cfp.english.upenn.edu

The University of North Dakota Institute for Borderland Studies Presents:

The Great Plains, the Prairies, and the US/Canadian Border

An international, interdisciplinary conference focused on the role played by the US-Canadian border in the American Great Plains and the Canadian Prairies.

Call For Papers

The US-Canadian border performs a paradoxical function: on the one hand, as the longest international border in the world, it separates the United States and Canada. On the other, as the gateway through which trade must pass, it sutures the two countries together.

The University of North Dakota Institute for Borderland Studies will host a conference from June 18–19, 2010 to explore the nature of this paradox, especially as it affects the American Great Plains and the Canadian Prairies, regions that merit increased attention in scholarly discussions of the United States-Canada relationship. This conference will be widely interdisciplinary, drawing together scholars from Political Science, Economics, History, Communication, Geography, Native Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, and Literature. Its purpose will be to address contemporary issues faced by the people living in these regions, by their governments, and by their business and cultural communities.

The Institute is therefore soliciting proposals for papers drawing from these fields.
Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• border security issues as they affect the Prairies and the Great Plains
• the impact of free trade agreements on cross-border industries
• the evolving profile of border towns, in both a historical and a contemporary context
• the role of cities like Winnipeg in “runaway” Hollywood film production
• issues related to water rights, such as the Devils Lake outlet affecting North Dakota and Manitoba
• questions of sovereignty as they apply to cross-border Native communities
• the image of the border in Canadian and American literature

Selected, revised papers will be included in an edited volume to be published by the University of Manitoba Press.

Graduate students are especially encouraged to submit proposals. Those whose papers are accepted will be eligible to receive a subsidy to help defray travel and other related expenses.

Submissions will be accepted in English and in French.

Deadline for submissions (200 word abstracts) is February 19, 2010. Acceptance notices will be sent by March 8, 2010.

Please send submissions as PDF, Word Document, or Open Office files to:
Kyle Conway, PhD Kyle.Conway@und.edu
Timothy J. Pasch, PhD Timothy.Pasch@und.edu

www.undborderlands.org