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Special Issue of Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, edited by Emily Rutter and Laura Engel
This issue of JAST will be dedicated to the works and legacy of Amiri Baraka—poet, dramatist, essayist and activist. Formerly known as LeRoi Jones, Amiri Baraka entered the Greenwich Village literary scene in 1957 as one of the most original poets and editors of the new writing and poetry that was emerging outside of academia and the established publishing world. Baraka’s profound and pointed criticism took shape in the milieu of the racial brutality of the 1960s, and continued to transform as Black Power was put into practice. Amidst assassinations and urban rebellions, he retreated to his hometown, Newark, New Jersey, and committed himself to African American cultural expression in the broadest sense of the term.
What exactly is the content of a literary text, and how does it affect the experience of reading? How should critics approach a text's overt elements and ideas? A lengthy and currently influential tradition of thought has emphasized literary form in a variety of creative ways, but very little has been done to explain how critics should think about content. This panel will bring together six scholars, who will each briefly (in 8 to 10 minutes) offer a definition of literary content and an example from a particular text. Please submit an abstract for such a paper, along with a one-page CV, to pfessenbecker at gmail.com by March 15.
Note: this is a non-guaranteed special session, and requires MLA approval.
This panel will discuss the place of humour and laughter in African literatures and literatures from the African diaspora. What are the various ways in which humour manifests itself, and to what end? Diverse methodological approaches are welcome. Please send a 250-word proposal and a short bio.
This CFP seeks work that examines the intersection of animal studies with contemporary ecopoetry from around the world. The human/nonhuman distinction entails an interdiction as much as establishes the safety of a boundary that maintains human hegemony in relation to other species. Yet, the animal can powerfully redirect attention toward the necessity of humility as well as deconstruct ideas of autonomy and superiority too often entangled with human self-understanding. This panel asks how the animal negates or reifies the human/nonhuman distinction, but also how the animal speaks, or is silenced, in contemporary ecopoetry. How does the animal appear as an ethical imperative in the age of the Anthropocene and of the Sixth Mass Extinction?
The Graphic City — Urban Studies After The Visual Turn
…From the rear platform of a fast ‘El’ train,
I watched the city’s undulating lights
And felt about my heart the antique pain
That man has always felt for beauty’s signs.
And often I was wildly moved to test
Myself against the city’s gleaming lines,
To feel their edges touch my bare brown breast!
—from “Song of New York” by Claude McKay (1926)
CFP for the 9th Annual Conference of the South East African Languages and Literatures Forum (SEALLF) from October 5th to October 6th, 2018, Department of English and Foreign Languages at Norfolk State University, Norfolk VA, USA: Celebrating Chinua Achebe & African Languages, Literatures, Arts and Cultures beyond the Continent: The 60th Anniversary of Things Fall Apart.
Deadline for submissions: May 29, 2018
Notification of acceptance date: June 30, 2018
The editor of The Ages of the Black Panther: Essays on the King of Wakanda is seeking abstracts for essays that could be included in the upcoming collection. The essays should examine the relationships between the Marvel comic book adventures the Black Panther and the social era when those comic books were published. Analysis may demonstrate how Black Panther’s comic books stories and the creators who produced the comics embrace, reflect, or critique aspects of their contemporary culture. This will be a companion volume to existing essay collections in the series that have already focused on Superman, Wonder Woman, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Justice League, and the Flash.
This session welcomes submissions on activism in Pre-1900 American Literature. Proposals addressing the SAMLA 90 conference theme, Fighters from the Margins: Sociopolitical Activists and Their Allies, are especially welcome. By June 1, 2018, please submit an abstract of 300 words, a brief bio, and any A/V requests to Joshua Boyd, Trevecca Nazarene University, at JTBoyd@trevecca.edu.