The Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association invites submissions to three proposed sessions at the ASA’s Annual Meeting (Baltimore, Maryland, November 14-17, 2024). We encourage proposals that connect meaningfully with the conference theme: “GROUNDED ENGAGEMENTS IN AMERICAN STUDIES.”

We link potential panelists with shared interests in material culture topics to encourage the formation of strong material culture-related panels. If you, your colleagues, or graduate students are considering proposals for the conference, please email us your panel idea or paper abstract and we will work to connect you with similar panelists and papers. We are also happy to see complete panel proposals. Please read about each of the submission options below and, if interested, send the materials requested to co-chairs of the Material Culture Caucus, Mariah Kupfner and Sarah Carter, at ASAMCCaucus@gmail.com by January 20, 2024. Please put either “ASA proposal for MCC Panel Sessions” or “ASA proposal for MCC Pedagogy Roundtable” in the subject line.
 
The MCC will provide its decision on sponsored panels and roundtable participants by January 26th. Panelists will then be responsible for following all posted instructions and for submitting their own panels or papers in proper ASA format to the ASA by the ASA deadline (February 5, 2024). 
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Material Culture Caucus Panel Sessions:

The “Grounded Engagements in American Studies” theme of this year’s panel asks us to consider the literal and conceptual ground on which we stand, from which we work, and with which we build new futures. It focuses on collaborative, communal engagement and research that might help us “work toward thinking through new trajectories in American Studies that emerge from the ground up.”

The Material Culture Caucus invites proposals for conference papers, especially from emerging scholars, that address this wide-ranging and potent conference theme through analysis of material evidence—broadly defined—of past, present, and even future material visions of grounded engagements (from explorations of collaborative practice in museum work to literal explorations of terrain and the built environment). Please submit a paper abstract (maximum of 500 words per abstract) and a 350-word (or less) biographical statement. Some possible themes include, but are not limited to:

• Community-based museum and archival practice

• Material engagements with the ground and terrain

• Material culture of the built environment, landscape, and the "intimacies and power of place"

• Object-based histories of community and collaboration

• Material culture related to the location of the conference (Baltimore) and thinking about this ground, this place

• Object-based epistemologies that connect to this theme of "grounded engagements" 

Material Culture Caucus Pedagogy Roundtable:

The Material Culture Caucus welcomes brief proposals of topics (including individual submissions) for participation in a roundtable or skill sharing session on material culture-centered teaching across fields and disciplines, including classroom methods, assignments, projects, exhibitions, and other forms of outreach or hands-on learning that employ material culture. The session may feature short presentations by participants followed by a moderated discussion. Please submit a paper abstract (maximum of 500 words per abstract) and a 350-word (or less) biographical statement.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:

•   Material culture methods and collaborative, community-based pedagogies

•  How do we “make spaces that connect our learning and teaching to the needs of communities?” How can object-based inquiry foster a pedagogy of grounded engagement?

NB: All interested parties who email us will still be responsible for following all posted instructions for submitting their own panels or papers to the ASA by the ASA deadline (February 5, 2024). For more ASA instructions on proposal submission, see: https://www.theasa.net/node/5681