ethnicity and national identity

Since the publication of Derrida's Specters of Marx (1993) and the resulting growth of Spectrality studies in the past twenty years, much attention has been devoted to literary works that portray a spectral entity that reconfigures the more traditional gothic vision of the ghost, especially in Western Literature. However, in recent years, literary works and scholars alike have responded to this Western bias by envisioning Hauntology as a method for recuperating the stories of marginalized groups. In this view, spectrality can also be employed as a metaphor for social invisibility, a model first expanded by Esther Peeren and Maria Blanco. 

Jordan Peele’s Us is a critically acclaimed horror original about government-manufactured clones that are forced to mimic the lives of the people who live on the surface like stringless puppets. While Peele focuses more on a physical tethering, there is a psychological tethering that can be gleamed from this piece, specifically as it relates to the idea of double consciousness. In his work “The Striving of the Negro People,” W.E.B. Du Bois describes this idea as “this sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt or pity.

Changeling Country: Neurodivergence, Disability and the Irish Imaginary

An edited volume proposed for Vernon Press, Irish Studies series Editor: Tess Ezzy — Director, Neurodivergent Creative Methods Lab; PhD candidate, University of New England

The Société Rencesvals, Pan-American Branch, wishes to honor Lynn T. Ramey in celebration of 25 years since the publication of her first monograph, Christian, Saracen, and Genre in Medieval French Literature. We invite proposals that engage directly with the central ideas, arguments, and/or methodologies explored by Ramey in her work, and which discuss the representation of Muslims by Romance language authors c. 1100-1500 (Italian, Old Occitan, Old French, Medieval Castilian, for instance). We are especially interested in papers that give particular attention to themes of gender and race as they relate to epic depictions of Muslim-Christian relations in chansons de geste, chivalric romances, and lyric poetry.

Haryanvi Dalit theatre occupies a highly marginalised position within the broader landscape of Indian theatre. It may aptly be described as “the marginalised among the marginalised,” as it has remained largely excluded from both mainstream theatre studies and Dalit cultural historiography. Haryanvi Dalit Swang theatre was active long before the Dalit Panther Movement, but it received little attention due to its lack of publication and translation into English. This book seeks to recover, document, and critically examine the neglected legacy of Haryanvi Swang, with particular emphasis on its Dalit traditions and practitioners, thereby contributing to a more inclusive understanding of Indian theatrical heritage.

YOUTH AND CULTURE IN NORTHEAST INDIA: INTERSECTIONS AND  PERSPECTIVES  

Introduction  

Youth represent a powerful social force shaping contemporary societies through their  engagement with identity, creativity, social transformation, and cultural negotiation. In India’s  Northeast—a region distinguished by rich ethnic diversity, complex histories, and evolving  socio-political realities—youth culture offers a critical lens to understand how societies adapt  to rapid change while preserving cultural continuity. Young people in the region occupy a  dynamic space where tradition, globalization, technological transformation, and regional  aspirations intersect.  

Tattooing, a form of bodily modification, has existed as a global phenomenon for centuries, persevering within the distant and near past alike. Yet, only recently have these images embedded in flesh been subjected to thorough scholarly inquiry. This panel invites papers that examine a wide range of issues pertaining to medieval tattoos, including practices of tattooing during the global Middle Ages, recent advances in tattoo archaeology, and modern tattoos portraying medieval themes. Scholars exploring the misuse (and abuse) of medieval images and symbols for contemporary tattoos are especially encouraged to apply. This session allows for both in-person and virtual presentations. 

In her foundational text Immigrant Acts, cultural theorist Lisa Lowe argues that the Asian immigrant exists as a “perpetual foreigner within the body politic,” a figure through whom the nation-state defines its own boundaries and citizenship. For Lowe, Asian American cultural production emerges precisely from this “distance from the national culture,” serving as a site that critiques the state’s false promises of universal inclusion.

2027 Imagining Social WorldsOnline Symposium, 17–18 March 2027

We invite proposals for 2027 Imagining Social Worlds, an annual online symposium in the Common Ground Imagining Futures Series, taking place 17–18 March 2027.

The symposium brings together scholars, researchers, educators, policy thinkers, practitioners, community leaders, organizers, and public-facing professionals working across social, political, civic, organizational, and global fields. We welcome proposals that explore how social worlds are formed, governed, connected, contested, sustained, and transformed.

Ecocriticism and Representations of the Sea in the Arts in Portugal

5 and 6 November 2026

Call for Papers

What is the real difference between speaking with nature and speaking for it? Is eco-centric thought a universally shared ideology, or does it develop in reaction to historical, philosophical, and socio-cultural contexts? In what way do the fundamental principles of Indian ecology vary from prevailing Western structures? These essential inquiries delineate the parameters of Ramachandra Guha’s Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism (2024), which effectively contests the notion that environmentalism is a unidirectional phenomenon dictated by Western influence. This view posits that the rest of the world, particularly the Global South, lacks eco-conscious awareness because it is ‘too poor to be green’.

Philip Kan Gotanda’s play Yankee Dawg You Die centers a conflict between two Asian American actors. The aging Vincent Chang built his career playing bumbling Japanese soldiers and one-dimensional Asian stereotypes in classic Hollywood. He’s confronted by the up-and-coming Bradley Yamashita, who insists that Asian (American) characters should be played with dignity and accuracy. The heart of the play is an ambivalence about Asian (American) representation and whether viewers should sympathize with Chang for taking the only acting jobs available or with Yamashita in his condemnation of the racist roles—or with both.

A few months into his second term, President Trump announced he would order a new census that excludes non-citizens. This unprecedented move in U.S. history threatened to erase millions of people from the map. It would reshape electoral outcomes, going against the 14th Amendment that requires counting all persons in each state to determine representation, and it could impact public policymaking by removing crucial data for infrastructure, health, or education.

In Africa and the African diaspora, knowledge is often produced, circulated, and critiqued in “minor forms”—small-scale oral, visual, material, and digital ephemera such as proverbs, folktales, rites, images, social media, and other non-canonical modes of expression that structure everyday cultural life but are frequently marginalized within dominant academic and cultural hierarchies. While “major forms” such as the literary canon, the national archive, and peer-reviewed scholarship obscure the complexity and vitality of African cultural production, minor forms interact with, resist, coexist alongside, and reshape those dominant modes.