What, when & where
Call for papers for the Canadian Association of American Studies at Congress 2020.
Western University, May 30-June 1, 2020
The Canadian Association for American Studies invites paper proposals for our 2020 conference, which will be held in conjunction with the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. Applicants may submit a proposal to one of our CAAS-sponsored panels or roundtables (listed below), or to our General CFP.
- General CFP
The Canadian Association is a multi-disciplinary organization that invites paper proposals on all aspects of American Studies. This year prospective participants are encouraged (but not required) to consider the theme of Congress 2020, Bridging Divides: Confronting Colonialism and Anti-Black Racism, in relation to the field of American Studies. Please send 250 word proposals and a brief bio (100 words) to caascongress@gmail.com by November 15, 2019.
- Roundtable: The Legacies of Toni Morrison
Organizer: Sara Gallagher, University of Waterloo
Possible topics and themes in relation to Morrison’s collection of works include (but are not limited to) the following: race and literary representation, social justice, the politics of language, modernism, the academy, the literary ‘canon,’ and popular culture.
Please send 250 word proposals/abstracts and short (100 words) biographies by November 15, 2019 to Sara Gallagher ats4gallag@uwaterloo.ca
- Panel: Los Angeles in Literature and Culture
Organizer: Peter Brown, Mount Allison University
Social and cultural geographies of Los Angeles and specific neighborhoods or even streets in the city and its surroundings; fictional, including cinematic, representations of Los Angeles; creative nonfiction in LA (e.g. Joan Didion, David L. Ulin, D.J. Waldie, Alice Bolin); sunshine or noir (Mike Davis) and the limitations of such a rubric; riots/rebellions in Los Angeles; LA in popular music and popular music genres, e.g., country rock, jazz, punk, rap, glam metal; Los Angeles as a series of “landscapes of Anglo desire” (William Alexander McClung) and the multiethnic realities that challenge and refuse such desires; Latinx LA; Modernist Los Angeles, postmodern Los Angeles in theory and reality and problems with such conceptualizations.
Please send 250 word proposals/abstracts and short (100 words) biographies by November 15, 2019 to Peter Brown at pbrown@mta.ca.
- Panel: Madness and American Literature
Organizer: Sarah Blanchette, Western University
Please send a 400-word abstract and brief bio (100 words) by November 15, 2019 to Sarah Blanchette, sharri94@uwo.ca.
- Panel: The Soul of America: The Legacy of the Culture Wars
Organizer: Andrew Woods, Western University
Possible topics of interest include (but are not limited to): Culture Wars and counter-culture; Culture Wars and the status of race; Culture Wars and the Canon Wars; Culture Wars and popular music (i.e. rap and heavy metal); Culture Wars and decoloniality (i.e. #decolonizethisplace); Narratives of cultural decline or liberation; Nostalgic visions of “normative America”; Political Correctness versus Patriotic Correctness; the return of the Culture Wars in the age of Trump; issues of gender, family, and sexuality; metapolitics.
Please send 250-word abstracts and 100-word bios to awoods42@uwo.ca.
- Panel: Stories of Undocumented Migration in the Americas
Organizer: Sarah Bassnett, Western University
Please send 250 word proposals/abstracts and short (100 words) biographies by November 15, to Sarah Bassnett at sarah.bassnett@uwo.ca.
- Panel: Miss Ann and Mister Charlie: Confronting Whiteness
CAAS Board-Sponsored Panel
The popularity of the Wypipo as a Twitter hashtag has drawn new attention to the ways in which various communities have long critiqued the ways of whiteness and its practitioners from beyond the academy. This board-sponsored panel invites papers that consider such critiques, whether historical, virtual, literary, cinematic, or beyond. Topics might include white fragility, Women’s Marches, cultural products such as Dear White People, viral Beckys, and more.
Please send 250-word proposals/abstracts and short (100-words) bios by November 15 to jennifer.harris@uwaterloo.ca.
Deadline & how to apply
Other info, Links & conditions
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