cfp.english.upenn.edu

Society of Early Americanists and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture conference
June 7, 2007-June 10, 2007, Williamsburg, Virginia

Panel: Signatures and the Self: Material Marks of Identity

This panel seeks to explore and expand the idea of signatures and self-creation by welcoming papers that examine all varieties of individual and communal marks of identity in the colonial period. Seals, crests, signatory “marks” or symbols, hallmarks, quilt and weaving patterns, tattoos, and commercial signs are all examples of different forms of signatures that legitimize and identify the individuals or institutions that make use of them; however, how were these markers of identity created, disseminated and understood by the societies that viewed them? What happens if a signature is more than strictly an alphabetic inscription? How does meaning change when signatures are fictions, reflections of a falsified identity? Papers using interdisciplinary approaches are especially invited as this panel hopes to initiate conversations across disciplines about textuality, materiality, and the cultural literacy needed to understand and interpret the complexities of symbolic si!
 gnatures.

To submit a proposal for this panel, please send a one-page summary of
your paper and a short c.v. to Cathy Rex (rexcath @auburn.edu) by September 15, 2006.

Cathy Rex
English Department, Auburn University
9030 Haley Center
Auburn University, AL 36849
334-844-9048
rexcath_at_auburn.edu

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj_at_english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================
Received on Wed Aug 23 2006 - 17:10:36 EDT