The LSU English Graduate Student Association presents the 22rd annual Mardi Gras Conference: The Ecology of Erasure

February 15-17, 2023 | LSU Women’s Center | Hybrid Format

Modern reality and its processes of civilization have instituted myriad forms of erasure, whether through misrepresentations, indoctrination, or even destruction, and with especially potent eliminations of women, people of color, queer people, histories, languages, cultural practices, spaces, and identities. As we struggle to navigate inclusive practices, it is necessary to identify the various operative forces, systems, and hidden structures that facilitate continued erasure. What systems are at play? What are these strategies of erasure, and how are they produced and maintained? How has their persistence enabled an ecology of erasure?

In this interdisciplinary conference, we want to carefully explore how techniques of erasure veil themselves from visibility by creating illusions of representation for various entities and practices. For instance, how do contemporary scholarship, politics, philosophy, and techno-culture discourage or encourage the erasing of cultural forms and entities? We are also interested in how a particular history of erasure informs contemporary discourses of visibility.

We invite abstract submissions from diverse disciplines and research areas that investigate and provide interesting case studies, historical perspectives, methods, and analytic approaches to understanding this age-long problem of erasure. We want perspectives that, among other things, explore strategies and techniques that promote inclusivity.

We welcome scholars with both academic and creative work relating to the theme, especially those with topics in the following areas:

literature • ecocriticism • critical theory • history critical race theory • anthropology • animal studies material studies • writing and rhetoric environmental sciences • linguistics • film studies gender studies • disability studies • creative writing

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. Presentations will be limited to 15 minutes per presentation.

❖ Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2022

❖ The submission form can be filled out using this link:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekgOyptj7pFlb3KiuOyuAI_lbYKZue...

Additional questions about submissions or conference information can be directed to Adanna and Taylor at: mardigrasconferencelsu@gmail.com