cfp.english.upenn.edu

That the American West is a highly classed and politicized space is no critical revelation. Scholars such as Stephen Tatum, Reginald Dyck, and Renny Chistopher have drawn attention to the complex interface of class, labor, space, and place in the context of the region’s tumultuous cultural and literary history. In light of this history and the conference’s primary theme “Western Crossroads: Literature, Social Justice, Environment,” this panel seeks to uncover the intersections made at the junction of class, labor, politics, social justice, and the environment in the West. We are accepting presentation abstracts of 250 words for consideration. Possible subtopics include but are not limited to:

· Labor in frontier and pioneering literature and culture
· How poetry addresses class and labor in the West
· How degrees of spatial density determine literary representations of politics and labor
· Similarities of and distinctions between labor and work
· Class, labor, and space in the “Wild Wild West”
· Intersection(s) of labor and ethnicity
· Literature that connects labor, social justice, and/or environmental justice
· Recent contributions of political theory

Please submit abstracts to Kiara L. Kharpertian (klkharpertian@gmail.com) and/or Andrew Husband (andrew.husband@ttu.edu) by 15 May 2012. Indicate A/V requirement if necessary.