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Thursday, November 1, 2012

GASF on IAAS and Other Acronyms


Our official launch received a mention on the newly-revamped Irish Association of American Studies Website
IAAS.ie has details of the association's history, upcoming events, prizes and more. I strongly encourage all GASF members to look into the WTM Riches Prize. Established in 2004 this is a monetary prize for high-quality working from younger scholars in the American Studies field. The winning essay will also be considered for publication in the Irish Journal of American Studies.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

CFP: Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference


Northumbria University, Newcastle, 8-11 July 2013

The Chairman of the TSA, Prof Alan Dobson (St. Andrews University) and Dr. Michael Patrick Cullinane (Northumbria University) would like to extend an invitation to the 2013 Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference.

Our outstanding 2013 plenary guests are:
  • Professor Donna Alvah (St. Lawrence University) 
  • Professor Susan Manning (University of Edinburgh)
  • Professor Michael Clarke (Royal United Services Institute)
  • Professor Erwan Lagadec will lead a roundtable discussion of his book, Transatlantic Relations in the 21st Century with respondents

Panel proposals and individual papers are welcome for any of the general or sub-panels.  A 300 word abstract of proposal and brief CV to panel leaders or to Alan Dobson ad98@st-andrews.ac.uk and Michael Cullinane michael.cullinane@northumbria.ac.uk

Deadline – 30 April 2013.

The general panels, subpanels and panel leaders for 2012 are:

1. Literature and Culture: 

Constance Post, cjpost@iastate.edu and Louise Walsh walsh.lou@gmail.com


Sub-panels:

2. Economics: 

Fiona Venn vennf@essex.ac.uk, and Joe McKinney joe_mckinney@baylor.edu

3. History, Security Studies and IR

Alan Dobson ad98@st-andrews.ac.uk and David Ryan david.ryan@ucc.ie

Sub-panels:

4. Planning, Regeneration and the Environment


Antonia Sagredo, asagredo@flog.uned.es and Tony Jackson a.a.jackson@dundee.ac.uk

5. Migration and Diaspora in the Atlantic World


Tanja Bueltmann, tanja.bueltmann@northumbria.ac.uk

Sub-panels

Monday, October 22, 2012

Amiri Baraka to read at NUI Galway



Courtesy of the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, in association with Arts in Action, NUI Galway will be treated to a reading by poet, activist, and award-winning writer Amiri Baraka on Thursday, 25 October, in the O'Flaherty Theatre.




From the Marketing & Communications Office, NUI Galway:

The writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and jazz criticism, Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. He moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1957 and founded Totem Press, which first published works by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and others.  He moved to Harlem in 1965 where he founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School.

His reputation as a playwright was established with the production of Dutchman at Cherry Lane Theatre in New York in 1964. The controversial play subsequently won an Obie Award for Best Off-Broadway Play and was made into a film. The author of several volumes of poetry, an autobiography, and numerous essays on culture, music and politics, Baraka also founded the jazz/poetry ensemble Blue Ark.

In 1994, Amiri Baraka retired as Professor of Africana Studies at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, and in 2002 was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey and Newark Public Schools. In the fall of 2002, Baraka came under fire from the New Jersey office of the Anti-Defamation League, the New Jersey Assembly and others after a reading of his controversial poem ‘Somebody Blew Up America’ about the 9/11 attacks.

According to Professor Sean Ryder, Chair of English and Acting Director of the Moore Institute at NUI Galway: “Amiri Baraka has been a cultural catalyst in the US for over 50 years, impacting upon and inspiring writers, students and the wider public. We are thrilled that he is coming to our campus, and our students of English are enthused about meeting in person an author they study and admire.”

Amiri Baraka’s numerous literary honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and many others. His book Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music was selected as a winner of the 31st annual American Book Awards for 2010.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5pm in the O’Flaherty Theatre in the Arts/Science Building.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Salzburg Global Seminar: American Studies Symposium


Screening America: Film and Television in the 21st Century

November 15-19, 2012

The Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA) is organizing a four day symposium on American film and television, to be held at the Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Austria, from November 15-19, 2012. All activities will take place at the historic Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, and the adjacent Meierhof. The symposium is open to individuals working or interested in areas related to the topic. The symposium will focus on developments in American film and television since the turn of the millennium and the way they reflect and communicate messages and images about varied aspects of life and culture.

As we edge further into the 21st century there have been notable changes in the modern media and particularly in the film and television industries. The symposium will concern itself both with these changes and with the ways in which film and television have reflected and engaged with America and abroad. In the cinema, the documentary has become a significant force while television, partly as a result of cable -- particularly HBO and AMC, but also through a network such as NBC -- has attracted major talents from the theatre and the novel to produce genre series which compare favorably to any of world television. Why and how has this come about? Has this had any impact on mainstream television or movies? How has it affected the perception of America around the world?

In addition to sessions related to and the impact of films and television on individuals, our sessions will also explore the institutional effect of films and television on the arts, technology and politics of the United States and ultimately their relation to the perception of America abroad. We will examine the global politics of film making since Hollywood films are part of this modern global system, asking what film and television tell us about the new century, and the American political system. Discussions will include the impact of new technologies and the impact of new methods of film making and distribution.

As print journalism declines, television news falls prey to ideologues, and the blogger assumes an equal authority to the trained professional, where will we turn for our understanding of a changing world? Do we need to concern ourselves, as once we did, with the impact that American film and television products have on local media industries and people around the world?

For further information about becoming a symposium participant, please contact symposium director Ms. Marty Gecek mgecek@SalzburgGlobal.org. See also www.SalzburgGlobal.org/go/SSASA2012FilmandTV.

Speakers

  • Ron Clifton (Chair) - Retired Counselor, Senior Foreign Service of the United States; teaching, lecture and research interests include analysis of the perception, reaction and impact of American culture abroad and the implications for cultural diplomacy and foreign policy.
  • Melis Behlil - Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, Kadir Has University, Istanbul; member of steering committee, European Network of Cinema and Media Studies; research interests include production studies, Hollywood, and globalization
  • Christopher Bigsby - Professor of American Studies and director of the Arthur Miller Centre for American Studies, University of East Anglia, UK; broadcaster and award-winning novelist and biographer; currently writing a book on American television drama.
  • Christof Decker - Professor of American and Media Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich; editor and author of Visuelle Kulturen der USA/Visual Cultures of the USA (2010)
  • Walter Hölbling - Professor of U.S. Literature and Culture, American Studies Department, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, Austria
  • Lary May - Professor of American Studies and History, University of Minnesota; current project: "Foreign Affairs: Global Hollywood and America's Cultural Wars
  • Toby Miller - (Keynote Speaker) Professor and Chair, Media & Cultural Studies, University of California Riverside; Author, Global Hollywood 2(2005), Makeover Nation (2008), and Greening the Media (2012)
  • Richard Pells - Professor of History Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin; author of "Modernist America: Art, Music, Movies, and the Globalization of American Culture"(2011)
  • William Uricchio - Professor and Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies Programs; Professor of Comparative Media History, Utrecht University; currently working on the history of the televisual and on algorithms as cultural form

2013 Terra Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowships and Visiting Professorships


The deadline for all professorship and fellowship applications is January 15, 2013.

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 2013-2015

This two-year postdoctoral fellowship supports advanced inquiry in the history of American art, conservation, and museum studies and is integrated with the postdoctoral fellowship program of the Courtauld Institute of Art Research Forum. The selected fellow teaches three historical American art courses, participates in scholarly activities organized by the institute, and organizes an international scholarly event. Fellow receives a $134,564 stipend (over two years). For more information, please visit courtauld.ac.uk

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, 2013-2015

This two-year postdoctoral fellowship focuses on the history of American art and visual culture. The selected fellow teaches four semester-long courses to undergraduate and master's-level students at a French university, participates in local seminars at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art and at the hosting university, and organizes academic programs on related research topics. The fellow receives a $107,000 stipend (over two years). For more information, please visit inha.fr

Visiting Professorships at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 2013-2015

Two professorships are available at the Courtauld Institute to present the best recent scholarship on historical American art. A twelve-week professorship requires administering one full-term course integrated with the institute's curriculum and participating in other scholarly activities. A one-week intensive professorship entails a public scholarly event, a seminar, and a special visit to a London gallery, archive, collection, or library relevant to American art history. Stipends are determined by seniority of the scholars. For more information, please visit courtauld.ac.uk

Visiting Professorships at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, 2013-2015

These eight-week visiting professorships focus on the history of American art and visual culture. Visiting professors give lectures and seminars at a French hosting university and participate in workshops, conferences, and other scholarly gatherings. One visiting professorship is available for each academic year. Visiting professors receive a $32,500 stipend. For more information, please visit inha.fr


Visiting Professorships at the John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universitat Berlin, 2013-2015

These three-month visiting professorships focus on the history of American art and visual culture. Visiting professors offer specialized courses, seminars, and lectures and participate in the larger academic community throughout their stay. Two professorships are available for each academic year. Visiting professors receive a $36,000 stipend. For more information, please visit jfki.fu-berlin.de

“Worlds Out of Joint: Re-Imagining Philip K. Dick,” TU Dortmund University, Germany, November 15-18, 2012


“Worlds Out of Joint: Re-Imagining Philip K. Dick,” a conference held on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Philip K. Dick’s death, will take place at TU Dortmund University 15-18 November 2012. 

Keynote speakers will be Norman Spinrad, Roger Luckhurst, Marc Bould, Takayuki Tasumi, Laurence Rickels and Umberto Rossi.

Panels will include some 24 speakers from ten countries on the topics of Authorship and Exegesis, Power Relations and Global Capitalism, Cultural History, Translation, Narrative and Cultural Theory, as well as The Android Mind.

The conference will also feature a presentation of David Kleiweght’s filmic documentation of Dick’s last three years, THE OWL AT DAYLIGHT, including a discussion with the director and cinematographer; an exhibition with Philip K. Dick book covers from the 1950s until the present; and a musical tribute to Dick by Michael Lysight.

More information and registration at http://philipkdickconferencedortmund.com

North American Studies Post at Uppsala University


Application no later than 2012-11-19.

The Swedish Institute for North American Studies (SINAS) was founded by the Board of Uppsala University in 1985 and has been a section of the Department of English since 2003. The mission of the Institute is to pursue and promote research in the field of North American studies, in collaboration with the Section for American Literature, especially interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences, to coordinate academic work in a number of disciplines related to North American studies, and to constitute a forum for communication in this field, as well as to arrange courses, lectures, conferences, and seminars with the goal of disseminating knowledge of and creating interest in the field.

Duties: Teaching and examination primarily in the first (bachelor) cycle but also in the second (master) cycle, administrative duties, and duties involving interaction with the wider community. Teaching duties include course responsibility, course administration, and supervision.The teaching component comprises instruction in both campus- and IT-based courses. Also included is the teaching of social studies courses covering the English-speaking world at the Department of English, for teacher-training students, etc.

Teaching is done in English.
  • Eligibility requirements: Applicants are eligible for employment as a senior lecturer (assistant professor) if they have completed a doctorate or possess the equivalent academic competence or have some other professional competence of significance in regard to the content of the position and the duties included in the position; have completed relevant tertiary-level teacher training comprising ten weeks or in some other manner acquired the equivalent knowledge; possess documented teaching skills; and have the general capabilities necessary to carry out fully the duties of the appointment.
  • Assessment criteria: In selecting among eligible applicants equal emphasis will be placed on academic and teaching competence. The applicants’ academic qualifications must lie within the subject area of North American studies. In the assessment of academic qualifications, great emphasis will be given to breadth, to social and cultural perspectives in applicants’ research, and to research qualifications in United States politics or United States media.
  • Assessment of teaching skills will include planning, execution, and evaluation of teaching as well as supervision and examination. Primary consideration will be given to the quality of teaching, and teaching skills must be well documented in a way that enables evaluation.
  • Assessment criteria, other skills: Administrative competence is important for this position and will be afforded weight. Attention will also be paid to the ability to collaborate with the wider community and to inform others about research and developmental work. The capacity to inform others about research and developmental work is shown through popularizing activities, such as involvement in mass education, publication of popularly oriented writings, and participation in the public debate on education and research issues.
  • Administrative competence is shown, for instance, in the ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work in an efficient and goal-oriented manner and in the capacity to establish and respect timeframes. Competence comprises overarching operational planning and the ability to manage resources and the ability to work in a structured manner and with awareness of goals and quality.
  • Documented good capacity to cooperate with others.
  • Personal circumstances (such as parental leaves) that may be beneficial to the applicant when qualifications are assessed should be included in the list of qualifications and experience.
  • The University strives to achieve a better gender balance among its teachers, and men are especially encouraged to apply for this position.


Application procedure: 
  • The application must be written in English. A complete application, including writings brought to bear, must be submitted in triplicate in paper form and comprise:
  • A compilation of academic, teaching, and administrative qualifications (CV) documented by witnessed copies of grades, certificates, and other documents that are being brought to bear. The documentation of teaching qualifications must contain certificates, course evaluations, and qualitative assessments from directors of studies/equivalent.
  • A brief account of the applicant’s academic, teaching, and administrative activities. It should be clear from this account what investigations and findings as well as other achievements in general the applicant feels should receive primary consideration in the assessment. The portfolio of teaching qualifications should be designed in a way that makes their qualitative assessment possible.
  • A list of the academic and teaching-related works brought to bear. The applicant is to select no more than ten of these publications or other works for primary consideration.
  • The works (maximum of 10) selected for primary consideration, in triplicate.
  • In this recruitment the recruitment group may make use of interviews, trial lectures, and references. The applicant must therefore submit a list of references that can illuminate her/his professional competence and personal characteristics of significance for the appointment, such as capacity to lead and cooperate with others.

The position may come to be filled on a trial basis.
Information about the position will be provided by the head of department, Professor Merja Kytö, tel. +46 (0)18-471 1251, merja.kyto@engelska.uu.se or the director of SINAS, Reader (Associate Professor) Dag Blanck, tel. +46 (0)18-471 2208, dag.blanck@engelska.uu.se.

Instructions for presenting qualifications will be provided by the officer in charge at the Faculty, Birgitta Laghé, birgitta.laghe@uadm.uu.se. Union representatives are Anders Grundström, SACO-rådet, tel. +46 (0)18-471 5380; Carin Söderhäll, TCO/ST, tel. +46 (0)18-471 1996; and Stefan Djurström, SEKO, tel. +46 (0)18-471 3315.

You are invited to submit your written application, marked UFV-PA 2012/2490 no later than November 19th, 2012. Dierct your application to Uppsala University, P.O.Box 256, SE-751 05 Uppsala, SWEDEN, e-mail: registrator@uu.se or fax +46 (0)18‑471 2000, by 2012-11-19

Applications submitted by e-mail must be supplemented by signed original documents within one week after the application deadline.

The University’s Appointment Regulations are available at: http://regler.uu.se/Detaljsida/?contentId=92570&kategoriId=129

The Faculty of Languages supplementary guidelines for Appointment Regulations are available at: http://www.sprakvet.uu.se/For_medarbetare/Befordran/

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Free eBook: Inside the Presidential Debates


Did you know that the University of Chicago Press offers one of their publications each month for free in ebook format? This month's free ebook has an American Studies slant, and is certainly topical. Check out the link below. You can also subscribe to receive alerts when a new free ebook is released each month. 

Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future 
by Newton N. Minow and Craig L. LaMay.

From the University of Chicago Press:
“There may be no one alive who cares more about America’s democracy than Newton Minow, who was there at the creation of the modern political debate. The riveting first-person stories he and Craig LaMay tell of debates in one election after another take us to the heart of American political life and argue for a continued central role for debates in our electoral process. Their book is must reading for anyone who wants to understand how to ensure that comes about.” - Judy Woodruff

Friday, September 28, 2012

Spanish Association for American Studies Conference: TRANS

The deadline for paper proposals to the Spanish Association for American Studies conference, "TRANS-": The Poetics and Politics of Crossing in the US," is October 15, 2012. 

Contributors are required to submit paper proposals to the panel chairs before this date.

For a full list of Panels, instructions for submission and application form, see http://www.saasweb.org/

The 11th International SAAS Conference, "TRANS" will be held in La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands) from March 20 to March 22, 2013.

If you have any questions, contact Cristina Alsina.

American Literary History presents a Special Issue: Writing the Presidency

Editors: Stephanie Li and Gordon Hutner

About this issue

The essays contained in this ALH forum on "Writing the Presidency" detail a long tradition of writings by and about US presidents, analyzing how the rhetoric surrounding presidential writing signifies in its immediate political moment, and subsequently how such texts seek to define American patriotism and leadership. Taking up multiple and diverse methodologies, questions, and subjects, the authors gathered here demonstrate how presidents and presidential candidates help construct our national ideals.

Three of the articles from this Special Issue have been made FREE until the end of November.

There Were Two Gerald Fords: John Hersey and Richard Reeves Profile a President
James L. Baughman

Reagan and the Rise of the Blockbuster Political Memoir
Craig Fehrman

The Parallel Lives of Bill Clinton
Stephanie Li

Additional articles in this Special Issue include:

Introduction: Writing the Presidency
Stephanie Li and Gordon Hutner

Profiles in Courage, JFK's Book for Boys
John Michael

The Primary Colors of American Politics
John M. Murphy

"America's Exhibit A": Hillary Rodham Clinton's Living History and the Genres of Authenticity
Sidonie Smith

Commentary: Do the Write Thing: Politics, Prose, and the Presidency
Glenn C. Altschuler

Commentary
Dana D. Nelson

The Rise of the Academic Novel
Jeffrey J. Williams

The Humanities and the National Interest
Eric J. Sundquist

What Can American Studies and Comparative Literature Learn from Each Other
Ali Behdad

Alienation Revisited
Johannes Voelz

To browse the full Special Issue online visit: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/page/4821/14

If your institution subscribes, you will be able to access the full text articles.
To recommend this journal to your librarian view the form here: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/page/4821/15

PhD Position in American Studies at Groningen, Netherlands

Job description

Specialty areas: Early American Culture, Colonial & Imperial Identities

Applications are invited for one PhD-student position at the Graduate School for the Humanities, Literary and Cultural Studies.

Applicants are encouraged to develop their own research plans and should submit a 500-1000 word proposal dealing with early American literature and history. Candidates should plan to study the processes of colonization in North and/or South America, as well as the representation of those processes and their byproducts -- captivity, conversion, and war -- in texts from before 1800. Appropriate case studies could include Barlaeus's praise of Johan Maurits in Brasil, poetic accounts from the Arauco War, and reworkings of the myth of Pocahontas first propagated by John Smith. Research questions might be how New World knowledge changed the ideological justifications for empire; how intercultural contact shaped emerging ideas of race; and whether the Christianization of Indians came to condone (cultural) violence.

The above case studies and questions are merely examples: candidates should come up with their own ideas. Projects should aim to answer such large questions through smaller, specific case studies. Interdisciplinary and comparative proposals, combining, for example, literary, historical, and ethnographical methods, as well as those considering two or more languages are especially encouraged. The PhD student should be highly self-motivated, but will be supervised by and collaborate with more senior scholars.

Organisation

The Faculty of Arts is a large, dynamic faculty in the heart of the city of Groningen. It has more than 5000 students and 700 staff members, who are working at the frontiers of knowledge every day. The Faculty offers a wide range of degree programmes: 19 Bachelor's programmes and over 35 Master's programmes. Our research, which is internationally widely acclaimed, covers the following fields: Archaeology, Cultural Studies, History, International Relations, Journalism, Language and Literary Studies, and Linguistics.

Qualifications

  • MA degree in a relevant area (English, Spanish, History, American Studies)
  • a good knowledge of early American literature and history
  • preferably one or more of the following skills: reading competence in early modern English, Dutch, French, and/or Spanish
  • publication skills and desire to publish
  • academic ambition

Conditions of employment

The University of Groningen offers a salary of € 2,042 gross per month in the first year to € 2,612 gross per month in the fourth year (figures based on full employment). The 0.9 fte appointment is temporary for a specified period of four years. You will first be appointed for 18 months. After the first year there will be an assessment of the candidate's results and the progress of the project to decide whether the employment will be continued.

Appointments will be effective from 1 January 2013.

Affiliation

The PhD candidates will be enrolled in the Graduate School for the Humanities and affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Culture Groningen (ICOG).

Application

Applications should be in English and will contain the following:

  • a letter of application
  • a 500-1000 word research proposal
  • curriculum vitae
  • a copy of your diploma with a list of grades
  • your MA thesis or MA dissertation
  • the names and email addresses of two (academic) referees

The interviews will probably take place in between 7 and 21 November 2012.

You may apply for this position until 15 October 2012 via http://www.rug.nl/corporate/vacatures/jobOpportunitiesRUG

For information you can contact: Ms. Dr Joanne van der Woude

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Fulbright Awards Now Open to Applicants


The Fulbright Commission in Ireland officially opened to applicants on Friday, the 24th of August 2012. The 2013 - 2014 competition for the Fulbright Awards include a monetary grant for post-graduate students, scholars, and professionals to travel to the US to lecture, research, and study for a maximum period of one year.  
Further information about the application process is available on www.fulbright.ie.

All applications must be received by 3:00 p.m. in hard copy and online on 14th November 2012.

The following three types of awards are on offer:
  1. Fulbright Student Awards: For up to one academic year for postgraduate study or research in the United States in any discipline, including the arts. Grants are a maximum of $20,000. Applicants may stay to complete their academic program if it is longer than one year.
  2. Fulbright Scholar and Professional Awards: Grants available for up to €35,000 (Irish Language) and $20,000 (General Awards) for academics and professionals with more than five years’ experience to research and/or lecture in the US, lasting between and three and twelve months.
  3. Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship (FLTA) Awards: Ten-month Awards for Irish language teachers to refine their teaching skills in the US by teaching at a US college and taking classes at a post-graduate level. Grants are available for approximately €20,000.


There are a number of sponsored awards for students and scholars in specific disciplines, including:
  • Fulbright-Environmental Protection Agency Award in Water, Climate Change, and Sustainable Environment (Student and Scholar)
  • Fulbright-Marine Institute Award on Any Marine Science/Business Topic (Student and Scholar)
  • Fulbright-Enterprise Ireland Award in Innovation (Student Only)
  • Fulbright-Teagasc Award in Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (Student Only)
  • Fulbright-University of Notre Dame LL.M. in International Human Rights Law (50% tuition waiver) (Student Only)

Friday, August 31, 2012

New PhD Program in American Studies at UNC

The Department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill proudly announces a new doctoral program in American Studies, which joins the long-standing M.A. program in Folklore. In addition to a core strength in American cultural history and literature, the department features signature strengths in American Indian Studies, Southern Studies, International and Comparative American Studies, Folklore, and Digital Humanities. 

Sixteen faculty members teach and work in an array of fields including American intellectual, social, and cultural history, foodways, material culture, popular and folk music, literary and film criticism, American religions, American Indian expressive culture, art and visual culture, vernacular architecture, popular culture, new media and public engagement, and culturally informed public policy. 

Graduate programs are designed for depth and breadth in American Studies and Folklore - and they competitively position graduates for careers in a rapidly changing world of scholarly opportunities. The emphasis is on the centrality of the interdisciplinary humanities for all aspects of intellectual and professional life.

UNC's American Studies graduate program is described in detail on http://amerstud.unc.edu/programs/graduate-program

Applications are being accepted for fall 2013.  

Please address questions to Professor Bernard Herman, Chair, or to co-Directors of Graduate Studies Patricia Sawin, and Joy Kasson.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize

The Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize recognizes excellent scholarship by a non-U.S. scholar in the field of historical American art (circa 1500-1980).
Manuscripts should advance understanding of American art, demonstrating new findings and original perspectives. The prize-winning essay will be translated and published in American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum's scholarly journal.
We are pleased to announce an increased and enhanced prize award this year: the winner will receive a $1,000 cash award and a $2,000 travel stipend to give a presentation in Washington, D.C., and meet with museum staff and fellows. This prize is supported by funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art.

The aim of the award is to stimulate and actively support non-U.S. scholars working on American art topics, foster the international exchange of new ideas, and create a broad, culturally comparative dialogue on American art. Ph.D. candidates and above are eligible to participate in the competition. Essays may focus on any aspect of historical American art and visual culture (pre-1980). Preference will be given to studies that address American art within a cross-cultural context and offer new ways of thinking about the material. A strong emphasis on visual analysis is encouraged. Manuscripts previously published in a foreign language are eligible if released within the last two years (please state the date and venue of the previous publication). For scholars from English-language countries, only unpublished manuscripts will be considered. Authors are invited to submit their own work for consideration. We urge scholars who know of eligible articles written by others to inform those authors of the prize.

The length of the essay (including endnotes) shall not exceed 8,500 words with approximately 12 to 14 illustrations. The text of the essay should be submitted by e-mail as a Word file, accompanied by a PDF file containing all of the illustrations. A curriculum vitae should be included. Manuscripts submitted in foreign languages should be accompanied by a detailed abstract in English.

The submissions must be sent to TerraEssayPrize@si.edu by January 15, 2013. Questions or comments may be addressed to the same address.

For more information on American Art, please consult www.americanart.si.edu/research/journal.

For details on the Terra Foundation for American Art, please visit www.terraamericanart.org.

Terra Prize Recipients
2010: Sergio Cortesini, "Unseen Canvases: Italian Painters and Fascist Myths across the American Scene"
2011: Alex J. Taylor, "Unstable Motives: Propaganda, Politics and the Late Work of Alexander Calder"
2012: Sophie Cras, "Art as Investment and 'Artistic Shareholding' Experiments in the 1960s"


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Call For Papers: Memory: America Past, Present and Future

The British Association for American Studies (BAAS) welcomes papers for its annual Postgraduate Conference, to be held in the Centre for American Studies at the University of Leicester on 24 November 2012. The keynote speaker will be Professor Brian Ward from the University of Manchester.

The conference will be organised around the broad theme of ‘Memory: America Past, Present and Future’. Memory (and the lack of memory) is an important part of what creates the concept of America as a cultural, social and political object. With new apocalyptic stories on the horizon, such as erratic environmental patterns, fragile financial markets and the Mayan Calendar ending on 21 December 2012, we cannot avoid the recurring yet important topic in American Studies, of how memory (both individual and collective) shapes our views on the trajectory of the United States, from its colonial and national origins, through its ascendance on the global stage in the twentieth century and, arguably, its contemporary decline as a world power.

The conference invites proposals for 20-minute presentations and welcomes proposals from a variety of areas within American Studies to give fresh perspectives on America’s past, present and future through the broad lens of memory. The topics include, but are not limited to:
  • memory and the shaping of American narratives
  • representations of memory and forgetting
  • memory and transatlanticism
  • memory and postcolonialism
  • memory and gender
  • memory, citizenship and American identity
  • memory and American geography/landscape
  • memory and American exceptionalism
  • memory and the environment
  • music and memory
  • absence of memory
  • the body and memory
  • ancestral memories
  • memory, oblivion and re-memory
  • false and misinterpreted memories

Please e-mail abstracts of no more than 300 words, to the attention of the conference committee at baaspg2012 [at] gmail.com
Abstracts should include your name, institution, e-mail address, and the title of your proposed paper. 
The deadline for submissions is 1 September 2012. 

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

American Identities in the Graphic Novel

European Journal of American Studies, Special Issue 2013

Call For Papers

The graphic novel has staked out a discursive terrain that encompasses identity on many levels. Superhero comics, and the extended works derived from them, appeal to the fertile iconography within the comics genre as well as the broader motifs of cultural myth. In addition, personal identities are frequently explored via graphic novel autobiography; these also treat broader concerns of culture that orbit issues of individual and collective identities. This special issue of the European Journal of American Studies will be co-edited by Pawel Frelik and Michael J. Prince, and will explore diverse expressions of American identities in the graphic novel and volume-length collections of comics series. 


Conference: The War of 1812 - Myth and Memory, History and Historiography


Date: Thursday 12 July to Saturday 14 July 2012

The conference on 'The War of 1812: Myth and Memory, History and Historiography' is a result of a partnership between the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London, the London Canadian Studies Association and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

All sessions will be held in the Senate House of the University of London, which is on Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU.

For more information, please contact either Phillip Buckner or Tony McCulloch.

If you wish for more details about registering for the conference, please go to the website of the Institute for the Study of the Americas

via TSA e-bulletins.

Monday, May 28, 2012

The Galway American Studies Forum Presents...

Destroying the ‘silver linings’:
The American media and the Vietnam War, 1968-71

With guest speaker Gavin Wilk, University of Limerick 

Tuesday, 5th June, at 12.30pm
in
The Moore Institute Seminar Room


Abstract: This paper will demonstrate through relevant examples how the American media, from the 1968 Tet Offensive to the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, offered a subjective and unfiltered view of the Vietnam War to the American public. During this period, the American media abandoned a previously close connection with the military and government and instead moved independently through various mediums to denounce the Vietnam War. This dramatic period transformed the way American journalists cover conflicts and also significantly altered the relationship between the American media, government and military officials.

About Gavin Wilk: A Visiting Lecturer in History at the University of Limerick, Gavin recently completed a PhD in History and was an IRCHSS Postgraduate Scholar from 2008-11. His thesis examines the militant Irish republican movement in the United States from 1923 to 1939 and focuses on the important role of Irish Republican Army (IRA) veterans in the US-based Irish republican movement. Gavin has completed a number of articles for reference works in American history, including a recent contribution of fourteen articles to the M.E. Sharpe publication, America in World History, an encyclopaedia which presents American history through an international context.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

CFP EXTENSION: Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference

University College Cork, Ireland,
July 9-12, 2012

The Chairman of the TSA, Prof Alan Dobson (University of Dundee and St. Andrews University) and Professor David Ryan (UCC) would like to extend an invitation to the 2012 Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference.

Our outstanding 2012 plenary guests are:
  • Professor Constance Post (Iowa State University)
    "Particles, Waves, and Fields:  Momentum and the Transatlantic Turn in Literary and Cultural Studies"
  • Professor Fredrik Logevall (Cornell University)
    ‘Same Bed, Different Dreams: France and America in Vietnam’
Panel proposals and individual papers are welcome for any of the general or sub-panels. A 300 word abstract of proposal and brief CV to panel leaders or to Alan Dobson a.p.dobson@dundee.ac.uk and David Ryan david.ryan@ucc.ie  by 31 May 2012.

IAAS Postgraduate BAAS Conference Bursary

From 2012, as part of a reciprocal arrangement with the British Association for American Studies (BAAS), the IAAS is introducing a new scheme for two awards to be made annually to two postgraduate members of the IAAS to travel to BAAS events: one award to attend and present at the BAAS postgraduate symposium (November), and the second to attend and present at the BAAS conference (April).

Each bursary will be to the value of £250.

Applications are invited from postgraduate and early career scholars (those in the first three years after the successful completion of the Ph.D.) normally resident in Ireland or Northern Ireland, and currently working at universities and institutions of higher education. All applicants MUST be IAAS members. Preference may be given to those who have had no previous opportunities for attendance at BAAS events.

Upon completion of their trip, successful recipients will submit a brief report on their experience, their conference presentation etc., for publication on the IAAS website.

For more information, or to apply, contact:
Dr Philip McGowan
School of English
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
Tel. +4428 90973261
Fax. +4428 90973334
Webpage: http://go.qub.ac.uk/McGowan

IAAS Postdoctoral/Early Career Research & Travel Bursary

From 2012, the IAAS is introducing a new scheme open to postdoctoral and early career members of the IAAS to assist with research and/or travel requirements (e.g. visits to archives, travel to conferences). The resources available, while modest, are aimed at making the difference between a successful applicant being able to travel to an archive or attend a conference, and not.  It is envisaged that grants will be supplemented by funds from other sources. The maximum monies available under this scheme each year will be €500. (Unclaimed monies in any year will be added to the available funds for the following calendar year.)

While there is no specific time limit for the duration of the award, the funds should be exhausted within the calendar year. It is not intended that the award should be used to supplement or extend much longer-term awards.

Applications are invited from persons normally resident in Ireland or Northern Ireland, and from early career scholars (those in the first three years after the successful completion of the Ph.D.) currently working at universities and institutions of higher education. All applicants MUST be IAAS members. Preference will be given to those who have had no previous opportunities for research-related visits to the USA, and to young scholars, including postdoctoral students. IAAS particularly welcomes applications from postgraduates needing to visit the USA for research purposes.

Upon completion of their research and/or travel to the USA, successful recipients will submit a brief report detailing how long they were in America, which resources they accessed, libraries and archives that they visited etc., for publication on the IAAS website.

For more information, or to apply, contact:
Dr Philip McGowan
School of English
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
Tel. +4428 90973261
Fax. +4428 90973334

Monday, April 30, 2012

GASF Inaugural Meeting: Minutes

1. Introduction
  • What American Studies has mean historically, and what it has come to mean in recent years.
  • The EXPLORE project, the NUI Galway Bright Ideas Initiative, and the Student Projects Fund.
  • Background to the formation of the forum - a place to try out ideas, discuss methodological issues and develop a community of scholars concerned with American Studies in NUI Galway.
  • Building a bridge between NUI Galway and the Irish and British Associations of American Studies.
  • Some ideas for special events.
2. The Scholars
  • We performed that embarrassing task of going around the room, introducing ourselves and our research, and discussing what we hoped to gain from the forum. These expectations included: helping to fill out gaps in each others knowledge; looking to scholars concerned with the U.S. to inform aspects of research on South American topics; seeking information on funding available for travel; publication and conference opportunities.
3. The Irish, British, and European Associations of American Studies
  • Having traveled recently to the BAAS Conference in Manchester, and the IAAS Conference in Cork, Rosemary gave a rundown of how these associations operate and the benefit of our involvement, particularly in terms of disseminating our research through conference papers and publications. 
  • The IAAS is very keen to rekindle links with NUI Galway. The GAS Forum will create a community of scholars in Galway concerned with American Studies, and through visiting speakers and participation in IAAS organised conferences, we can disseminate our research further afield. 
  • The GAS Forum will include researchers concerned with South America and Canada, not just the United States. In an inter-disciplinary forum debates about issues such as gender, ethnicity, and colonisation can be more well-informed if South American Scholars in particular are present. The inclusion of Canada and South American in the field is a topic of ongoing debate in the larger associations, however the members of GASF feel a continental approach is beneficial.
4. Conference and Publication Opportunities
  • NUI Galway could potentially host an American Studies Conference in the near future. Members of the forum could assist each other in hosting American Studies themed events.
  • BAAS has issued a call-for-papers for its Postgraduate Conference in November, Memory: America Past, Present and Future.
  • IAAS is accepting submissions for its journal, to be published biannually. Contact details will be posted shortly, upon confirmation.
 5. Funding Opportunities
  • One common concern of the scholars present was the issue of funding overseas travel.
  • GASF will endeavor to host information sessions in the coming months on the Fulbright Scholarship in September/October ahead of the November deadline, and other funding opportunities as they are advertised.
  • The IAAS may be able to assist postgraduate students who wish to travel to BAAS conferences in the UK. Further details to be posted when available.

Monday, April 23, 2012

2012 Presidential Elections in the United States: challenges and expectations

International Conference at the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland October 26-27, 2012

Call for papers

American presidency, the most important office in the U.S. political system, has long been considered as one of the most powerful political institutions in the world. Due to its enormous power and fact that its holder also symbolizes the United States as the country, the presidency gained a notion of an 'elective kingship'. Therefore recruitment process for the office had become a very much sophisticated and time-consuming process, that led journalist Arthur T. Hadley to coin it as 'irrational marathon'. Indeed, running a presidential campaign has nowadays been multivariable enterprise, which consumes vast amounts of time, energy and financial resources.
 To appeal to voters, presidential candidates plan their operations years in advance, building huge campaign organizations that cost more and more money from electoral cycle to cycle. As media reporters and crews are assigned to each person creating their exploratory committee to run a campaign, the presidential election process gains more audience nationally and worldwide. In this environment, again to borrow from Arthur T. Hadley, 'running for president has become a full-time profession' for everyone interested: candidates and their families, political consultants and operatives, media people, scholars and ordinary citizens, etc.
Within this context, we would like to hold a discussion on the ongoing issue of 2012 Presidential Elections in the United States. What are the problems that the next president is going to be challenged by? How are candidates expected to appeal to voters and what challenges they must meet on the contemporary campaign trail? What are the challenges of the modern campaigning and how the U.S. political system is expected to deal with them?

To discuss the phenomenon, we welcome panel and paper proposals for wide range of issues, including, but not limited to, American electoral system, presidential nomination and general election process & outcomes, campaign finance, electoral turnout and voting behavior, the role of media and new media, political communication and campaign rhetoric, election and political parties, interests groups and grassroot movements in the electoral process, and others.

All those wishing to participate are encouraged to send their proposals either for 15-20 minute presentations or whole group panels (abstract of max. 300 words + brief CV) by May 31, 2012 to 2012electionsconference@gmail.com. Authors of accepted submissions will be notified by July 1, 2012 at the very the latest.

Conference fee, that covers conference materials, coffee breaks & refreshments, lunches, official banquet dinner, and publication of post-conference volume, is 450 PLN (about 100 EUR), paid until September 1st, 2012 or 650 PLN (about 150 EUR), if paid later.


The Conference will be held at the old buildings of the Jagiellonian University in the beautiful historical center of Krakow.


Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the conference organizers, Paweł Laidler, PhD, and Maciej Turek, PhD, at
2012electionsconference@gmail.com.

Beyond the Myth: New Perspectives on Western Texts

David Rio, Amaia Ibarraran, and Martin Simonson, eds. Beyond the Myth: New Perspectives on Western Texts.  The American Literary West Series.
London: Portal, 2011. ISBN: 978-84-938360-7-8.

Classical notions of the West and associated images, symbols, and values retain their appeal for an important number of Americans, as well as engaging the imagination of an international audience.

However, despite the resilience of the myth, it may be argued that an increasing number of artistic portraits of the American West debunk traditional mythology, rejecting at the same time extreme reductionism to simplistic binary oppositions, such as the one between myth and reality. Instead, the main emphasis is on the West as a complex, interrelated, unfinished, and plural space, consisting of multiple meanings and often intercultural experiences and identities. In this globalized age of trans-oceanic studies the international and hybrid properties of western American culture have become more visible than ever. Most of the essays in this book support this shift towards transnational frameworks, both challenging reductionist regional and national perspectives and vindicating the point of view of the outsider. Adopting transnational perspectives does not mean neglecting the importance of regional and local studies that testify to the multiple and overlapping cultures and literatures existing in the American West. The book embraces a diverse literary western landscape, aiming to mediate between the regional and the global in order to understand a literature that, after all, claims to be both exceptional and universal. This volume also extends the analysis of western iconography to other artistic manifestations than writing, adopting primarily a postwestern approach.

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgements
  • Preface. Elegy and the Defiance of Elegy: Longing and Writing in the American West, by Gregory Martin
  • Introduction: Reconsidering Western Writing beyond the Regional Imaginary and its Mythic Borders, by David Rio
Part I: Continuity and Renewal
  • The Rural West as Frontier: A Myth for Modern America, by J. Dwight Hines David 
  • Guterson's The Other, the Doppelganger Tradition Visits the American North West, by Aitor Ibarrola 
  • That Boy Ain't Right: Jimmy Blevins, John Grady Cole, and Mythic Masculinity in All the Pretty Horses, by Maria O'Connell 
  • Western Images in Paul Auster's Work: from Moon Palace to Later Fiction, by Jesús Ángel González
Part II: Beyond Stereotypes
  • Affective Critical Regionalism in D.J. Waldie's Suburban West, by Neil Campbell 
  • Shoshone Mike and the Basques, by Monika Madinabeitia 
  • Revision of American Indian Stereotypes and Post-Indian Identity in Sherman Alexie's Flight, by Elisa Mateos 
  • The Pros and Cons of Writing Confessional Memoir in the Mormon Milieu, by Phyllis Barber
Part III: Cultural Transfers
  • Film and Chicano I/dentity in Tino Villanueva's Scene from the Movie GIANT, by Juan Ignacio Guijarro 
  • "Wagon Train to the Stars:" Star Trekkin' the U.S. Western Frontier, by Stefan Rabitsch  
  • From California to Jarama Valley: Woody Guthrie's Folk Banditry, by David Fenimore 
  • How Some of the West Was Lost in Translation: The Influence of Franco's Censorship on Spanish Westerns, by Carmen Camus
  • Notes on Contributors 
  •  Index

For further information or to order a copy, please check
http://education.portaleditions.com/libro_en.php?libro=4

Scholarships for Two Symposia at the Salzburg Global Seminar

The American Studies Network, a group of 18 American Studies Centers that operate within the framework of the European Association for American Studies (EAAS)is offering a half scholarship for a young American Studies scholar from an EAAS country to attend one of the following symposia that will take place at the Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Austria. Each of the two scholarships is for 325 Euro, which is one half of the symposium fee of 650 Euro. Travel expenses are not included.

American Studies Symposia at the Salzburg Global Seminar - 2012


1) Resistance and Readiness: Immigration, Nativism and the Challenge of Ethnic and Religious Diversity in the US and Europe Today - September 27-October 1, 2012 Distinguished specialists in the field will lead plenary sessions, panels and discussion groups looking at such topics as grounds for migration (push and pull factors), dichotomies between "natives" and "newcomers" and their significance in the US and Europe, identifies and distinctions between "they" and "we" as expressed in politics and in the art and literature of marginality, patterns of adaptation and integration -- and isolation, and the varied meanings of "tolerance". For more information about the program and speakers see
www.SalzburgGlobal.org/go/SSASA2012immigration

2) Screening America: Film and Television in the 21st Century - November 15-19, 2012 The symposium will concern itself with changes in the modern media and particularly in the film and television industries, and the ways in which film and television have reflected and engaged with America and abroad. In addition to sessions related to and the impact of films and television on individuals, sessions will explore their institutional effect on the arts, technology and politics of the US and ultimately their relation to the perception of America abroad. For more information about the program and speakers see
www.SalzburgGlobal.org/go/SSASA2012filmandtv

The ASN is sponsoring this award to acknowledge the important role played by the Salzburg Global Seminar in the establishment of American Studies in Europe since 1947, where the founding of the EAAS took place in 1954. Scholars who would like to receive the program announcement and apply for this award should send an email to Ms. Marty Gecek, Symposium Director, along with a brief cv and a personal statement about his/her interest in attending. mgecek@SalzburgGlobal.org

EJAS Special Issue: Wars and New Beginnings in American History

Rob Kroes and Jean Kempf, eds. “Wars and New Beginnings in American History,” special issue, European Journal of American Studies (2012).

War has been a defining moment in the history of nations and no more so than in the United States.  It gives the editors of EJAS great pleasure to present this excellent volume of essays focussed on the issue of American national rhetoric and American wars.  This volume is comprised of essays that were presented at a workshop on “Wars and New Beginnings in American History”, which took place in Dublin in 2010 at the biennial conference of the European Association for American Studies, or are invited contributions on the topic of American wars.
While these essays explore the rhetorical theme of renewal and rejuvenation they also add new insights into wartime rhetoric. This collection is well-conceived and the essays hold together in a clear, logical way, in great part due to the splendid work of the co-editors Rob Kroes and Jean Kempf. This collection clearly demonstrates the quality of the work being done by European scholars and their colleagues on the history of the United States.  The topic of war and America is, sadly, almost always current, which makes this volume particularly relevant and extremely topical.  I am sure that the readers of EJAS will enjoy this latest volume of the journal. — Jenel Virden, editor EJAS


Table of contents