EUROPEAN BEAT STUDIES NETWORK 8th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Nicosia, Oct 9-12, 2019

Call for Papers

Moving Geographies: Literatures of Travel and Migration

We invite submissions for papers, panels and roundtable discussions for the Eighth Annual Conference of the European Beat Studies Network (EBSN), which will take place at the University of Nicosia (Nicosia, Cyprus) on October 9 – 12, 2019.

The focus of the conference will be on travel and migration in the work of writers and artists whose work has been associated with the Beat Generation. The Beat Generation, and those who were influenced by them, fetishized the idea of perpetual travel, and their depictions of changing landscapes merge geography with the characters’ psychology. Many of these texts go beyond the physical border of the United States into such places as Central and South America, Africa, Japan, Europe and beyond to depict shifting geographical spaces and identities. Often the lives depicted are transgressive as the boundaries between travel, tourism and migration become blurred.

Key texts for this conference might include: Jack Kerouac, On the Road: William S. Burroughs, Queer; LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), “Cuba Libre”; Brenda Frazer, Troia: Mexican Memoirs; Allen Ginsberg, Indian Journals; Gary Snyder, Riprap; Joanne Kyger, Strange Big Moon: The Japan and India Journals, 1960-1964; Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Seven Days in Nicaragua Libre.

Suggested topics:

• Cross-border narratives
• Borders and power
• Travel and power
• Intersections between tourism and migration
• Shifting geographies
• Psychogeographies
• Drug use as travel
• The current migration/refugee crisis and the Beat ethos

As every year, we also invite submissions for panels, roundtables, dialogues, visual exhibitions, and performances, on any aspect of the Beat Generation and their legacy.

Besides academic papers, the conference will also feature the following:

• An event celebrating the burgeoning Greek and Cypriot poetry scene featuring poets of the so-called “austerity generation”
• Poetry slam/open mic event open to the public
• A tour of Nicosia

Deadline for abstracts: February 15 – please submit abstracts to Raven See at rsee11@elmira.edu

Organising Committee

Dr Polina Mackay

Dr Marilena Zackheos

Conference Administrator: Raven See