Re/Inventions 2013: Hysteria
2nd Annual Graduate Student Conference
California State University, Long Beach
Tentative Date: Thursday, 11 April 2013

Abstracts Due: Tuesday, 1 January 2013

From its historical origins as a medical malady peculiar to women to its modern idiomatic connections to the comic, "hysteria" is an unquestionably loaded term. As such, it was with a desire to solicit submissions covering a diverse range of intellectual inquiry that California State University, Long Beach selected Hysteria as the theme for its Annual Graduate Student Conference, Re/Inventions 2013. Now in its second year, this forum is organized by students for students with the goal of increasing interest, exposure, and participation in post-baccalaureate academic pursuits by providing students with an opportunity to share their current work and unique research. Designed with graduate students and advanced undergraduates in mind, the CSULB Graduate Student English Conference promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement among fellow CSUs, the University of California, and neighboring private colleges while opening up the dialogue to include participants from outside the state.

This interdisciplinary conference encourages abstracts that explore the theme of Hysteria from a wide range of fields and disciplines. While this forum is intended for the presentation of scholarly papers and projects, creative submissions including creative writing, spoken word, performance pieces, and art installations will also be considered. Topics may include but certainly are not limited to:

• The Rhetoric of Hysteria
• The Histrionics of Spatial Politics
• Comedic Intersections of Class, Race, & Gender
• Queer Bodies & the Wandering Womb
• Pedagogical Practices & Emotional Excess
• The Gravitas of Gallows Humor
• FTM Transitions: The Politics of "Passing"
• Hypocrisy & the Hippocratic Corpus
• Mass Hysteria & Mob Mentality
• The Evolution of the Comic Spirit
• Comedy as Cultural Critique
• Female Desire & the Pathology of Patriarchy
• Interrogating Mental Illness
• Laughter & the Neurotic
• (Ir)rationality
• Body Dysmorphia & the Unattainable
• Idiosyncratic Isolation
• Humor as Mediation
• Subversive Stand-Up

Presentations should run approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Please submit abstracts of 250-300 words along with a current CV by email to egsa.csulb@gmail.com. Please note any A/V needs you may have at that time.