cfp.english.upenn.edu

Call for Papers

Fifth African American Literature Symposium

“It’s A New Day: The Vicissitude of African American Autobiography from Briton Hammon to Barack Obama”

North Carolina Central University’s Department of English and Mass Communication will host its Fifth African American Literature Symposium on Thursday, November 12, 2009. This year’s theme is “It’s A New Day: The Vicissitude of African American Autobiography from Briton Hammon to Barack Obama.” This symposium will highlight the accomplishments of President Obama and his memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, while celebrating and exploring the African American autobiography tradition in general. Papers on Obama and other autobiographers in the African American literary tradition are welcomed. Our keynote speaker will be noted scholar Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African American Studies at Duke University.

Possible topics include but are not limited to the following:

Authenticity
Childhood
Cultural Studies
Folklore
Diaspora
Gender Studies
Hip Hop Studies
Intertextuality
Film/Television Studies
Memory
Postcolonial Studies
Protest
Pop Culture
Slave Narratives
Voice
Women’s Studies

Graduate and creative submissions also welcomed.

Email a 300-word abstract and a brief cv to Dr. Wendy Rountree, North Carolina Central University, wrountree@nccu.edu by July 24, 2009. Completed papers should be sent to Dr. Rountree by October 22, 2009.