite scholars across all disciplines of American Studies to reflect on the interlocked themes of ‘Evolutions and Involutions of Human Rights in the Americas.’ We seek to understand how, throughout history, backlashes have occurred in cyclical patterns and how thinkers, authors, human rights activists, and scholars have responded to these challenges.
There are many examples indicating these cyclical recurrences in the United States. For instance, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (1789) initially pledged equal treatment for all Americans regardless of gender, race, or social class; however, it took seventy-four years, many lives, and a destructive Civil War for the 13th Amendment to be ratified. Even after legal emancipation, Black people have endured persistent racism and injustice. The arduous struggle for justice found expression through the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in the 1960s and 70s, an ongoing pursuit that still persists. As a part of systematic, racialized police violence, the brutal murder of George Floyd aggravated the backlashes against the revindication of Black people’s rights. It returned the ongoing activism of the Black Lives Matter movement to the forefront, proving once again that continual, political, and cultural work is necessary to preserve fundamental human rights in America.
The backlashes against human rights go beyond the streets and are taking place in the legal arena too, as several of the rights gained during the 20th century are being revoked. The overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022 and the anti-LGBTQ laws passed in the same year – which add to the ongoing challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals in numerous states – serve as crisis-level reminders of the erosion of hard-won, established rights within the US. These contemporary examples repeat and revise a long history of backlashes against fundamental human rights. Margaret Jay Jessee’s Female Physicians in American Literature (2022), for example, illuminates how late 19th-century America witnessed backlashes against the advancement of women’s rights and how abortion was made illegal under the pressures of heteropatriarchy, xenophobia, and racism. Throughout the 20th century, researchers and activists have continued to draw attention to the ongoing backlashes against women’s rights, as seen in Susan Faludi’s influential work Backlash (1991), which explores the historical challenges faced by women’s rights in the US. In short, these are just two representative examples of how the US has long proven to be prone to backlashes against fundamental human rights, and this symposium is interested in examining the reasons for it.
Delegates are encouraged to reflect on the contexts and significance of these evolutions and involutions and how they have been narrated and represented in the cultural imaginary. When and why do backlashes occur? How have diverse constituencies in the US responded to them in given historical moments? How have political and social backlashes been represented, debated, or silenced in American cultural productions? How are these impacting contemporary society?
Paper and panel topics may include but are by no means limited to:
- Investigations of the causes and origins of backlashes against fundamental human rights/judicial decisions concerning human rights and flouting and/or breaking of human rights’ legislations throughout the Americas[1] and/or within the USA.
- Analysis of the portrayal of backlashes against human rights in cultural productions (literature, film, TV series, visual arts, music).
- Comparative analysis of parallels and connections between current backlashes and historical incidents.
- Examinations of the impact of legal decisions and policy changes on the perpetuation or mitigation of backlashes against human rights.
- Analysis of the depiction of backlashes in the mainstream media and popular culture.
- Explorations of the influences of colonialism and decolonialism on the development of backlashes.
- Impacts of capitalism and consumer culture on the perception of freedom and fundamental human rights.
- Relations between gun control, domestic terrorism, and ideas of freedom and human rights.
- Impacts on marginalized communities of human rights’ backlashes, including women’s rights, LGBTQIA+’ rights, and the rights of people of color, immigrants, and religious minorities.
The symposium is scheduled as an in-person event and will be hosted by Trinity College Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute. The Trinity Long Room Hub can be reached by public transport to city center and is fully accessible.
The IAAS and the Postgraduate Symposium are dedicated to diversity, equality, and inclusion, and we welcome papers from under-represented groups. You can read our code of conduct at this link: https://iaas.ie/blog/iaas-annual-conference-code-of-conduct/.
All presenters must be members of the IAAS to register for and attend the symposium. More information is available here: https://iaas.ie/memberships/.
The IAAS is an all-island scholarly association dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary American Studies in Ireland. The annual Postgraduate Symposium, run by Postgraduates, aims at fostering a supportive and discursive environment for more junior scholars to share their research, exchange ideas, and create lasting connections and networks.
For more information, email us at postgrad@iaas.ie or join the IAAS Postgraduate Discord: https://discord.gg/jasEAMKJ4b.
The IAAS offers two bursaries of €50 each for attendance at the Postgraduate Symposium. Applicants must be presenting a paper in person at the symposium and should express their interest and reasons when submitting their paper proposal. The bursary recipients will be delegates without additional funding who are traveling the farthest distance to attend the symposium.
Submission Details
We welcome 300-word proposals for fifteen-minute papers or 500-word proposals for three-person panels, along with a short academic biography (150 words) in the same document, from postgraduate and early career researchers across all disciplines of American Studies, including literature, history, film, politics, music, art, media, geopolitics, geography, and more.
The deadline for submissions, to be sent to postgrad@iaas.ie, is Monday 9th, October 2023.
[1] The word Americas in this context refers to the countries of North and South America, considered together. (Cambridge Dictionary, s.v. “Americas,” accessed September 08, 2023, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/americas)
We are delighted to announce that the esteemed Professor Philip McGowan will be delivering our 2023 W. A. Emmerson lecture in person, in The Graduate School, Queen’s University Belfast.
What more can there really be to say about F. Scott Fitzgerald? With The Great Gatsby turning 100 in 2025, what more remains to be said either about that novel or Fitzgerald’s wider legacy? Philip McGowan offers some thoughts on where work on F. Scott Fitzgerald may be heading next.
About the speaker:
Philip McGowan is Professor of American Literature at Queen’s University Belfast and is President (2016-24) of the European Association for American Studies. He edited the centenary edition of This Side of Paradise for Oxford UP (2020), The Great Gatsby for Penguin USA (2021), and is co-editor of the forthcoming Routledge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald (2025).
About the IAAS W. A. Emmerson Lecture:
Beginning in 2014, the IAAS Lecture is an annual event, hosted at a third level institution on the island of Ireland, and presented by an invited member of the IAAS on a topic of their choosing. In 2015, the lecture was renamed the W. A. Emmerson Lecture, in honour of our much-loved late Treasurer. Broad in its remit, the IAAS Lecture appeals to both academic and non-academic communities, and promotes the long-standing interest in and connection to American culture in Ireland.
The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney currently invites applications for an open-rank appointment in American Studies. We recognise the value of diversity and inclusion and strongly support a culture where everyone can thrive. We welcome applications from women, people of all ages and from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, LGBTIQ+ individuals, people with disability, refugees, and veterans.
To learn more about the mission of the United States Studies Centre please visit our website. To learn more about this opportunity, please review the full job advertisement.
In this exciting role your key responsibilities will be to:
- contribute to outstanding educational design, delivery, and outcomes within the Centre’s teaching programs
- apply scholarship and knowledge of contemporary pedagogical practice to inform innovative educational practice in and beyond the discipline of American Studies
- undertake independent research with the aim of securing grant funding and publishing peer-reviewed work that meets the standards of the Centre and University
- contribute to a positive workplace culture within the Centre and University
- contribute to educational and administrative activities of the Centre and University
- engage with the media and undertake outreach activities related to your educational practice.
To be successful in this role you will need:
- a PhD in American Studies or any related discipline (including but not limited to Anthropology, Art History, Business, Critical Ethnic Studies, English, Education, Economics, Gender Studies, Film Studies, History, Media and Communication, Law, Political Science, International Relations, Political Economy, Sociology)
- teaching experience at tertiary level in American Studies or a cognate discipline
- demonstrated track record for excellence in research and teaching, including recognition of achieving outstanding student outcomes
- an ambitious and achievable three-year research plan
- experience with a diverse student body, including local, career-change and international students
- a commitment to teamwork in curriculum development and other areas of academic administration
- experience working in a collegial and effective manner with colleagues at department, faculty, and University level, as well as with external stakeholders
- evidence of your ability to undertake independent or participate in collaborative scholarly projects with demonstrated impact
- a demonstrated capacity for engagement in outreach activities in American Studies or US history, politics, economics, or culture (e.g., public talks, debates, and media commentary).
Desirable for appointment is:
- a scholarly teaching profile in gender studies, in social, economic, or environmental history, or in critical ethnic studies
- a capacity to collaborate and teach across faculties, including with Arts and Social Sciences, Business, Law, or Engineering
- experience in a multidisciplinary American studies environment.
Please indicate in your application materials whether you would like to be considered for appointment as Lecturer (Level B) or Senior Lecturer (Level C). The successful candidate will hold an ongoing appointment in the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, subject to the completion of a satisfactory probation period for new appointees. Remuneration package: Base salary of 120k to 150k + 17% superannuation based on candidate’s experience.
Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies 2024
Call for Papers
Trans(–)Turns in Nineteenth-Century Studies March 21-24, 2024
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Cincinnati, OH
Trans-
“across, through, over, to or on the other side of,
beyond, outside of, from one place, person,
thing, or state to another”; “beyond, surpassing,
transcending” (OED).
Whether in bridging divides or leaping over
them, contesting a binary or dismantling it,
“trans(-)” linguistically registers changes of state
as well as movements in time and space; it
indexes communication or traffic that puts
places, persons, and things in new relations to
one another and, perhaps, to themselves.
Building on INCS’ rich history, this iteration of
the conference will seek to explore the “trans(-)”
alongside and in productive tension with the
“inter-.” Proposals on a wide array of topics from
all areas of nineteenth-century studies will be
welcome.
Read the full CFP below:
CALL FOR PAPERS:
The Spatial Imagination in Postwar and Contemporary
American Literature and Art
A two-day international conference at the University of Strasbourg funded by the Institut Universitaire de France
Dates: 21-22 March 2024
Venue: University of Strasbourg, France
Confirmed keynote speaker: Dawn Raffel is a writer whose most recent book is Boundless as the Sky (2023).
Other keynote speakers TBC.
Seen as an emblematic feature of the United States, American space has been represented, interpreted and questioned along multiple lines. Yet, these lines of critical inquiry often remain separate and discrete, treated from perspectives that do not take into account their interaction. They are also spelt along a particularly white, male trajectory. While it is generally agreed that ‘space’ is a major component of the American imagination, literary representations and artistic practices of space in postwar US have rarely been treated together as intersecting narratives. This conference sets out to consider postwar and contemporary conceptualizations and material practices of space in American literature and art, with the prospect of opening larger and more interdisciplinary vistas. The conference builds on the 2018 conference in Paris on The cartographic imagination. Art, literature and mapping in the United States, 1945-1980.
What are the prevailing and the underrepresented spatial imaginaries in postwar and contemporary America, and how are they represented in literature and art? How do these expressions relate to various Indigenous and colonial traditions of the spatial imagination? How do issues of whiteness, race, and the racial imagination shape spatial practices and imaginaries? What does the dialogue between literary texts, visual studies and art historical practices bring to the understanding of the construction and experience of space in American postwar and contemporary contexts? What are the major paradigms that arise? How do national and transnational, local and global, official and alternative narratives of space intersect in literature and art? How do the contexts of US imperialism and militarization play out in the representation of Cold War and ‘war on terror’ geographies?
We invite proposals that highlight the ways in which literature and art, and more generally literary and art historical studies as disciplines, can be fruitfully and innovatively brought together and made to interact. This conference will be a venue for discussing interdisciplinary and creative methodologies. An important, exploratory aspect of the conference consists precisely in determining the possible intersections between art and literature that deserve to be further explored.
We invite interdisciplinary proposals on the following topics:
- Intermediality and space;
- The legacies of literary and artistic modernisms and their investigations of space;
- Indigenous and minoritised spatial discourses and practices;
- Spatial practice, whiteness, race;
- US militarization, imperialism and Cold War geographies;
- Popular literary and graphic genres and the spatial imagination;
- Liminal spaces, meta-spaces, horizontal and vertical spaces;
- Site-specificity and the disturbance of the gallery and museum;
- Comparative literary and artistic representations of exploration, displacement and exile;
- Alternative constructions of American geography;
- Discourses of place informed by environmentalism and ecology in literature and art;
- The local and the global;
- Mapping and counter-mapping;
- Artists’ writings and artistic practice;
- The digital turn in literature and art, systems, cartographies;
- The notion of “space” broadly (re)imagined.
We invite:
- individual paper proposals for 20-minute papers (abstracts of no more than 350 words, plus 100-word biography)
- panel proposals for 1.5 hour panels (panel abstracts of no more than 350 words, plus paper abstracts of no more than 250 words each, plus 100-word biographies). Panels of no more than 3 presenters are recommended.
- suggestions of interdisciplinary panels or roundtables (a mix of critical and creative practitioners are welcome)
Please submit your proposals and biographies to Gwen Cressman (cressman@unistra.fr) and Monica Manolescu (manoles@unistra.fr) by September 30, 2023.
Registration for the conference will be free of charge.
Organizers: Sandrine Baudry (University of Strasbourg), Chloé Bour-Lang (University of Strasbourg), Gwen Cressman (University of Strasbourg), Catherine Gander (Maynooth University), Hélène Ibata (University of Strasbourg), Monica Manolescu (University of Strasbourg/Institut Universitaire de France), Will Norman (University of Kent).
With over 18,000 students and 2,000 members of staff, the University of Limerick (UL) is a research led and enterprising institution with a proud record in innovation and excellence in education, research and scholarship. The entrepreneurial and pioneering values which drive UL’s mission and strategy ensure that we capitalise on local, national and international engagement and connectivity. We are renowned for providing an outstanding student experience and conducting leading-edge research. Our commitment is to make a difference by shaping the future through educating and empowering our students.
With the River Shannon as a unifying focal point, UL is situated on a superb riverside campus of over 130 hectares. Outstanding recreational, cultural and sporting facilities further enhance the campus’s exceptional learning and research environment.
Applications are invited for the following position:
Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
School of English, Irish, and Communication
Teaching Assistant in English – 10 month fixed term contract
Salary: €34,273 p.a. pro rata
Further information for applicants and application material is available online from: www.ul.ie/hrvacancies
“A Teaching Assistant post in the University of Limerick operates as a training contract. Applications will only be considered from individuals who have not already received two Teaching Assistant contracts.”
The closing date for receipt of applications is Monday, 12th June 2023.
Applications must be completed online before 12 noon, Irish Standard Time on the closing date.
Further information can be found here.
|
|
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:
The Irish Association for American Studies is calling for nominations for the following
positions on the Executive Committee:
Postgraduate caucus co-chair x 2
ECR caucus chair or co-chair (x 1 OR x 2)
Vice Chair
Please note that in accordance with the ethos of the IAAS, the committee especially
welcomes nominations for members from under-represented groups, backgrounds, and
ethnicities.
Ideally, we are looking for executive committee members who have experience and
familiarity with our activities, ideals, and membership. There are many ways to get involved
with the IAAS, and new members are very welcome at Association events.
- Nominations must be made by a member of the IAAS
- Nominees must be members of the IAAS
- We accept self-nominations
- All nominations will need to be seconded by an IAAS member
- All executive committee members, aside from fulfilling duties specific to their role,
will be expected to attend all IAAS committee meetings throughout the year (there
are usually 5 meetings per annum) - The positions will be elected by members of the IAAS during the AGM (28th April
2023, University of Limerick) - Please email your nominations or any queries to our Secretary Dr Sarah McCreedy,
at info@iaas.ie by 14th April 2023.
Postgraduate caucus co-chair general responsibilities:
- Attendance at all IAAS committee meetings
- Attendance at IAAS events, where appropriate
- Assistance with widening the reach of the IAAS via own networks
- Working with their fellow Postgraduate caucus co-chair to provide a report at
committee meetings on activities and feedback from the Postgraduate members of
the IAAS - Running, with their fellow co-chair and with the support of the IAAS committee, the
annual IAAS Postgraduate symposium (October/November). - The term of the appointment is two years, renewable. It is usually recommended
that the PG caucus co-chairs are in their second+ year of postgraduate study.
ECR caucus chair or co-chair general responsibilities:
- Attendance at all IAAS committee meetings
- Attendance at IAAS events
- Working to implement initiatives aimed at benefitting the experience of American
Studies early career academics on the island of Ireland and beyond - Working to raise the profile and membership of the IAAS among early career
networks - Organising an ECR-focused panel/workshop/roundtable at the annual IAAS
conference - The term of the appointment is two years, renewable.
Vice Chair general responsibilities:
- Attendance at all IAAS committee meetings
- Attendance at IAAS events, and providing support where needed
- Submitting prizes and other relevant news reports at committee meetings
- Assistance with widening the reach of the IAAS via own networks
- Recruiting and chairing prizes sub-committee
- Prizes marketing and administration
- Contributing to prizes and bursaries judging where a casting vote is needed
- Liaising with winners and with Treasurer for announcements and payments, etc.
- Administering biannual Book Prize submissions
- Assisting Chair with administrative and leadership tasks
- Deputising for Chair when needed
Irish Association for American Studies ECR Funding Workshop (presented by the IAAS ECR Caucus)
Tuesday 17th January, 12:30-14:00
Zoom registration link: http://shorturl.at/lEY59
A virtual workshop aimed at postgraduate students and (self-defined) early career
researchers, with an emphasis on American Studies. Will feature information on the funding
landscape in Ireland and beyond, strategies and tips for building proposals, and brief guides
to particular postdoctoral schemes.
Presented by Dr Tim Groenland and Dr Caroline Dunham-Schroeter, with guest speakers Dr
Dolores Resano (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, UCD Clinton Institute for American
Studies) and Dr Gillian Moore (IRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity College Dublin).