ethnicity and national identity

Throughout James Fenimore Cooper’s prolific writing career, his novels and non-fictional works have engaged with and revealed the complicated cultural dialogues of Antebellum America. Rich in multicultural and racial exchanges, his works, from the sea and frontier novels to his travel writing and political narratives, give readers a broad view of the many layered cultural contacts of the period, revealing a nation in continual ethnic, racial, and social interchanges. We invite papers that explore the works of James Fenimore Cooper from the perspective of cultural exchange broadly defined.

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Despite our constant unraveling, humans are bound to each other and are continually finding ways of becoming entangled with one another. Our platonic, romantic, and paternal bonds of love cause us to belong to each other. This fierce intimacy has the potential to stretch physical, emotional, and spiritual boundaries.

How do humans currently become entangled with each other? How do we love each other? Hate each other? Cooperate with one another? What connections are condemned and stigmatized? Should they be? How do our shared experiences enhance our individual perceptions? 

CFP // EMERGING & DISMANTLING: Feminist Killjoys Confront SSSL’s Past and Present
SSSL: Society for the Study of Southern Literature Biennial Conference 
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR

Until not very long ago, support for the independence and self-determination of nations was an indication of a progressive politics and a generous spirit. Not only did Americans celebrate their own independence on the Fourth of July each year with fireworks and music, and parades. As late as the middle of the twentieth century, the independence of other national states, from Greece to India, Ethiopia and Algeria, was widely regarded as an expression of historical justice and redemption.

In the midst of the election of the Trump administration, the growing racial tensions that coalesced into the violent protests in Charlottesville, and the rising rates of hate crimes committed against black and brown individuals, there has been a slew of young adult novels published by writers of color that tackle the ways in which young people within these communities must simultaneously navigate the complexities of childhood while also confronting racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and police brutality.