CFP: Teaching Hemingway and Race (Kent State UP essay collection; deadline for abstracts is Oct. 15, 2014; accepted essays due Dec. 31, 2014)
The goal of the Teaching Hemingway series is to present collections of essays with various approaches to teaching emergent themes in Hemingway's major works to a variety of students in secondary and private schools and at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Teacher-scholars who have used Hemingway's work in domestic, international, HBCU, MA/PhD, MFA, and many other settings can apply.
The editors invite interested scholars to contribute to what will be an unquestionably stimulating, innovative collection, Teaching Hemingway and Race. A goal of this volume is to reconsider the author's work in view of recent theoretical-critical developments, such as Critical Race Theory, transnational studies, and emergent approaches that inquire into the textual intersections between multiple cultural positions, and then present a practical, concise pedagogical approach to a specific topic. The ideal length of a contribution is between 10 and 15 pages. All accepted essays should balance theory/interpretation and concrete classroom practices. We foresee including writing prompts, syllabi, handouts, critical readings, and models for digital pedagogy (e.g., Web resources and Wiki writing).
With respect to thematic considerations, the editors seek to explore Hemingway's disposition with regard to race (which for the purposes of this volume will include ethnic, tribal, and national locations and their interstices) as well as the place of race in Hemingway studies.
Contributors may consider Hemingway's representations of Native American/indigenous, African American and/or African, Asian American and/or Asian, Latino and/or Latin American, and/or ethnic European (e.g., Roma/Gypsy, Basque) characters and peoples, in view of current readings of race and difference. In other words, what complex roles do Hemingway's raced figures play in his fiction and journalism? Indeed, what role might they play in delineating his influential literary style or other aspects of his literary productivity?
Another potentially interesting topic may be a topic not concerned solely with Hemingway's portrayals of a single minority group, but one that considers his depictions of two or more cultures or cultural nationalities.
Or the contributor might wish to consider Hemingway's writing vis-à-vis work by black, indigenous, immigrant, and/or ethnic authors beyond the United States.
Such authors as Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Derek Walcott, and Gayl Jones have praised and cited Hemingway's writing as a determining stimulus. How may Hemingway's representations of ethnic minorities be understood vis-à-vis writers who are known for work that is intensely motivated toward examining political and social complexities for ethnic peoples?
How might Hemingway's "lost generation" figure within or in contrast with the Harlem Renaissance/New Negro movement? How might his writings about raced characters and peoples figure into his particular view of modernist prose? How might it be seen in terms of Pan-Africanism, Garvey's Back to Africa movement, and the rise of black transnationalism, black modernism and postmodernism?
How might Hemingway's work be read in terms of historical trajectories affecting racial, ethnic, tribal, or immigrant peoples: the Great Migration, the Pan-Indian movement, etc.?
Considering his portrayals of indigenous peoples, how might Hemingway's writing be understood with reference to Native American authors like Louise Erdrich and James Welch? How might his writings be read in relation to Latino authors like José Martí, Julia Alvarez, Oscar Hijuelos, and Junot Díaz?
If not already familiar with current criticism on the subject of Hemingway and questions of race, potential contributors should survey recent research related to this topic, such as work by Amy L. Strong, Marc K. Dudley, Richard Fantina, and the critical collection Hemingway and the Black Renaissance (Ohio State UP, 2012).
The editors welcome proposals from both established and emerging teacher-scholars. We are also interested in how teacher-scholars have adapted their ways of teaching Hemingway in a racially focused context due to pedagogical, critical, and personal developments.
Proposals of no more than 750 words and an abbreviated CV that indicates research and scholarly activity should be sent to the volume editor, Gary Holcomb, Department of African American Studies, Ohio University (holcomb@ohio.edu) and c.c. series editor Mark Ott (mott@deerfield.edu ) by Oct. 15, 2014, to ensure fullest consideration in the volume. Accepted authors should plan to deliver completed manuscripts (2,500-4,000 words) by Dec. 31, 2014.