The global COVID-19 crisis, and its economic fallout, have re-established two facts - that the economy is a fictive category, and that its inimitable centrality derives essentially from the power of its narratives. Prior to actual policies of austerity or re-openings of the economy, there exist narratives of weathering storms as character-building or the inalienable connection between economic and individual freedom. These narratives help us imagine the economy as a system; most often it becomes palpable because we have learned to tell stories about its origins, maintenance, purity, precarity, and futures. These stories acquire unique characteristics in the global south, a geopolitical category itself that narrativizes economic agon.

52nd Annual Northeast Modern Language Association Convention

March 11-14, 2021

Philadelphia, PA

Stoicism is an ancient Greco-Roman philosophy of life based on the notion that "happiness," or eudaemonia, is internally generated, and consists in improving one's own character in the service of humanity at large. One of its major exponents was the first century Roman philosopher Epictetus, who has had a consistent influence on western philosophy, religion, and literature, though the theme of Epictetus and literature has been comparatively little explored.

NeMLA Panel (March 11-14, 2021 Philadelphia, PA)

Please submit all proposals (200-500 words) through the NeMLA user portal here: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/18578

CFP: Emerging Trends in Twenty-First-Century Horror

Deadline for submissions:  January 15, 2021

full name / name of organization:  LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory

contact email:  litjourn@yahoo.com

The MLA Press published Approaches to Teaching Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Other Works in 1996. Now the press is seeking contributions for a new volume to explore both the teaching of Atwood’s publications since that time and 21st-century approaches to her earlier works, such as strategies for teaching The Handmaid’s Tale that draw on the Hulu TV series, the graphic novel, and/or The Testaments.

This roundtable will feature 5-minute papers/presentations that explore best practices for including community engagement within Humanities courses. Experiments with critical pedagogies and research programs, as well as creative and thoughtful engagements with regional and local communities, are especially welcome. The roundtable format features brief formal or informal presentations, leaving plenty of time for interaction and discussion between, and among, participants and audience members.

By June 26, please send a 200-word presentation abstract, a 1-page CV and A/V requests to Elisabeth Austin (elaustin@vt.edu).