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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Call for Papers: Transatlantic Studies Association, 13th Annual Conference



University of Ghent, Belgium
7 - 10 July 2014

In 1814 the Treaty of Ghent was signed, bringing to an end the War of 1812 between Britainand the United States. 1914 saw the outbreak of four years of devastation with World War I.To celebrate two hundred years of peace and alliance between Britain and the United Statesand the role of Europe in bringing it about, and to mark the remembrance of the First WorldWar, the TSA will hold its first annual conference outside Britain and Ireland in the city ofGhent, Belgium.
The Association's membership has always incorporated both North America and Europe, butit is the intention with this conference to welcome in particular the input and participation ofnew members from across these regions.
Anglo-American relations were central to transatlantic affairs through the 20th century, butother nations - Canada, Germany, Italy, France, the Scandinavian countries, Poland andCentral Europe, Turkey, the Iberian countries - have also played important roles in thisperiod. Any consideration of the contemporary transatlantic region must now also include therising powers of Latin America, and the increasing interactions between them, NorthAmerica, and Europe, be they cultural, political, virtual, or economic.


Panel proposals and individual papers that fit within the following themes are welcome:1. Literature and Culture2. Economics3. International History, Security Studies and IR4. Planning, Regeneration and the Environment5. Migration and Diaspora in the Atlantic World


Please send paper proposals (a 300 word abstract and brief CV) and panel proposals to theconference email: tsa.ugent@gmail.com


Deadline for panel and paper proposals: 1 March 2014


Please contact the local conference organisers for any additional information:Professor Gert Buelens Gert.Buelens@Ugent.beProfessor J Ken Kennard Ken.Kennard@Ugent.be
For further information on the Association please visit www.transatlanticstudies.com

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Donald Cameron Watt Prize


Applications are invited for consideration for the Donald Cameron Watt Prize.  The prize is awarded annually by the Transatlantic Studies Association for the best paper at its annual conference by an early career scholar.  Judging will be based solely on the written versions of the papers submitted, which may not necessarily be the delivery versions. Entries should be submitted by 31 May, preceding the annual conference in July. This is the final deadline and no late entries can be accepted. The full version of the paper must be submitted by this date. The delivery of the paper is not part of the assessment but candidates for the award must attend and deliver the paper at the conference. 
The prize for the best paper will be awarded at the conference dinner. In addition, the paper will automatically be sent out for refereeing for publication in the Journal of Transatlantic Studies providing that it has not been submitted elsewhere.

Value of Prize: £250

Early career scholar is defined as: a PhD student; anyone within 3 years of having been awarded a PhD; anyone who has a full-time appointment at a recognised higher education institution, but has not held the post for more than 3 years and does not fall into the doctoral category.

Papers should be submitted to Gaynor Johnson g.johnson@salford.ac.uk and to Alan Dobson ad98@st-andrews.ac.uk on or before 31 May 2013 for the annual conference in July 2013

Scottish Charity Regulator: TSA Charity Number SC039378

Publication: "A Contested West: New Readings of Place in the American West"

We are glad to let you know about the publication of the third volume in the "American Literary West" series (Portal Editions):

A Contested West: New Readings of Place in the American West

Edited by: Martin Simonson, David Rio, and Amaia Ibarraran
Paperback: 258 pages
Publisher: PortalEditions, S.L. (March 1, 2013)
ISBN-10: 8493970581
ISBN-13: 978-8493970581
http://www.amazon.com/A-Contested-West-Martin-Simonson/dp/8493970581/

As the title of the present book implies, this collection of essays is conceived of as a critical response to mainstream views of the American West. This third volume in the PortalEducation series The American Literary West discloses some of the many - and intriguingly different - accounts of the complex relationships between the West as a physical reality, on the one hand, and human inhabitation and interpretation of this territory, on the other. The subject, while far from new, is also far from being exhausted. In fact, it can never be, because the American West - as any other place - is a perpetual work in progress which is undergoing constant revisions. Thus, the essays of the present volume attempt to illuminate some of these new spots on the ever evolving map of the West, providing fresh perspectives on the struggle to penetrate the veil imposed by traditional accounts, and the urge to comprehend and to portray in writing a number of unique areas that have hitherto been invisible to the vast majority. The project of the writers under study is not only to produce literary archaeology, but first and foremost to offer new interpretations of old histories in a multi-faceted and changing contemporary reality.

Call for Papers: Anniversary Symposium on the Works of Toni Morrison

Where: SÖDERTÖRN UNIVERSITY, STOCKHOLM
When: Friday October 18 - Saturday October 19, 2013.

This interdisciplinary two-day symposium celebrates the work of the Nobel Prize Laureate, Toni Morrison, and explores how Morrison's work was approached in 1993 and how it is approached today, twenty years after the Nobel prize. In her works, Morrison examines the question of African American identity, the physical and psychological scars left by slavery on the African American body, the development of male and female voices in post-slavery societies, and how the Self moves from objectification to achievement of agency. The symposium asks how 20th-century scholars have examined Morrison's works and how we, in 2013, still consider her work fundamental in studies concerned with African American, American, feminist, and contemporary issues. Researchers, postgraduate students and academic staff from different disciplines are invited to participate. We welcome papers conforming to 20 minutes oral presentation time, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A.

Call for Papers: The African American Experience Since 1992

Where: University of Hull, UK
When: 20 September 2013

There is currently a call for papers for the conference "The African American Experience Since 1992" at the University of Hull, UK. The event is scheduled for 20 September and is being hosted jointly by the American Studies programme and the Wilberforce Institute for Slavery and Emancipation Studies (WISE) at the University of Hull. The conference aims to examine, explore and critically engage with issues relating to African American life and cultural representation in the post civil rights era.

We would like to encourage our EAAS colleagues to submit 250 word paper proposals (accompanied by a one-page CV) by the deadline of 31 May 2013.

For more details see: http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/american-studies/events.aspx

Call for Papers: Roots, Routes and Routs: American and British literature in the Long Eighteenth Century

When: July 1st & 2nd 2013
Where: Plymouth University

In recent decades, 18th-century American literary studies has undergone significant transformation: 'especially' since the ground-breaking work of Cathy Davidson's Revolution and Word and, more recently, Laura Doyle's Freedom's Empire, critical approaches to early American literature have been comprehensively re-examined, in ways that have not always been recognised in both scholarly communities. An important feature of this re-examination has been a shift towards the 'routes,' rather than the 'roots,' of early American prose, drama and poetry; accordingly, transnational frameworks of critical discourse have tested the limits of a more discrete national aesthetic.

Call for Papers: Edith Wharton Symposium

When: 22 and 23 August 2013
Where: Liverpool Hope University, UK
Organisers: William Blazek and Laura Rattray
Keynote Speakers: Pamela Knights and Gary Totten


Call for Papers: extended deadline 27 May 2013


We warmly invite papers on the life and work of Edith Wharton for an international symposium, co-sponsored by the Wharton Society, to be held in Liverpool in August 2013.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

"Freedom Proclaimed": The IAAS Annual Conference

"Freedom Proclaimed" the Irish Association of American Studies Annual Conference, will take place in University of Limerick from 26 - 27 April, 2013. 

Full programme available after the jump.


Call for Papers: IAAS Postgraduate and Early Career Scholar Conference


Transnational America(s)

When: May 18 2013
Where: Trinity College, Dublin

The IAAS postgraduate and early career scholar conference invites proposals for 20-minute presentations from across the disciplines of American Studies. 
Suggestions for topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
  • Exile, Migration, Expatriation and the "Exilic"
  • Heterotopia
  • Borderland Studies
  • Transnational Identity
  • Transnationalism and Empire
  • Sovereignty and Globalisation
  • Comparative Imperialisms/Exceptionalisms

Transnationalism holds particular resonance for American studies. Emerging from fragmented narratives of diaspora and fluid borders, it forms part of the foundational mythology of the United States. The term has a long history of use in racial dialectic, but its resonances permeate every aspect of contemporary (inter)national, cultural and economic identity.

Call for Papers: Unpopular Culture Conference


We invite scholars from all academic disciplines to submit a proposal on their variety of unpopular culture of choice—whether it be on Edgar Allan Poe or Stephenie Meyer, on Justin Bieber or Black Metal, on camp or hipsterism, on New Criticism or Queer Theory, on Atari’s E.T. or Duke Nukem Forever, on Birth of a Nation or Django Unchained, on Finnegans Wake or 50 Shades of Grey, or on anything that is unpopular or should be (or shouldn’t). Please send abstracts (or topical rants) of no more than 300 words, as well as a brief bio statement, to poehlmann[at]lmu.de by April 26, 2013.

Despite ongoing attempts to cross borders and close gaps, popular culture is still often construed in opposition to high culture in contemporary academic and non-academic discourses. Partly indebted to what could be labeled a ‘Birmingham-School-tradition’ of the study of the popular, scholars have repeatedly attempted to ‘deconstruct’ the popular by problematizing various binaries the study of popular culture might summon; especially with regard to processes of identity formation, agency, and political positionalities.

Yet the concept of popular culture itself also implies a dichotomy of a very different kind, and this conference seeks to explore the implications of this Other, an excluded middle that seeks to provide a new angle on popular culture: the unpopular. As an adjective, it can be used to describe either popular or high culture (and one might even define high culture by it), depending on one’s ideological perspective, but as a concept it offers a third term that complicates the other two, and that accordingly deserves more critical attention.

Call for Contributors: Encyclopedia of Asian American Culture

This two-volume encyclopedia, to be published by ABC-CLIO, covers the broad roots of Asian American culture including living traditions, rites of passage, folk culture, popular culture, subcultures, and other forms of shared expression. The essays explore the commonalities and variation of cultural expressions and provide readers with rich detail about the historical, regional, and ethnic/racial diversity within specific traditions.

The essays range from 1,000 to 2,000 words, depending on the amount of material. Generally speaking, the essays cover: history and origins; regional practices, traditions, and artifacts; expressive forms in contemporary culture; and further reading. In addition, essays also include sidebars (100-300 words) that highlight interesting facts, including but not limited to: biographies of key participants, scholars, or other important individuals; artifacts (lyrics, sayings, advertisements, invitations, material culture, etc.); and events (descriptions of particular aspects of the tradition, costumes, rituals, participant roles, etc.). 

The deadline is December 31, 2013.

Potential contributors should send the following information: full name, title, institutional affiliation, mailing address, email, and 2-page CV to the editor:

Lan Dong
Associate Professor
English Department, UHB 3050
University of Illinois Springfield
One University Plaza
Springfield, IL 62703

Email: ldong4[at]uis.edu

Upcoming British Library Events


The 18th Annual Douglas W Bryant Lecture: From Acadie to Arab Spring: Reflections on America's Place in the World

When: Monday 13 May 2013. Lecture 19.00 - 20.00, preceded by reception from 18:15
Place: Conference Centre, British Library

Born in the Acadian heartland of eastern Canada, BBC Presenter and Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet has been reporting from around the world for the past thirty years.

Her BBC work includes postings in Abidjan, Kabul, Islamabad, Tehran, Amman, and Jerusalem. In recent years her travel has often taken her to the Middle East, including Syria, as well as to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Lyse was educated at Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario) and the University of Toronto. Her work has won a series of journalism awards and she holds honorary doctorates from universities in both Canada and the UK.

Price: Free, but attendance is by prior reservation ONLY. Send an email to eccles-centre[at]bl.uk to reserve places. Tickets are not issued for this event so, for the guest list, please provide your full name and the name(s) of any companion(s).

Conference: Movies for Hard Times: Hollywood and the Great Depression

When: Monday 22 April 2013. 10.00-17.00
Where: Conference Centre, British Library

A one-day conference, with the participation of nine eminent scholars, who will analyze the Depression Era context of some classic movies, stars and studios. Among the subjects considered are Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Mickey Mouse, Chaplin's Modern Times and John Ford's Young Mr Lincoln.

Detailed programme and registration form http://www.bl.uk/eccles/events.html#hollywood
Price £20, includes refreshments and buffet lunch. Limited places so early booking advised.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Call for Papers: Ireland, Slavery, Antislavery, Empire Symposium


University College Dublin, 28-30 October, 2013

Confirmed Keynotes:
  • Richard Blackett, Vanderbilt University
  • Nini Rodgers, Queens University, Belfast

Call for Papers:
Nini Rodgers' Ireland, Slavery and Anti-Slavery, 1612-1865 (2007) demonstrated that slavery has had a dramatic impact both on the Irish who emigrated across the Atlantic and upon the economy at home. As significantly, for black abolitionists, Ireland occupied an important site both as a place of literal freedom and as a vehicle through which complex questions of race, freedom, equality, empire and political subjectivity might be explored. This symposium offers the opportunity to further these
discussions, and also to open debate on sometimes neglected relationships between Ireland
and Latin America, Brazil, Africa or India, and to the related complexities, ambivalences and contradictions that the context of empire introduces to discussions of slavery and anti-slavery more broadly.

Ireland, slavery, anti-slavery, empire invites papers or panels from across the humanities and social sciences, and from Hispano, luso, franco and Anglophone areas of scholarship, focused on the relationship between Ireland, slavery, and ethical culture in the context of empire(s) from the 17th into
the early 20th century. We also welcome papers on the memory, representation and challenges of that relationship in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Topics might include, but are by no means limited to:
  • Revolution or rebellion
  • Slavery in Irish literature or Ireland in Black literature
  • The archive
  • The Congo
  • The Caribbean, Africa, Indian, Latin America and Ireland
  • Missionaries
  • emancipation
  • Collection and curation
  • Labour
  • War and military service
  • American slavery
  • Religion 
  • Black activism and imperial space
  • Death
  • Travel writing/Exploration
  • The raced/gendered body
  • Slavery, empire and visual culture
  • Whiteness
  • Emigration/colonisation
  • Kinship
  • Remembering or forgetting slavery, including contemporary slavery, and empire.

Abstracts of c 200 words, and a brief biography,  should be sent to Fionnghuala Sweeney, Maria Stuart or Fionnuala Dillane by 16 June, 2013. Papers should be in English and of no more than 20 minutes duration.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Call for Papers: Transatlantic Studies Association



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 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 AlanDobson and Michael Cullinane.
Deadline – 30 April 2013.
The general panels, subpanels and panel leaders for 2012 are:
  1. Literature and Culture: Constance Post, and Louise Walsh
    Sub-panels:
    - Transatlantic Romantic Dialogues: Clare Elliott
  2. Economics: Fiona Venn, and Joe McKinney 
  3. History, Security Studies and IR: Alan Dobson David Ryan
    Sub-panels:
    - NATO: Ellen Hallams, and Luca Ratti, Ben, Zyla
    - Central and Eastern European Countries in NATO: Alliances, Politics, and Identity: Luca Ratti, Ben Zyla and Karolina MacLachlan
    - Ethnicity and security in the transatlantic world: David Haglund
    - The U.S. Pivot to Asia: Erwan Lagadec
    - Diplomats at War: The American Experience: Simon Rofe
    - Anglo-American Relations: Steve Marsh and Charlie Whitham,
    - Transatlantic Relations during the Second World War: Tom Mills and Gavin Bailey
    - Bringing South Borders In: Perceptions, Strategies and Political Action of Latin America and Africa in Transatlantic Relations: Alexandre Moreli
    - Transatlantic Approaches to Energy Security: John R. Deni
    - 40th Anniversary of the 1973 Oil and Middle Eastern Crises: Transatlantic Perspectives: Fiona Venn
  4. Planning, Regeneration and the Environment: Antonia Sagredo and Tony Jackson
  5. Migration and Diaspora in the Atlantic World: Tanja Bueltmann
    Sub-panels
    - The Anglican Church in the Atlantic World: Joe Hardwick
    - British Cultural Legacies in the Atlantic World: Tanja Bueltmann
For further information and the gateway for registration for the conference visit www.transatlanticstudies.com

Scottish Charity Regulator: TSA Charity Number SC039378

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The 2013 Sulgrave Manor Watson Chair Lecture


Richard Carwardine: "Abraham Lincoln, Irish Americans and the US Civil War"

This year marks the150th anniversary of President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. While the Emancipation Proclamation did not mark the ultimate fulfilment of the declared American principle that "all men are created equal", it was a major and remarkable step, providing a route to the post-Civil War Constitutional Amendments ending slavery, establishing equal rights under law, and protecting the right to vote.

The Emancipation Proclamation signaled that the war to restore the Union had become a struggle for a more profound freedom. Such significant steps present challenges to society. On 18th March 2013, one day after St Patrick's Day, Professor Richard Carwardine, world-renowned expert on Abraham Lincoln, and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, examines in particular the trenchant questions asked of the Union loyalism of the Irish American community by his bold and public redefinition of the North's war aims.

The 2013 Sulgrave Manor Watson Chair Lecture is sponsored by Sulgrave Manor, ancestral home of George Washington's family in England, and supported by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library.

When: Monday 18 March 2013 18.30-20.00
Where: British Library Conference Centre, London
Price: Free but by prior reservation ONLY.