cfp.english.upenn.edu

34th APEAA Meeting

Academy as Community:
English and American Studies in Portugal and Europe

Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon
9-10 May 2013

The tradition of English and American studies in Portugal has long been supported by the dynamics of academic associativism, in which APEAA’s peer network stands out, involving national and international institutions, and establishing continued interactions with research centres. At a time when political and cultural paradigms are on the verge of crisis and/or change, it is of the utmost importance to revisit the theoretical and pragmatic frameworks that sustain (and constrain) our research practices. Indeed the Humanities are currently facing challenges caused by the increasing encroachment of a utilitarian scientific discourse based on evidence and logics, at the cost of musing and creativity, as well as the menace of austerity politics that undervalue the investment in culture and memory. Thus, this conference, held in collaboration with ULICES (University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies), aims to provide a forum to discuss how Anglo-American scholarship, with its vocation for plurality and innovative interdisciplinary proposals, may progress. We also want to build strategies of cohesion among our peers in order to better disseminate our contribution to the interpretation and the fruition of meaning(s), valuing a plurality of cultural and aesthetic manifestations.

Because it is at the heart of the Humanities to find new ways of reading and alternative narratives, in the contemporary context we need to consolidate and explore paths to engage with the communities at local, national, and transnational levels.

This congress will be structured into plenary and parallel sessions, roundtables and also poster presentations. Since the integration of younger scholars is paramount to renew our institutions, we make a special call for graduate and post-graduate students to propose posters (maximum size A1= 841 x 594 mm / 33.1 x 23.4 in) with their ongoing research projects, which will be exhibited, presented, and discussed during the conference. Since the dialogue among professionals working in varied learning and research environments is essential to foster vital connections as well as the dialogue between the academy and the community, we will organize roundtables to encourage debates on associativism, and on research methods and trends within the Anglo-American fields.

Plenary speakers
Fátima Vieira, Jonathan Culpeper, Teresa F. A. Alves, Winfried Fluck

We invite submissions of
i) 300-word abstracts for 20-minute papers or
ii) posters, on topics that might include but are not limited to:

Anglo-American studies and transdisciplinarity: literature, translation, culture, arts, language(s) and discourse
Anglo-American Studies in Portugal
English(es) in the World
Politics and the Humanities in Anglo-American Studies
Geopolitics and cultural hegemony
The collapse of the career system in the teaching profession
PhDs in crisis
Evaluation and quality assessments
R&D, grants and scholarships policies
Ratings and ratios in the educational system
Methods, strategies, and tools to face current pedagogical challenges
Crisis and imagination in the 21st century
Cooperation vs. competition
Editors, publishers, writers, and the reading public for academic research
Engagement with the wider community
Criticism, scientificity, and creativity
Economic and societal impact of Anglo-American studies
New practices and sites of academic networking (blogs, wikis, FB, Twitter...)
New models of publishing, distributing and accessing academic research
Professional development of early-career researchers
Research policies in Southern Europe
Multitasking in academia: research projects, teaching, public and media engagement

Working languages: English and Portuguese.

Publication:
The organization plans to publish a selection of papers in two possible peer-reviewed journals: Op. Cit. (APEAA) and Anglo Saxonica (ULICES).

When sending an abstract or poster proposal, please provide:
full title of paper, or poster;
5 keywords;
full name of author;
institutional affiliation;
e-mail address;
brief bio (max. 5 lines);
audiovisual requirements.

300-words abstracts should be sent to: academycommunity13@gmail.com
Deadline for abstracts: 1 March 2013
Notification on the acceptance of abstracts: 31March 2013

Website: http://apeaa2013.blogspot.pt