cultural studies and historical approaches

Hopkins and Her Contemporaries:

Responses to Racial Violence, Appeals for Racial Justice

This seminar for the 2021 annual conference of the American Comparative Literature Association investigates the intersections and divergences among literary, sociocultural, and political-economic species of entitlement and the mechanisms of complicity that perpetuate them. It examines intertwined modes of domination and exploitation including, but not limited to: 

-overtly predatory forms of droit du seigneur; Sadean (and sadistic) forms of aristocratic sexual predation; white supremacist and toxic masculinities; systems of slavery and servitude; and the “pornotropological” rhetorics and practices (identified by Hortense Spillers) that pathologize black and brown bodies; and

Recent poetry scholarship has begun to trace how some of the most normative concepts in poetry studies (meter, free verse, lyric, the speaker, voice) are enmeshed within broader systems of white supremacy and imperialism. Yet these concepts often go unchallenged in college classrooms. This seminar asks, how might this scholarship change the way we teach poetry and poetics--in any language, at any level, from Introduction to Poetry to advanced graduate seminars?

This volume, which will be proposed to a leading independent academic publisher, seeks to explore the implications of crime writing in its narrative forms through essays that situate orientations fictional and non-fictional, past and present in relation to public perspectives. Just as real crime has served as inspiration for fictional accounts, Kieran Dolin reminds us in Fiction and the Law that crime literature has long influenced popular understanding of social institutions as well.

The Comics Arts Conference is now accepting 100 to 200 word abstracts for papers, presentations, and panels taking a critical or historical perspective on comics (juxtaposed images in sequence) for a meeting of scholars and professionals at WonderCon, in Anaheim, CA, March 26-28, 2021.  We seek proposals from a broad range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives and welcome the participation of academic and independent scholars.  We also encourage the involvement of professionals from all areas of the comics industry, including creators, editors, publishers, retailers, distributors, and journalists.  The CAC at WonderCon is presently scheduled to take place in person; however, this may change, and presenters should be prepared to adapt to a virtual f

We are a lively academic collective interested in investigating the articulation of the numerous and heterogeneous representations which have been constructing images of the US. Our research delves into how the US—their history, society, and diverse cultures—have been represented in popular media and cultural creations. Our blog aims at providing a collaborative, engaging, and fair environment for any interested scholar, promoting the sharing of knowledge, experience, and ideas across disciplines and thematic fields. We’re also working to foster a stimulating space for early career researchers and postgraduate students in North American studies, thus we’ll warmly welcome their proposals as well.

This panel examines travel and emplacement in response to crises. Interruptions to normative modes of travel in the ongoing wake of COVID-19 reveal fault-lines in the ways such norms are understood--how travel bans and exclusionary rhetoric extend national borders inward and outward, from the targeting of racialized international students, to the upheaval of the global passport rankings, to travel advisories crossing settler-state and tribal boundaries. Recent approaches to travel writing, mobility, and place studies have emphasized dwelling, emplacement, and urban exploration as a way of engaging with the seeming shifts in discussion towards travel within rather than across space.

Call for Papers
Special Latin American Issue of Journal of Foreign Languages and Cultures

Guest Editor: João Cezar de Castro Rocha (Full Professor of Comparative Literature at State University of Rio de Janeiro—UERJ)

Vernon Press has shown interest in the proposed book. 

Kind attention: We seek representations of minority and refrigerated cultures from Europe, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, as we have received ample representations from other parts of the world.

“No Culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.” - Mahatma Gandhi

I invite chapter proposals on Marguerite Henry’s Newbery-winning novel King of the Wind for the first in a series of edited collections about Henry’s individual works, edited by Rachel L. Carazo (Northwestern State University).

All areas of study, with a common goal of representing the cultural, social, philosophical, and material significance of King of the Wind are invited to participate.

While writing my graduate thesis, “Conflicting Views of Culture and Power: The Arab World in Marguerite Henry’s King of the Wind”, Dawn Heinecken also published an article about the absence of scholarship on Henry’s works. These proposed collections therefore seek to increase the scholarship available about Marguerite Henry.

Contagions and Non-Human Animals: (Re)Viewing Disregarded Species in Real and Imagined Pandemics

The impact of COVID-19 and the threat that it poses to future human experiences has been well-documented in news reports during the past few months. However, now that non-human animals are possible carriers and becoming infected, their experiences, while often overlooked, are nevertheless integrated into the worldwide pandemic.

Thus, this collection seeks to balance essays about non-human animals during real-world pandemics, such as the COVID-19 one, with those of their experiences during literary or cinematic ones. The scope of this call for papers is broad and can include topics such as:

Call for Book Chapters on Mythological Equines in Children’s Literature

Vernon Press invites chapter proposals on the theme: Mythological Equines in Children’s Literature for an edited collection of the same name in the series Equine Creations: Imagining Horses in Literature and Film, edited by Rachel L. Carazo (Northwestern State University).

 Abstracts for papers on George Gissing are sought for a Gissing panel at the Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, to be held March 11-14, 2021. The deadline for submissions has been extended to Oct. 19.  Additionally, the decision has been made to have a virtual NeMLA conference.

To submit you must go to the NeMLA website http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention/callforpapers/submit.html

JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND AESTHETICS
(Vol. 44, No. 1, Spring 2021) 

Untranslatability: Theory, Practice and Politics