Reading the Regions/Writing the Regions/Teaching the Regions

The 37th Annual College English Association Conference
San Antonio, Texas
April 6-8, 2006

Keynote: W. J. T. Mitchell, editor, Critical Inquiry

As regional writing, ecocriticism, and communities become increasingly
important in contemporary culture, the 2006 CEA Conference invites papers
and panels that explore—and celebrate—all aspects of geographical,
historical, cultural, and ideological regions.

How do we construct and understand our geographical regions (north/south;
east/west; urban/wilderness), our historical regions (the Renaissance, the
Restoration, the Regency), our cultural regions (high culture/pop culture;
canonical/alternative), and our ideological regions (genre, gender, class) in
relationship to what we write, read, and teach?

We welcome papers and panels on topics including (but not limited to) the
following:
Region as Myth
Geographically (The Frontier, The South)
Historically (The Past, The Golden Age)
Culturally (American English, The Russian Novel, Postcolonial Literature)
Ideologically (Black English, Working Class Fiction, Chick Lit)
        Regions as Boundaries (Diaspora Literature)
        Region as Ideology (The Agrarians, The Bloomsbury Group)
        Region as Archetype (The West)
Regions as Legend (The Alamo)
        Regions as Definition (Genres, Minority Literature)
Regions as Limitations (Working Class Literature, Southern Writing)
Regions as Margins (Captivity Narratives, Resistance Literature)

What critical tools help in examining regions?
Ecocriticism as a Critical and Theoretical Tool
Ecocriticism and Its Connections
Ecocriticism and Its Discontents
How do other critical tools help us understand regions?

        Anti-Regionalism (Essentialism)
Surreal Regions (Science Fiction)
Gendered Regions (Feminism)
Racial Regions
Gay and Lesbian Regions
Psychological Regions
Crossing, Blending, and Blurring Regions (Epcot and Euro Disney)
Transgressing Regions (The Non-Fiction Novel)
Reinterpreting Regions (Creative Nonfiction, New Historicism)
Imagining Regions (Utopias and Dystopias)
Deconstructing Regions (Revising and Rewriting Classics)
Editing Regions (Inclusion and Exclusion)
Regions Over Time (Medieval and Modern London)
Regions and Simulacra (The Matrix, Sim City)

Regionalism and Diasporas (Jewish, African, Hispanic, and Irish Literature)
Regionalism and the Visionary Imagination (Blake's London, Magical Realism)
Regional Food and Literature/Writing (Chitlins, Grits, and Crab Cakes)
Regionalism and Art (Graphic Novels)
Regionalism and Identity
Regionalism and Globalism
Regionalism and Nationalism
Regionalism and Film
Regionalism and Fantasy
Regionalism and Cultural Hegemony
Regionalism and Meaning
Regionalism and Integration
Regionalism and Politics
Regionalism and Diversity
Regionalism and Physical, Emotional, and Psychological Boundaries
Regionalism and Religion
Regionalism and Economics
Regionalism and Architecture
Regional Clothing and Literature/Writing
Teaching the Regions: Strategies, Tactics, and Topics

The CEA also welcomes panels and proposals on all aspects of literature,
writing, and college teaching.

Please note: We prefer to receive proposals for papers and panels via our new
online submission page at

http://english.ttu.edu/CEA/index.html

We will also accept proposals by regular mail, fax, and email (include abstract
in message body rather than as an attachment) to the following:
        Maurice O'Sullivan
        CEA 2006 Program Chair
        Box 2671
        Rollins College
        Winter Park, FL 32789
        Fax: 407.628.6309
        Email: mosullivan_at_rollins.edu
If you are willing to serve as a session chair or respondent, please indicate
this in your cover letter.
Proposals—due by November 1st—should include the following information:
• Name
• Institutional Affiliation (if applicable)
• Mailing Address (including zip code)
• Phone Number
• Email address
• Title for the proposed presentation
• Abstract of no more than 500 words
• A-V equipment needs, if any
• Special needs, if any

Panel organizers should include the above information for all proposed
participants.

Important Information
        - To preserve time for discussion, CEA limits all presentations to 15
minutes
        - Notification of proposal status will be sent around December 5th
        - All presenters must join the CEA by 1 January 2006 to appear on the
program.
- No one may read more than one paper at the conference
- To promote discussion, all papers must be read by their authors; persons
not in attendance may not have papers read by colleagues.
        - CEA does not sponsor or fund travel or underwrite participant costs.

Note to Graduate Students
Graduate Students may submit their conference presentation for the CEA Best
Graduate Student Paper Award, which carries a $100 prize.

For consideration, submit a copy of your paper electronically via the
submission database by March 1, 2006 (after prior submission and
acceptance of your initial proposal, due November 1, 2005).

Correspondence about submission should be sent to CEA President Ann R.
Hawkins (ann.hawkins_at_ttu.edu)

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Received on Sat Sep 10 2005 - 12:39:35 EDT