CALL FOR PAPERS: American Studies Association (ASA)

In-person, Le Centre Sheraton,

Montreal, Canada, Nov 2nd-5th, 2023

Session Title: "Pedagogies of Solidarity in Black American Literature at Mid-Century"

Session Organizers: Rachel Carroll, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Ariel Martino, Colgate University

Due Date: Please send abstracts (250-500 words) and a brief bio (max 350 words) to racheljc@illinois.edu and afrasermartino@colgate.edu by Friday, January 20th, 2023.

This panel invites proposals for papers addressing the idea of “Pedagogies of Solidarity in Black American Literature at Mid-Century” for the 2023 American Studies Association annual meeting, held November 2-5 in Montreal Canada. How did Black writers during the eras of mid-century protest use literary form to teach solidarity? What are the affective permutations that arise when Black literature explores what it means to be with others, in public and within the structures of antiblackness and racial capitalism that govern our world? How does one teach resistance without reinscribing a new set of punishing rules or constraining structures of social organization? Pedagogies need not be didactic, direct, or representational. In fact, the most effective teaching styles tend to exploratory, participatory, and open-ended. Thus, we are especially interested in papers that focus on experimental, avant-garde, or otherwise unconventional modes of writing. How does Black mid-century literature define and redefine what solidarity means through literary experimentation? Papers should also connect to the conference theme: Solidarity: What Love Looks Like in Public (https://www.theasa.net/node/293).

Please send abstracts (250-500 words) and a brief bio (max 350 words) to Ariel Martino (afrasermartino@colgate.edu) and Rachel Carroll (racheljc@illinois.edu) by January 20th. All panel participants must be members of the American Studies Association at the time of the conference.