The 98th annual SAMLA Conference is taking place Thursday, November, 5, through Saturday, November, 7, 2026, at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center in Atlanta, GA.  For more information, see https://southatlanticmla.org/.

This roundtable invites position statements that explore how narratives of intrusion—of the “wrong” person entering a space—destabilize social, cultural, and rhetorical structures. Across literature, film, media, and theory, the figure of the outsider, whether guest, intruder, or interloper, often functions as a disruptive force that reveals the fragile conditions of belonging. From Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener and Albert Camus’s The Guest to films such as Teorema, Funny Games, Saltburn, and Weapons, such figures expose underlying tensions around class, identity, power, and social order. Rather than restoring equilibrium, these narratives frequently leave systems unsettled, raising questions about who is permitted to belong and at what cost. We welcome proposals that examine how stories of intrusion operate across genres and media, as well as how they may be taught, theorized, or reimagined through multimodal composition.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

1) The rhetoric of the outsider, stranger, or intruder

2) Narratives of hospitality, refusal, and unwanted presence

3) Disruption of domestic, institutional, or communal spaces

4) Class, race, gender, and power in narratives of belonging

5) The ethics and politics of intrusion

6) Multimodal approaches to teaching literature, film, and theory

7) Designing assignments (video essays, podcasts, digital exhibits, etc.) around themes of disruption and belonging

8) Translating literary and theoretical concepts into multimodal composition practices

We especially encourage proposals that reflect on pedagogical practices, including how multimodal assignments and collaborative work can help students engage critically with themes of intrusion, belonging, and social disruption.

Please submit proposals of ~200 words through SAMLA’s Ballast site at https://samla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/19567 by September 1.

Note that this roundtable will be in person only: the session will be held fully in person, and no remote presentations will be included.

For more information, please contact Anwita Ghosh at aghosh370@gatech.edu.