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Revisiting Greater Mexico (11/1/08; ACLA 2009)

The concept of “Greater Mexico,” as defined by Américo Paredes and later
explored by José Limón in American Encounters, “refer[s] to all Mexicans,
beyond Laredo and from either side, with all their commonalities and
differences” (3). In this seminar we seek both to expand and to
problematize this construct: what is at stake in imagining a
transnationality whose locus lies south of the US-Mexico border? We are
interested in papers that offer a local view of Greater Mexico—e.g.
analyses of the borderlands and of specific locations, events, and
cultural productions in the US and in Mexico itself—and in approaches
that reveal the construct’s possibilities and limits in other spheres—
e.g. the borderlands between Mexico and Guatemala, Mexican communities in
Canada, and global uses of Mexican culture.

Paper topics might include:
*What are the languages and locations of Greater Mexico? Is Greater
Mexico ever described in Spanish; is it ever theorized in Mexico?
*How do particular events in US-Mexican history (e.g. the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, Pershing’s expedition, NAFTA) create, affect, and/or
challenge the construct of Greater Mexico?
*How is Greater Mexico developed and/or disputed in literature, film,
music, the media?
*How does Greater Mexico facilitate and/or hinder the construction of
Latino/a identity and/or political and economic power in the US?
*What role does Mexican culture, broadly conceived, play in the formation
of Greater Mexico? How does the construct of Greater Mexico facilitate
and/or hinder our understanding of assimilation, transculturation,
hybridity, etc.?

Organizers:

Emron Esplin
Kennesaw State University
eesplin_at_kennesaw.edu

John Alba Cutler
Northwestern University
john-cutler_at_northwestern.edu

To submit a paper to this seminar, follow these steps:
1. Visit the 2009 conference page on ACLA’s website
http://www.acla.org/acla2009/
2. Click on “Propose a Paper or Seminar”
3. Click on “Submit a paper proposal”
4. Enter personal/academic information, a paper title, and an abstract of
no more than 250 words then click “Submit paper”.

Submissions are due via the ACLA site by November 1, 2008. After that
date, we will evaluate the proposals and notify the authors as to whether
or not their submission has been accepted for the seminar.

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Received on Mon Sep 15 2008 - 14:24:04 EDT