New Voices is an interdisciplinary graduate student conference hosted by Georgia State University's English department and sponsored by the department's Graduate English Association. The conference is designed to provide emerging and experienced graduate scholars in the humanities with a forum for sharing their latest research. While the conference has a different suggested theme each year, adherence to the suggested theme is not at all necessary to be considered for inclusion in the conference. New Voices invites papers on all topics and themes related not only to English studies, but all other humanities disciplines as well as the social sciences and political science.

2014 Suggested Theme:
Origins, Identity, and Authenticity

An old Coca-Cola slogan proclaimed the soft drink to be "the Real Thing." But what exactly makes something "the Real Thing"? How do we know when we're dealing with it, as opposed to some pale imitation or insubstantial mirage? Is it even possible to locate "the Real Thing" – and, if so, where and when can we find it? What answers have writers, artists, and thinkers offered to these questions throughout history? And how do those answers shape the ways that cultures across the globe and throughout history have conceptualized, constructed, and enacted identity?

Suggested Topics include:

· the ontology of reference and representation
· frauds, forgeries, and falsehoods
· döppelgangers and other forms of doubling
· rhetorical constructions and performances of identity
· issues of originality and identity in composition studies
· issues in autobiographical and adaptation studies
· issues of identity and authenticity in pop-cultural communities (e.g., hip hop or "geekdom")
· the origins of ideas, movements, and texts

We welcome submissions for presentations, panels, roundtables, strands, and pedagogical demonstrations from ALL disciplines, on ALL topics. Your work does not have to fit the theme to be accepted!

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS FOR PAPER AND PANEL PROPOSALS:

1. For individual papers, please submit an abstract (250 words maximum) along with your name, phone number, email address, institutional affiliation, and discipline.

2. For panels, please submit the following:

a. A proposal abstract for the panel ( 400 words maximum)

b. A brief description of each individual panelist's paper (250 words maximum)

3. If your presentation requires any visual media, please let us know (projector, DVD, sound, etc).

4. Please submit email proposals as Microsoft Word attachment (.doc or .docx), and include the phrase "New Voices abstract submission" in the subject line.

****Deadline for Submission****
December 2nd, 2013

Conference Registration Fee: $10 (payable at the conference)
Please contact New Voices at newvoices11@gmail.com with questions regarding submissions.