Humanists love to hate the state, perhaps now more than ever. Negativity toward the state is de rigueur in the humanities and Trump's version of the white supremacist fascist state in many ways manifests critical theory’s darkest visions. But as democratic institutions in the US and around the world come under increasing attack, as civil servants are fired and authoritarianism rises, it is time to take stock of the limits of state negativity. How can we imagine and theorize the state outside the dark horizon that looms ever more heavily upon us?

Modernism upturned the critical as well as the artistic conventions, spanning the
period from the last quarter of the 19th century in France and from 1890 in Great Britain and
Germany to the start of the Second World War. The feeling that a new start ought to be made,
in politics and society as much as in art, was accentuated by the War and its immediate
aftermath. In the opening phase of the modern movement the centre was Europe. Partly as a
result of the political disorder and the discarding of Modernism by the Bolshevik regime in
the Soviet Union, it tended to move westward; and America’s social and technological
modernity also matched the art’s novelty. We are still influenced by modernism, and

Every recipe has an origin story. Much like a legendary superhero, cunning villain, or even the kernel of an idea behind a compelling pop culture conference paper or book chapter, each dish carries a narrative infused with creativity, nostalgia, or transformation. Reflecting this spirit, we ask you: what recipe mirrors your own unique PopCRN origin story?

Black literatures of African and African American authors set in the twentieth century share cross-cultural realities. These continental literatures have explored topics such as segregation, colonialism, post-colonial disillusionment, civil and political underrepresentation, migration, economic recession, capitalism, racism, double consciousness, and others. This panel seeks essays that explore, using a comparative lens, a new perspective of the connections between these two continental Black authors, cultures, and topics.

Submit an abstract between 200-300 words and a 100-word bio through the CFP link. View Session

The history of literature is also the history of the evolution of the technologies used to produce, distribute, and consume it. The appearance of new technologies and media affecting traditional understandings of reading and of the object “book” is welcomed by some as the sign of literature’s inherent vitality and innovation, and perceived by others as a threat. Kathleen Fitzpatrick argues that the anxieties generated by the emergence of new digital technologies since the postwar era are rooted in the conception of the book as a symbol of a vestigial order of which literary critics and scholars consider themselves masters and protectors.

The Routledge Handbook of AI and Language Learning
Call for Chapter Proposals (Updated)

Proposal Submission Deadline: Aug. 31, 2025

Editor: Weixiao Wei
Contact: wwei21@CougarNet.UH.EDU

We are pleased to announce that we have recruited some proposals for The Routledge Handbook of AI and Language Learning. To further strengthen the volume, we are now seeking additional contributions in two critical and rapidly evolving areas within the intersection of artificial intelligence and language education.

Zines and STS: The Remix

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Globally, we are experiencing a moment of heightened anxiety surrounding work and discussions about sex, eroticism, bodies/pleasures, identity, and desire, among many other topics. Indeed, scholars and researchers focused on the erotic often grapple with the label and association of “dirty work,” described as “occupational tasks and jobs that were ‘physically, socially or morally’ tainted” (224). Coined by Everette Hughes (1962), this term has been applied to research on sex and sexuality, as well as other subjects that may provoke controversy. Louisa Allen (2019) utilized the term “dirty work” to address the frustrations involved in publishing images of penises in scholarship related to sex education.

Call for Papers

Twenty-fourth Claflin University Conference on English and Language Arts Pedagogy in Secondary and Postsecondary Institutions (In-person on the campus of Claflin University) *

October 29-30, 2025

THEME: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Wednesday, October 29, 2025, 9:15 AM—6:15 PM Concurrent sessions

4 PM EST Plenary Session 1: “Culturally responsive teaching in higher education and secondary schools”

Plí invites submissions for its 37th volume:Gender, Sexuality, Feminisms and Women’s Studies in the History of Philosophy

Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy invites submissions for its thirty-eighth issue, which will explore how questions of gender and sexuality (and, more broadly, Women’s Studies and Feminisms) intersect with the History of Philosophy. We welcome original research articles that engage with any philosophical and literary period or tradition, as long as they advance our understanding of the historical entanglements between intellectual thought and lived, gendered experience.

“To be or not to be”—Hamlet’s timeless question of existence—resonates with a gendered undertone that continues to echo through literature and culture. This panel asks a related question: what does it mean to be (or not to be) a man, and how do literary texts help illuminate that question across genres, periods, and geographies?

Romance-epics and chivalric romances not only shed light on the societies (local, regional, and global) in which they were produced, they also inform us of those who kept them at the forefront of their national backbone. These texts are sites of religious performance in which devotional prayers and rituals, as well as discussions of spiritual matters (like conversion and apostasy) are brought to the forefront. This session aims to consider how these poets understood and presented the performance of their faith – and of the non-Catholic faiths – that their subjects (and perhaps they themselves) encountered.

Apply at https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21898

Call for Papers: Forms of Suffering: Literary Tragedy in an Age of Political Violence

This panel seeks to explore the evolving nature of literary tragedy in response to the escalating political violence witnessed across the Globe. We invite submissions that examine how contemporary literature deals with these crises and, in turn, how the tragic genre itself is undergoing transformation.

We are looking for papers that delve into various aspects of this intersection, including but not limited to:

• The representation of political violence and its human cost in contemporary tragic narratives.