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Online Symposium: Reading Shirley Jackson in the Twenty-First Century

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

 

The School of English, Trinity College Dublin, in conjunction with the Trinity Long Room Hub, are delighted to be hosting a live online symposium on the twentieth-century American writer Shirley Jackson on Tuesday 14th December, from 5-8pm (Irish time).

 

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) is perhaps still best known for her short story “The Lottery” (1948) and her horror novel The Haunting of Hill House (1959), but her work also encompassed psychological thrillers, domestic humour, children’s writing, and a variety of short fiction, as well as cultural commentaries and advice for budding writers. After decades of relative critical neglect, Jackson’s critical and cultural standing has been transformed by a surge of academic and popular interest. This symposium explores Jackson’s current literary and cultural standing and asks, “Where next for Jackson studies, both within Ireland and globally?”

 

The symposium will consist of a mixture of live online Zoom panels as well as pre-recorded presentations, discussions, and written material, which will be uploaded to the website and made available to attendees to view in their own time. Asynchronous content will be available on the website (https://shirleyjackson21stcentury.wordpress.com) from 7th December 2021.

 

Registration for the live event is free and open to all. Undergraduate and postgraduate students are more than welcome. To register, go to: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/event.php?eventid=156735347

 

To view the programme for the live event, and to access the pre-recorded/ asynchronous content, see: https://shirleyjackson21stcentury.wordpress.com/.

 

Join our Discord discussion: https://discord.gg/2UjjYrtpAQ.

Please contact

shirleycon2021@gmail.com

with any queries.

DICE Network – Mission Statement

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

Mission Statement

22 May 2021

 

The DICE Network (Decolonial, Indigenous, and Critical Ethnic Studies Network of the European Association of American Studies [EAAS]) is committed to creating discussions amongst, and connecting, scholars working in these fields. Inherent to the network’s approach is an inclusive participation of our members in the direction of our network and critical a focus on Indigenous, Black, Latinx, non-whitestream, anti- and decolonial scholarship. We aim to create a multi-institutional platform which facilitates deliberations and exchanges on research in decolonial, Indigenous, and critical ethnic studies being undertaken in Europe, on methodological queries and considerations on working in these fields in a European context and / or as Europeans, as well as on increasing connections with our colleagues in North America who work in these and related fields.

 

We thus welcome anyone who works or is interested in:

  • Decolonial and anti-colonial studies
  • Indigenous studies
  • Critical Ethnic and anti-racist studies
  • Black, African-American and / or Africana studies
  • Latinx studies
  • Asian-American and/or Asian-European studies
  • Migration studies
  • Settler-colonial studies
  • Intersectional studies
  • Everyone who works and/ or is interested in related fields 

 

We will hold our first ever network meeting at the 2022 EAAS conference which will take place in Madrid on the 6th-8th April 2022. We will hold at least one network-sponsored panel and one roundtable for which we will circulate a CfP shortly. Future events and publications will keep our conversations and deliberations developing.

 

Anybody interested in joining this EAAS network and putting their name on our mailing list, please contact us at DICEnetworkEAAS@gmail.com by sending your name, email address, and institutional affiliation, as well as your research interests. We promise to keep the number of messages to a minimum while aiming to circulate calls for papers and/or submissions and any relevant network information.

 

All suggestions on the network’s functioning, focus, topics, or activities are welcome.

Thank you for your interest!

 

Best wishes,

 

The DICE Board

Jonathan Ward, Aleksandra Izgarjan, Timothy Petete, and Cécile Hei

Irish Journal of American Studies Positions

Posted on by Sarah McCreedy

 

The Irish Journal of American Studies (IJAS Online) is seeking to fill two positions:

  • Co-Editor-in-Chief
  • Marketing & Reviews Editor

The Irish Journal of American Studies is an internationally respected, peer-reviewed, open access journal. It is the official journal of the Irish Association for American Studies (the all-Ireland scholarly association for the study of the United States and the Americas), and has published since 1992. It currently publishes issues annually at http://ijas.iaas.ie/ featuring articles, reviews and interviews on topics including history, literature, film, art, music, media, and politics. The previous Editor-in-Chief David Coughlan is stepping down, with the previous Marketing & Reviews Editor Tim Groenland moving to the position of Editor-in-Chief.

The journal is seeking a candidate to share the Editorship as well as a new Marketing & Reviews Editor. Both posts will run for three years, with the possibility of renewal. The roles are briefly outlined below, and we hope to fill both by September 2021; we anticipate a handover period, provisionally scheduled for the final weeks of August. Excellent editorial, organisational and communication skills are essential for both posts. An interest in academic publishing and research expertise in American Studies are also essential.

No salary is available for either role, as the journal is entirely volunteer-run. The nature of scholarly publishing means that the work will not be distributed evenly throughout the year, but we estimate that the Co-Editor-in Chief role will require a commitment of 2 hours per week, with the Marketing & Reviews Editor requiring 1 hour per week. The role also comes with a non-executive position on the IAAS committee, and the Editor-in-Chief is thus expected to attend the four committee meetings each year; attendance can be alternated between the Co-Editors.

The IJAS is committed to equity and inclusion, and we encourage expressions of interest from under-represented groups. Both roles will require regular consultation and coordination with the wider editorial team, but possibilities for role-sharing may be considered in the case of the Marketing & Reviews Editor position so as to accommodate varying responsibilities and workloads.

To apply, please send the following to irishjournalofamericanstudies@gmail.com by midnight on August 12th, 2021:

  • One-page cover letter outlining your interest in the role, skills, and experience
  • CV

Please direct any informal enquiries to the same address.

Outline of Roles:

Co-Editor-in-Chief

  • Working with Co-Editor-in-Chief Dr Tim Groenland to bring articles to publication;
    • identifying peer reviewers (with the assistance of the Editorial Board), liaising with reviewers, synthesising reviewer reports
    • Communicating with authors, working with authors on copy-edits, managing submission and revision deadlines
    • Publishing to the IJAS Online platform; formatting according to journal guidelines, sourcing suitable images, adapting content to WordPress requirements as needed
  • Maintaining and improving access to the journal;
    • Managing the journal’s website http://ijas.iaas.ie/ (e.g. updating menus and lists of Books for Review)
    • Preparing content for (and communicating with) JSTOR, formatting articles for print
  • Planning future issues and strategy in collaboration with Dr Groenland and the IJAS Editorial Board (a diverse supporting network of Americanist scholars in Ireland and beyond)
  • Mentoring early-career writing

Marketing & Reviews Editor 

  • Commissioning reviews, liaising with reviewers and publishers of books available for review, managing deadlines and review schedules
  • Preparing reviews for publication;
    • Editing, communicating with authors on approval for changes
    • Copy-editing and formatting reviews, liaising with the Co-Editors-in-Chief on publication
  • Marketing:
    • Liaising with IAAS Secretary to promote new articles & reviews in newsletter, and with American Studies conference organisers as well as local departments where appropriate to advertise the journal
    • Managing the journal’s social media account(s) (Twitter, at present)

 

 

W. A. Emmerson Lecture 2021

Posted on by Catherine Gander

‘Trauma and Naturalism in the Later Novels of Toni Morrison and Philip Roth’

Dr Alan Gibbs

The IAAS was honoured to host Dr Alan Gibbs for the 2021 W. A. Emmerson lecture on June 2nd. 

The lecture was delivered online, followed by a lively and illuminating Q&A. It can be watched back via our YouTube channel. 

Many thanks again to Dr Gibbs for such a fantastic lecture!

Watch the lecture

 

IAAS Call for Nominations for positions on the Executive Committee

Posted on by Suchismita Dattagupta

The Irish Association for American Studies is calling for nominations for the following positions on the Executive Committee:

 

Secretary

Ordinary Member x2

Postgraduate caucus co-chair

 

Please note that in accordance with the ethos of the IAAS, the committee especially welcomes nominations for members from under-represented 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 or members of the IAAS
  • We accept self-nominations
  • All executive committee members, aside from fulfilling duties specific to their role, will be expected to attend all IAAS committee meetings throughout the year (January, April [AGM], June, September, November [PGR conference])
  • Information on the full requirements of the role(s) will be made available on request
  • The positions will be elected by members of the IAAS during the AGM (10th April 2021)
  • Please email your nominations to info@iaas.ie by 1st April 2021

Please Bear with us

Posted on by rowanm

We are currently making some changes to the WordPress theme to improve the site. The pages on the site might looks strange over the weekend and some features may change but while this update is taking place. Please bear with us.

U.S. Election Roundtable

Posted on by James Hussey
U.S. Election Roundtable hosted by the Irish Association for American Studies
 
Monday 2nd November at 4pm Irish time

At this special roundtable event, happening the day before American Election Day, a range of experts discuss the current administration, the election campaign, and the implications of both another Trump-Pence win or a Biden-Harris victory.

Among discussion topics will be race and racial politics, law and order, the media, cultural responses to recent political events and agendas, foreign policy, election interference and campaign tactics, cyber security, and terrorism.

Our expert speakers are:

Daniel Geary, Mark Pigott Associate Professor of U.S. History at Trinity College Dublin

Jorie Lagerwey, Associate Professor in Television Studies in University College Dublin

Eugenio Lilli, Lecturer and Program Coordinator of the MA in American Politics and Foreign Policy at University College Dublin

Dolores Resano, Marie Curie Fellow at the Clinton Institute for American Studies at UCD and Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College in the United States

Kimberly Reyes, award-winning poet and essayist, and the 2019-2020 Fulbright fellow at University College Cork.

The event is moderated by Catherine Gander, Chair of the IAAS, and Associate Professor of American Literature at Maynooth University.

This event will take place over Zoom. Registered attendees will receive the secure link the day before the event.

Please find the link to the Eventbrite registration below:

IAAS Postgraduate Symposium – “Parallel Lives in America”

Posted on by James Hussey

The IAAS Postgraduate Symposium

“Parallel Lives in America”

Virtual Event via Zoom

13th-14th of November, 2020

Last year, the Irish Association for American Studies’ Postgraduate Symposium, titled “The Land of the Unfree”, sought to interrogate the legitimacy of democracy in America. One year on, in the midst of a global pandemic, this legitimacy has not only been interrogated, but put on trial.

In the U.S., the COVID-19 pandemic has both exacerbated and exposed already existent crises: social, political and economic, among others. Referred to by The New York Times as “The Pandemic Inequality Feedback Loop”, research has shown that individuals of lower economic strata and minority groups are both more likely to contract the virus, and to die from it. From bulk buying to wide-spread job losses, the concerns and priorities of American citizens have existed on a wide spectrum according to relative levels of privilege and oppression.

The 2020 postgraduate symposium, taking place in the IAAS’ 50th year, therefore endeavours to investigate “Parallel Lives” in America. In this context, “Parallel Lives” signify the juxtaposition of the wealthy with the poor, those with power to those who are oppressed, and those who discriminate to those who are discriminated against. As the #BlackLivesMatter movement has shown, exposing and resisting the discord between parallel ways of living is essential for social change, particularly in a world where our lives have become more interconnected than ever before.

While this conference takes inspiration from the present moment, we are particularly interested in historical roots, parallels and contemporary repetitions, and welcome transhistorical papers and panels.

To be conducted over the course of Friday and Saturday afternoon on the 13th-14th November, the interdisciplinary symposium will be run as a virtual event via Zoom. Participants will be invited to complete a webinar registration to be able to join the symposium.

300 word proposals for ten-minute papers, along with a short academic biography, are welcomed from PGRs and ECRs working in the field of American Studies across disciplines including literature, history, film, politics, music, art and media. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 9th October, 2020.

The IAAS is committed to the development of postgraduate and early career researchers. Therefore, the symposium will also feature workshops specifically designed for these scholars.

Paper topics may include but are not limited to:

  • Racial/gender/social/economic inequalities in the U.S.
  • The intersectionalities of equality and inequality
  • Widening socio-economic discrepancies in times of American crisis
  • Narratives of resistance, counternarratives
  • Protest literature and movements, particularly #BlackLivesMatter
  • Documenting Protest
  • The role of art and the artist in social change

For more information, or to submit a proposal, please email us at: postgrad@iaas.ie