The Literary, Interdisciplinary, Theory, and Culture Organization (LITCO) at Purdue University invites participants for our sixth annual symposium, “Memory, Identity, and Transformation Throughout Literature, Theory, and Culture.” We are interested in scholarly projects that discuss past, present, and future intersections of memory, identity, and transformation, including readings that challenge or rearticulate these themes as conceptual categories. We welcome papers that interact with these themes within the scope of their scholarly arguments or discuss texts that deal with their various manifestations on a literary, political, social, or cultural level. In addition to the approaches listed below, projects may investigate questions such as, “How do writers or thinkers address questions of memory as it manifests in texts, institutions, cultures, theories, spaces, or places? How can we address concerns of identity through literary and cultural studies? In what ways does literature embody, complicate, or act as a means of personal or collective social, political, or cultural transformation?” 

We encourage proposals that creatively interpret our theme. Possible approaches include:

• American studies 

• Book studies, material culture, and archives

• The lives of academics

• Critical identity studies (including but not limited to Black, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality theories)

• Digital humanities

• Environmental humanities

• Liminality and/or alterity

• Multilingual literatures

• Migration studies, Diaspora studies, and/or Border studies

• Local, national, and/or global geographies

• Narrative form and/or storyworlds

• Performance studies

• Political and social policy

• Reception, adaptation, remediation, and/or fandom

• Game studies

• Film and media studies

This symposium will take place virtually on Zoom on Friday, March 6–Saturday, March 7, 2026. 

We accept proposals in the following formats: 

- an individual paper presentation 

- a pre-constituted panel of 3–4 papers 

- a pre-constituted round table 

- a workshop related to the conference theme 

Although this symposium has been designed for graduate students and emerging scholars, all are welcome to submit. To ensure that this event is accessible, there is no registration fee. 

Please send abstract proposals of up to 200 words as well as a brief bio (up to 100 words) to litcopurdue@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 9, 2026. Organizers will reach out to you by January 31st, 2026 with information regarding panels.