ethnicity and national identity

There have been several recent discussions on decolonisation, diversity, and inclusion in creative writing pedagogy and publishing, following the Black Lives Matter movement, #publishingpaidme on Twitter on racial disparities in pay, and reports such as ‘Rethinking Diversity’. But have these discussions led to meaningful changes in academia and publishing?

The ‘Rethinking Diversity’ report (2020) stated that publishers have a narrow understanding of their core reader, whom they describe as ‘a white, middle-class older woman sardonically referred to as Susan’, likely uninterested in books by writers of colour.

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY, ESPECIALLY WITH PROMISING GRADUATE STUDENTS & YOUNGER SCHOLARS DOING WORK IN ETHNIC AMERICAN LITERARY STUDIES: Journal of Ethnic American Literature, a refereed scholarly annual dedicated to new research and criticism in American literature and culture, seeks scholarly articles (5000 to 7000 words saved in Word) that use the MLA Style. JEAL also plans to develop a "Poetic Notes" section. An interested contributor can select a good but less discussed poem by an American poet and submit an explication of up to 1000 to 1500 words. Submissions can be emailed to journaljeal@yahoo.com, and the subject line should contain JEAL, Sub, your name, and the date. The deadline is August 1.

Turkey with geographical, historical, social, and cultural attributes stands as a unique laboratory for memory studies. Memory studies in turn can serve as an antidote for grappling with Turkey’s past, present, and the looming issues, challenges and crisis within and beyond its borderlands. Despite such mutual benefits, there remains a notable lack of development in memory studies within Turkish academia, and a shortage of collaborative research on the Turkish memory culture in transcultural memory studies. The underrepresentation of memory studies in the Turkish context inevitably underscores the need for research initiatives that contribute to bridging this gap through comprehensive academic resources.

Call for Papers

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

April 17–19, 2024

***Deadline Extended! New Deadline 29 February, 2024***

The American Association of Australasian Literary Studies (AAALS) invites paper proposals for its 2024 Annual Conference, to be held live online via Zoom.  Papers addressing any aspect of the literature, film, and/or culture of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand are welcome. Proposals from graduate students are encouraged and will be considered for the Wertheim Prize. 

CALL FOR PAPERS – MLA 2025 – New Orleans 

The International Vladimir Nabokov Society seeks paper proposals for presentations on the following themes for the Modern Language Association’s Annual Convention (January 9-12, 2025, New Orleans, LA):  

Nabokov, Blackness, and Whiteness 

General Call for Papers

Women, Gender, and Families of Color
Women, Gender, and Families of Color is a multidisciplinary journal that centers the study of African American/Вlack, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American, and other women of color, genders, and families. Within this framework, the journal encourages theoretical and empirical research from the social and behavioral sciences and the humanities. It welcomes a range of comparative and transnational research as well as analyses of domestic social, cultural, political, and economic policies and practices from new
and established authors.

Topics and subject areas of interest include but are not limited to:

Verge: Studies in Global Asias Issue 12.1

Special Issue: Trade in Humans

Edited by Kristin Roebuck, Johanna Ransmeier, and Jessamyn Abel

Deadlines | Convergence proposals: March 15, 2024 | Essays: August 30, 2024

A PDF of this call is available here. Please direct all questions to verge@psu.edu.

The School explores the legacy of Fascism in Italy blending unique in situ visits to art, architecture and historical monuments led by international experts and classes on literature, film and culture led by Sapienza faculty. The goal is to broaden the scholarly assessment of the period and to suggest innovative curricula for students in the humanities, who are also interested in working in museums and cultural institutes in Italy and abroad. The heritage of Fascism in Rome and Italy will be approached in the context of Nazism and Stalinism, and framed within the broader scenario of European colonialism.

Adrienne Rich has written that her feminist politics entails “locating the grounds from which to speak with authority,” beginning “not with a continent or a house, but with the geography closest in–the body.”  Taking inspiration from Rich and foundational women of color feminists, this panel invites papers exploring the politics of position within the academy and scholars' embodiment in relation to our work.

Extended Submission Deadline (2/1/24): WRITING THE MIDWEST: A Symposium of Scholars and Creative Writers

The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature (SSML)
May 28-30, 2024. Kellogg Hotel and Convention Center, East Lansing, Michigan

About SSML and The Writing the Midwest Symposium: The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature (SSML), founded in 1971, exists to support the study and dissemination of work in Midwestern literature, art, film, and scholarly study. 

“Bird Sonics”

Roundtable Discussion at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the German Association for American Studies on “American Soundscapes” (https://dgfa.de/annual-meeting/); Oldenburg University, May 23-25, 2024 (in person)

Abstract : 

   Through the stories of Chinese-American immigrant women and their daughters, Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" explores the issue of assimilation and its impact on ethnic identity. This essay explores the characters' struggles to maintain their Chinese cultural identity while assimilating into American society, focusing on important issues such as language, intergenerational relationships, customs, and cultural memory. The story depicts integration as a difficult, intensely personal process in which people must strike a balance between preserving their Chinese ancestry and absorption into American society. 

Bodies in Motion: Reassessing Materiality through Space and Time

16th annual Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Graduate Student Conference

The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

March 29-30, 2024

Keynote lecture to be delivered by: Kirsten Pai Buick, University of New Mexico

Furious Flower IV Call for Proposals

    Words. Worlds. Abundance. 

The Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University invites proposals for papers, panels, and performances that engage the global histories, aspirations, and forms of Black poetry. Since our groundbreaking 1994 gathering, the Center has convened a series of decade-defining conferences that explore and generate significant developments within Black poetic activity and scholarship.

With a canonical perspective and long historical memory, we have, in the intervening decades, curated, catalogued, and nurtured Black poetic activity in its plural manifestations as it surged and moved from the margins to eminence.