Post-9/11 Immigration and Literature (NeMLA 2013 Roundtable Session)

full name / name of organization: 
Justine Dymond/Springfield College

44th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 21-24, 2013
Boston, Massachusetts
Host Institution: Tufts University

Post-9/11 Immigration and Literature (Roundtable Session)

This roundtable session aims to bring together teachers and scholars of immigrant literature in the U.S. to explore and discuss the changing face of that literature since 9/11. A vast and rapidly evolving field, the literature of immigrant experience reaches across many centuries and has intersected with multiple disciplines, influenced the creation of new fields, such as ethnic studies, and contributed to an ongoing discussion of identity and the American experience. Immigration history and law directly impacts the demographics and experiences of immigrants and migrants in the U.S. and the literature written by immigrants and their descendants. A noted example is how Asian American literature flourished in the decades after the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Acts in 1943 and the opening up of U.S. borders to immigrants from the Eastern hemisphere in 1965.

In the wake of 9/11 and subsequent legislation, such as the PATRIOT Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, new immigration regulations have shaped contemporary literature of the immigrant experience. In recent years, poetry, fiction, and memoir by immigrants and their descendants from South Asia, Mexico, Central America and South America have grown considerably. This session also aims to examine the recent developments in immigrant literature as it is impacted by war and violent conflict since 9/11. The session presenters might address questions such as: How is identity in literature shaped by national belonging? How does U.S. foreign policy influence representations of American citizenship? How does literature respond to legal and historical constructions of nation, citizenship, and personhood? How does recent literature of immigrant experience echo or revise previous motifs in the field, such as the assimilation narrative? What is the role of globalization and the transnational subject in immigrant literature?

Please send a 300-500 word proposal to jdymond@springfieldcollege.edu by September 30, 2012.

Please include with your proposal:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)

The 2013 NeMLA convention continues the Association's tradition of sharing innovative
scholarship in an engaging and generative location. The 44th annual event will be held
in historic Boston, Massachusetts, a city known for its national and maritime history,
academic facilities and collections, vibrant art, theatre, and food scenes, and blend of
architecture. The Convention, located centrally near Boston Commons and the Theatre
District at the Hyatt Regency, will include keynote and guest speakers, literary readings,
film screenings, tours and workshops.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however,
panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may
present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a
roundtable. http://www.nemla.org/convention/2013/cfp.html