cultural studies and historical approaches

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and Francisco Franco’s subsequent dictatorship (1939-1975) were traumatic events that transformed the Spanish nation politically, socially, and economically. Whereas the II Republic sought to build a modern democratic, secular nation, the Falangist regime led to an authoritative, Catholic, ultra-conservative society that shaped, for instance, the education system and gender roles for the decades to come. This panel will accept papers that examine the ways in which Spanish identity was affected by Francoist ideology.

This session seeks to use the concept of the absent present (that which is embodied by students but unacknowledged) within the classroom as a method of disclosure. Such a method is dedicated to both the literal and figurative spaces that foster agency for students and instructors as they embody and articulate multiple critical identities. Particular focus will be placed on the ways student backgrounds and identities are erased or ignored through various means including syllabi, modeled language, instructor feedback, and assignment and assessment structures. Attention to that which is present within our students but goes unacknowledged or undervalued allows for the exploration of ways to better foster more inclusive spaces.

The Biennial Conference of the Nordic Association of American Studies

25 – 27 April 2019 in Bergen, Norway

Submission deadline: 15 Sept. 2018

Monuments construct the past in the present, and link it to a predetermined version of the future. Monuments tell singular and unified stories, acting as master narratives that impede other voices. Monuments have become some of America’s most important storytellers, giving form to power, but also to particular acts of resistance.

How material exchange and mobility affect people and their ideas? How do these subjects and these objects transform the place of destination and its practices, knowledge, texts, and understanding of the world? This panel will address the consequences of the mobility of subjects and the exchange of objects in the early modern world. Early modernity is a time strongly characterized by the increasing crossing of boundaries. In this sense, this panel wants to analyze how material exchange enables different cultures to cross borders and permeate different social spaces, modifying those who import them and those who export them.

This panel seeks to explore representations of transnational space and transcultural memory in literature of French expression. Whether through exile, immigration, travel, migritude, errance, or the meanderings of the flâneur/flâneuse, francophones have traversed a wide global terrain. Just as authors integrate place into their creations, they in turn leave their stamp on the memories and associations that accrue to any geographical location. Cultural production then reflects and inflects shifting identitarian configurations.