"American History and Culture" area
National PCA/ACA and SW/TX PCA/ACA
Joint Conference, April 20-23, 2011
Extended proposal submission deadline: December 31, 2010
Http://www.swtxpca.org
Conference hotel: Marriott Rivercenter San Antonio
101 Bowie St., San Antonio, TX 78205, (210) 223-1000

The Society for American Travel Writing invites proposals for papers on the topic of "Eco-Travel Writing" for the 2011 American Literature Association Conference, May 26-9, 2011 in Boston.

In common parlance, ecotravel suggests environmentally conscious vacationing that is often coupled with service activities intended to clean up pollution or improve sustainability. While travel explicitly organized around environmental concerns may be a relatively new development, respect for alien environments and cultures was not invented in 1980. The SATW invites proposals for papers that explore forerunners to "ECOTRAVEL" that occur throughout American literary history.

American Literature Association
Boston, May 26-29, 2011

American Gothic: Unsettling the Nation

Since Teresa Goddu's ground-breaking study, American Gothic criticism has produced powerful models for historicizing gothic constructions and subversions of national identity, national narrative, and national myth. Building on this work, this panel re-considers the American Gothic through critical paradigms that challenge the self-evident category of nation, including transnationalism and postcolonialism. What is meant by "American Gothic" when we imagine this literary production as part of a more global history or culture?

Especially welcome are papers that:

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster in 2012, we seek abstracts (300-500 words) for an edited, interdisciplinary collection of scholarly essays.
Engineering marvel, instant parable, and dramatic stage set, the Titanic is as fascinating for its long afterlife as it is for its short but spectacular career. This collection proposes a re-examination of both the immediate and enduring cultural impact of the Titanic a century after its sinking. We welcome abstracts for articles addressing any aspect of the Titanic phenomenon from any critical, theoretical, or historical approach.
Possible topics:
- the Titanic and its historical moment

Britain is traditionally seen as a nation of animal lovers and evidence for this has cropped up with mounting regularity over the past two centuries. Yet, the essentially self-congratulatory idea that Britain is "a nation of animal lovers" and that their representations of animals are unlike any other people's is currently being questioned, in both activist and academic circles. This conference, which will welcome the healthy confrontation of interdisciplinary viewpoints, invites in-depth examination of the representation(s) of animals in the fields of history, philosophy, sociology, politics, law, cultural studies, the visual arts and the media. How have animals been imagined, portrayed, idealised, regarded or disregarded, even effaced?