Subject: CFP: God-Heads and Christ Figures in African-American Literature
(9/10/05; NEMLA, 3/2/06-3/5/06)

Panel Title: The Reflection of God and Christ: God-Heads and Christ Figures in
African-American Literature

Conference: Northeast Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, PA March 2-5,
2005
 
I am accepting paper proposals until September 10, 2005 for the panel mentioned
above. Before submitting your proposal, please consider the following short
panel description.
 
W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in his Souls of Black Folk that three things
characterized the religion of the slave,—the Preacher, the Music, and the
Frenzy. Thus, African and African-American literature is fraught with religious
imagery—from James Baldwin's church scenes to Toni Morrison's female Christ
figures and god-heads.

This panel seeks to investigate the many occurrences of traditional American
religion in African American literature and the ways that this religion is both
a representative trope asserting some linguistic or imagistic tradition or some
pseudo Africanism performed as representative of American blackness. The
significance of this work is evident in the considerable scholarship dedicated
to diasporic studies and/or Africanisms in America. How is or is religion a
reflection of assimilation and/or imitation? Please email abstracts by
September 10, 2005 to Dr. Sandra L. Staton-Taiwo, sls63_at_psu.edu. Email
abstracts only. All work should conform to MLA style.

Please include with abstract the following information:
 
name,
position,
institution and/or contact information,
and email.

For other correspondence, contact information is as follows: Box 229, Department
of English, Penn State University, York Campus, 1031 Edgecomb Avenue, York, PA
17403

Office phone-- 717-771-4156
email: sls63_at_psu.edu
Sandra L. Staton-Taiwo
Assistant Professor of English
Penn State University, York Campus
717-771-4156

"Education and work are the levers to uplift a people. Work alone will not do it unless inspired by the right ideals and guided by intelligence. Education must not simply teach work—it must teach Life."

–William Edward Burghardt Du Bois b. 1868; from "The Talented Tenth"

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Received on Fri Aug 12 2005 - 11:06:41 EDT