As the world begins to come back together after years of social distancing, quarantine, and uncertainty, the English GraduateStudent Association’s 32nd Annual Mardi Gras Conference at Louisiana State University will be considering the relationship between environments and communities. Due to the continued presence of Covid, our conference this year will be conducted in a hybrid format. Our theme for this year's conference is“de/Constructing Environments and Embodying Communities.”The idea of environments and communities can be interpreted in a variety of interdisciplinary modes. Despite ongoing climate and public health crises, the renewal of shared spaces asks us to interrogate how our environments and communities are constructed.

We welcome a broad range of interpretations of this theme, but here are some questions to consider: How will we/can we restore intimacy? Who/What defines “we”? What does it mean to be part of a community or part of an environment? In the face of our current climate crisis, how are environments and communities constructed? How can we identify pleasure in these places? How are environments and communities formed through the past, present, and future?

Possible subject areas include, but are not limited to:

• Literature
• Ecocriticism
• Critical Theory
• Critical Race Theory
• History
• Anthropology
• Animal Studies
• Material Studies
• Writing and Rhetoric
• Environmental Sciences
• Gender Studies
• Disability Studies

The 32nd Annual Mardi Gras Graduate Student Conference would like to invite a variety of interdisciplinary responses to and definitions of the theme of environment and community. We especially encourage submissions that investigate the ways that environments and communities are built and sustained across disciplines. We welcome a variety of formats from traditional essays to creative works and works from scholars of all levels.

We are excited to welcome our keynote speakers: Dr. AnnFisher-Wirth and Dr. Sarah Franzen. Dr. Ann Fisher-Wirth from the University of Mississippi’s English Department and Dr. SarahFranzen from Louisiana State University’s Department of Geography and Anthropology will deliver presentations to help facilitate our discussion on environments and communities. Additionally, we are pleased to welcome emerging writers SkylerArden Barnes, Ajla Dizdarević, and Nicole Klostermann. We are excited to think with them and with you!

This year, the hybrid conference will take place online via zoom and in the LSU Women's Center from February23rd-25th, 2022. Individual proposals for 15-minute papers must include an abstract of approximately 250-300 words. Abstracts are due by January 16, 2022. Those interested in proposing panels should include a brief description of the panel along with the names and abstracts of all panel participants.

Please submit here:

https://forms.gle/29NMa36TFGGovL5S8

250-300 words max
Please email
mardigrasconference2022@gmail.com
if you have any questions.
We look forward to reading your submission!
Faith Ellington and Laura Creekmore