Call for Papers

SMU’s ERAH Graduate Conference

English | History | Anthropology

Date: October 10-11, 2026

Location: SMU Main Campus, Dallas, TX

Theme: Movement & Borderlands

Submission Deadline: August 28, 2026

Keynotes: Dr. Tim Bowman | Dr. Elda María Román 

Graduate students of Southern Methodist University’s Departments of English, History, and Anthropology, in collaboration with the Moody School of Advanced Studies, Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute, and the department of English, have collaborated to hold the third annual Engaging Research Across the Humanities (ERAH) Conference at SMU from October 10-October 11, 2026. ERAH 2026 will prioritize the development of interdisciplinary connections and aims to foster a supportive environment for both graduate students and advanced undergraduates engaged in strong research. There will be special emphasis placed on creating opportunities for participants with limited or no prior conference experience. The theme for ERAH 2026 is Movement & Borderlands. If you have any questions, please email arundhatig@smu.edu.

Borders simultaneously construct and limit meaning. By demarcating entities, we hold the power to define space and identity. In the same manner, those entities are restricted to oppositional definitions. What does it mean to occupy borderlands, to move across them and through them? How is the deconstruction of borders, or reconceptualization of definitional demarcation, itself an act of meaning-making that exists without opposition? How do borderlands complicate cultural conceptions rooted in duality? How does movement across and through borderlands produce opportunity for new forms of meaning-making not rooted in hard lines and limitations? This year’s theme asks us to think critically about the roles of both movement and borderlands in our respective disciplines by considering these questions and others. We invite you to consider the roles of both movement and borderlands within the works you study—be it literary works, historical archives, etc.—as well as how pervasive disciplinary paradigms shape the ways in which you approach your scholarship.

Possible topics may include but are not limited to:

• Migration, mobility, and displacement

• Citizenship and belonging

• Racial, ethnic, national, religious identity

• Borders as constructs

• Frontiers

• Artistic and embodied movement

• Indigenous perspectives on imposed borders

• Nationalism and borderlands

• Environmental and ecological borders

• Linguistic borders

• Tourism and global circulation

We invite abstracts of 200-250 words for both individual presentations and fully-constructed panels (3–4 speakers). Papers in STEM fields that clearly articulate relevance to the theme are welcome. Full-panel proposals will be given priority. Panel proposals must include a 200-250 word proposal for the panel in addition to abstracts for each individual participant. A select number of travel grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for those traveling more than 100 miles. To qualify for a travel grant, you must submit your application by August 14, 2026. Further details will be included in your registration sign-up. Please submit abstracts via the following google form link:https://tinyurl.com/2026ERAH