The African, African American, and Diaspora Studies program at James Madison University invites proposals for its annual interdisciplinary conference, to be held virtually as a webinar series from Wednesday, February 17, to Saturday, February 20, 2021. This year's theme is “Movement(s), Collectives, and Collectivity.” Ranging across topics from archival practices to Black Lives Matter, the conference will bring together a group of scholars and archivists from a wide variety of overlapping and intersecting fields. The conference will feature a keynote presentation by poet and scholar-activist Claudia Rankine, co-founder of The Racial Imaginary Institute and author of Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (claudiarankine.com, theracialimaginary.org).

We welcome proposals from scholars in all relevant disciplines at any point in their scholarly careers. Proposals for 20-minute presentations or 60-minute panels could address topics such as these:

Black Lives Matter

Political, artistic, literary, and environmentalist movements

Pan-Africanism

Black Power

Indian Ocean Studies

Wakanda

Afrofuturism

Ubuntu

#Blacktwitter

Liberation theology

The Divine and divination systems

Black periodicals and publishing histories

Queer collectives/Queering collectivity 

Feminist collectives

Collecting and preserving Black history

Museums

Virtual collectives and collections

Families

Motherhoods and Maternalities 

Informal economies

Prisons

Transport systems

Architecture and housing

Black humanisms, anti-humanisms, and post-humanisms

Indigenous sciences and technologies

Black communities and environmental justice

African, African American, and Diaspora Studies

Please send any questions and/or 300-word presentation proposals (or 1000-word panel proposals) to aaadstudies@jmu.edu by November 1, 2020. Proposals should include a presentation and/or panel title, along with each presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, email address, and a brief bio. Panel proposals must include at least three panelists.