cfp.english.upenn.edu

CFP: Textual Nationalism(s): History, Community, Identity
UPDATE: date and location

The Student Association of Graduate English Studies (SAGES) of the University of Oklahoma at Norman will be hosting a graduate conference on October 19-20, 2007.

Since the publication of Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities, the study of the cultural and social construction of national identities has been a popular topic for many scholars. This conference seeks to investigate the numerous ways in which texts of all types participate in the production and maintenance of national identities and interrogate the findings of critics, such as Anderson, that locate the birth of nationalism in eighteenth century Europe. Another significant aspect of the study of nationalism that this conference hopes to address is the issue of community formation. If, as Anderson says, nationalism is based on the idea of an imagined community, what exactly is a community and how does it relate to and complicate notions of national identity? We are particularly interested in the ways community and nationalism intersect with various forms of texts and socio-political issues.

Possible topics may include
• Nationalism/Community in literature
• Nationalism/Community in film
• Nationalism/Community in television
• Nationalism/Community in advertising
• Nationalism/Community and rhetoric
• Nationalism/Community and race
• Nationalism/Community and sexuality
• Nationalism/Community and the university
• Nationalism/Community and the future of literary studies
• Nationalism/Community and law
• Nationalism/Community and new media
• Studies of pre-18th century nationalism
• Communities: Imagined or otherwise
• Community identity vs. National Identity
• Tribal Sovereignty
• Community formation
• National identity in a globalizing world

We are pleased to announce that our keynote address will be delivered by Jace Weaver, University of Georgia. Professor Weaver is Director of the Institute of Native American Studies. He teaches courses that deal with Native American Cultures and Religious Traditions, Eschatology and Apocalypticism. His work deals with subjects ranging from theology, Native American religion, literature and community to legal and environmental issues. His most recent work, which he wrote with Profs. Robert Warrior and Craig Womack is entitled American Indian Literary Nationalism (UNM Press, 2006).
 

Please send 250 word abstract to sagesconference2007

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Received on Thu Apr 26 2007 - 18:06:25 EDT