Call for Papers

NAHA-NORWAY, Migration and Memory, Norwegian-American Dimensions - Telemark University College, Bø i Telemark, Norway, June 21–23, 2006

The ninth seminar of the Norwegian-American Historical Association, Norway Chapter, entitled “Migration and Memory: Norwegian-American Dimensions” will be held on June 21–23, 2006, at the Department of the Humanities and Cultural Studies, Telemark University College, Bø i Telemark, Norway.  As its theme title suggests, the seminar organizers welcome a wide range of topics within Norwegian-American studies. We are particularly interested in papers on subjects related to emigration / immigration and the construction of memory.

NAHA-Norway encourages seminar contributions based on many academic traditions.  Topics related to literary, linguistic, and religious studies, to history, social science, fine and folk arts, and cultural studies—as well as multi- and interdisciplinary approaches—are appropriate.  NAHA-Norway also emphasizes the need to see Norwegian-American Studies in the context of international migration and ethnic studies in general.  Presentations may be delivered in English or Norwegian and, except for invited lecturers, should not exceed twenty minutes.

Prospective speakers are invited to submit a half-page proposal and a one-page CV to NAHA-Norway Chairperson Dina Tolfsby, Norwegian-American Collection, National Library of Norway, Oslo Division; P.O. Box 2674 Solli, N-0203 Oslo; Norway, (dina.tolfsby@nb.no) or Associate Professor Øyvind T. Gulliksen, Telemark University College, N-3800 Bø i Telemark (oyvind.gulliksen@hit.no), by November 1, 2005. For further information please contact Dina Tolfsby or Øyvind T. Gulliksen. 

Those who wish to attend the seminar without giving a paper should also notify NAHA-Norway or Telemark University College at the above addresses to receive information (program, accommodations, registration).

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Critical Essays on Meena Alexander: A Call for Papers 

Contributions are invited for a collection of critical essays on any aspect of  Meena Alexander's work as poet, memoirist, novelist,
literary theorist, and thinker.

Critical essays examining Alexander's creative work using the methodologies of transnational feminism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, postcolonial theory, queer studies, narrative theory, cultural studies, and genre studies are welcome. We welcome essays examining interconnections between Alexander's poetic practice and thought with grassroots or pedagogic activism, as well as others that contextualize her contribution to the field of postcolonial and Asian American literatures.

Given below is a suggestive but not an exhaustive list of possible topics:

*    The Lyric in a Time of Violence
*    Transnational Feminist Poetics
*    Rethinking Indian Nationalism
*    Trauma and Language
*    Migration, Exile, and Home
*    US Race Relations and Multicultural Pedagogy
*    Postcoloniality, History and the Personal Essay
*    The Body and Memory
*    Memoir as a Genre
*    Autobiographical Fiction 
 

Please send abstracts of 500 words by email to Lopamudra Basu of University of Wisconsin-Stout at basul@uwstout.edu AND to Cynthia Leenerts of East Stroudsburg University at srcyn@aol.com by December 1, 2005.  Preference will be given to essays between 3000 and 4000 words

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Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies

Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies 32.1, scheduled to come out in January 2006, is inviting submissions. The special topic of this issue is “Animals.” We encourage contributions from both Taiwan and the international community addressing the widest possible implications of this topic from any perspective that is of interest to current literary and cultural studies. In addition to the special topic submissions, articles on other aspects of literature and culture are also welcome. The deadline for submissions to Concentric 32.1 has been extended to October 15, 2005. All correspondence should be addressed to Concentric Editor, Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University, 162 Hoping East Road, Section 1, Taipei 106, Taiwan, R.O.C.  [e-mail: concentric.lit@deps.ntnu.edu.tw]

Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies is a refereed journal published biannually (in January and July) by the Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University, located in Taipei, Taiwan. While foregrounding the Asian—and particularly Taiwan—perspectives, Concentric encourages all perspectives and approaches including comparative and interdisciplinary ones, and welcomes original contributions from diverse national and cultural backgrounds to address any of the many dimensions of literature(s) and culture(s). Concentric has been indexed by MLA International Bibliography and is ranked as one of the top five journals in the field of foreign literatures in Taiwan. For more information about the journal, please visit the journal’s website: http://www.eng.ntnu.edu.tw/concentric-literature/index.htm.

Concentric Staff

EDITOR

• Iping Liang, National Taiwan Normal University

EDITORIAL BOARD

• Pin-chia Feng, National Chiao Tung University

• Hsiu-chuan Lee, National Taiwan Normal University

• Sun-Chieh Liang, National Taiwan Normal University

• Yu-chen Lin, National Sun Yat-sen University

• Frank Stevenson, National Taiwan Normal University

• Tsu-chung Su, National Taiwan Normal University

ADVISORY BOARD

• Ronald Lynn Bogue, University of Georgia

• Vincent Cheng, University of Utah

• Yuan-wen Chi, Academia Sinica

• Ying-hsiung Chou, National Chiao Tung University

• Rey Chow, Brown University

• Wlad Godzich, University of California, Santa Cruz

• Gabriele M. Schwab, University of California, Irvine

• Te-hsing Shan, Academia Sinica

• Shu-mei Shih, University of California, Los Angeles

• Chen-hsing Tsai, Tamkang University

• Ban Wang, Rutgers University

• David Der-wei Wang, Harvard University

• Frank Webster, City University London

• COPY EDITORS

• Mary Goodwin, National Taiwan Normal University

• Frank Stevenson, National Taiwan Normal University

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

• Chiafung Lin, Chung-hao Ku, Chih-wei Yang

Manuscript Submission

1. Manuscripts should be submitted in English. Please send your manuscript, a 150-word abstract, a list of key words, and a vita as Word-attachments to concentric.lit@deps.ntnu.edu.tw. If you prefer, you may also mail us two hard copies of your paper, and an exact copy on an IBM-compatible diskette, preferably in Microsoft Word 7.0 format. Concentric will acknowledge receipt of your manuscript, but will not return it after review.

2. Manuscripts should be prepared according to MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Except for footnotes in single space, manuscripts must be double-spaced, typeset in 12-point Times New Roman, and printed on one side only of A4 paper.

3. To facilitate the journal’s anonymous refereeing process, there must be no indication of personal identity or institutional affiliation in the manuscript proper. Your name and institution should appear on a separate title page or in your vita. You may cite your previous works, but please do so in the third person.

4. The journal will not consider for publication manuscripts being simultaneously submitted elsewhere.

5. If your paper has been published or submitted elsewhere in a language other than English (e.g., Chinese), please give us that version (also two copies) as well as the English-language version. Concentric may not consider all manuscripts already available in other languages.

6. One copy of the journal and fifteen off-prints of the article will be provided to the author(s) on publication.

7. It is the journal’s policy to require assignment of copyright from all authors.

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Call for Papers for a Special Issue on Iranian American Literature

We are inviting proposals for a special issue on IranianAmerican Literature, projected for publication in 2008.

 

The explosion in memoirs written by Iranian women in the last few years has provided an unprecedented literary introduction into the lives and experiences of Iranians, whether exiles, immigrants, or in several cases, second-generation Iranian Americans.

This special issue of MELUS will focus on the emerging literature of Iranian Americans, (written by both women and men) and will explore the relationship between literature and Iranian immigration and the politics of US-Iranian relations in the second half of the 20^th century and the emerging literature of this community at the start of the 21^st century.  Possible topics might include:

 

Memoir and Women's Narratives

The Fiction of the Iranian Revolution

The Return Narrative to Iran

Growing Up Iranian/Growing Up American

Expatriates and Exiles

Iranian American Poetry

 

We welcome proposals that discuss the emergence of Iranian American literature (including Canada) and explore the role of literature in creating a public Iranian identity in North America. Please submit a 2-page abstract to Persis Karim at pkarim@helios.sjsu.edu and Nasrin Rahimieh at nasrin@mcmaster.ca by no later than April 15, 2006.

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Call for Papers for a Special Issue on Iranian American Literature

We are inviting proposals for a special issue on Iranian American Literature, projected for publication in 2008.  The explosion in memoirs written by Iranian women in the last few years has provided an unprecedented literary introduction into the lives and experiences of Iranians, whether exiles, immigrants, or in several cases, second-generation Iranian Americans.  This special issue of MELUS will focus on the emerging literature of Iranian Americans, (written by both women and men) and will explore the relationship between literature and Iranian immigration and the politics of US-Iranian relations in the second half of the 20^th century and the emerging literature of this community at the start of the 21^st century.  Possible topics might include:

• Memoir and Women's Narratives

• The Fiction of the Iranian Revolution

• The Return Narrative to Iran

• Growing Up Iranian/Growing Up American

• Expatriates and Exiles

• Iranian American Poetry

We welcome proposals that discuss the emergence of Iranian American literature (including Canada) and explore the role of literature in creating a public Iranian identity in North America. Please submit a 2-page abstract to Persis Karim at pkarim@helios.sjsu.edu and Nasrin Rahimieh at nasrin@mcmaster.ca by no later than April 15, 2006.

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CFP:  For a special issue of Studies in American Indian Literatures (Volume  19.1, Spring 2007) focusing on pedagogy:

 

The editors of this special issue invite submissions of articles that directly address pedagogical questions in the teaching of Native American literatures.

Potential topics include:

o       methods of teaching individual texts, including recently published and other "less canonical" texts;

o       teaching from oral traditions;

o       strategies for inclusion of non-literary cultural and historical background materials, information, and resources;

o       gender issues in the content and reception of particular texts;

o       religious identity and ceremony, including student response to critiques of Christianity;

o       interdisciplinary courses with Native American content;

o       teaching Native literatures in classrooms that include both Native and non-Native students;

o       teaching Native literatures at colleges or universities that lack Native American Studies programs;

o       meeting the particular needs of Native students;

o       teaching Native American literatures internationally;

o       research projects, student internships, and community-based learning projects that benefit Native communities;

o       public school programs in Native American literatures.

Submission deadline: December 1, 2005.

Notification: mid-January, 2006.

Final revision deadline: April 15, 2006.

Submit copies to each of the three guest editors as Word or rtf attachments: Lynn Domina, dominalm@delhi.edu; Susan Gardner, susangardner@earthlink.net;  Barbara J. Cook, bcook@mtaloy.edu

Added November 2005

CALL FOR PAPERS

Multi-Ethnic American Graphic Narrative 

In his book Reinventing Comics, Scott McCloud explores some of the problems concerning ethnicity and graphic narrative.  Not only does he argue for an increased awareness of ethnic and gender representation in contemporary comics, but he also highlights many of the ethnoracial concerns underlying the history of comics in the United States.  Using McCloud’s arguments as a springboard, MELUS plans on publishing a special issue devoted to multi-ethnic American graphic narrative.  The scope of this issue could include the theoretical, literary, and historical sweep of graphic narrative and its links to multi-ethnic discourse.  Possible topics could include, but are certainly not limited to:

 

·         The evolution of ethnic representation in comics since the 1980s (presented through the work of such artists as Gilbert and Jamie Hernandez, Adrian Tomine, Art Spiegelman, Ben Katchor, Kyle Baker, Ho Che Anderson, Howard Cruise, and R. Kikuo Johnson)

·         The coinage of “graphic novel” (by Will Eisner) as a literary form and its links to multi-ethnic expression

·         The growth of graphic novels as a vehicle of American ethnic expression in the wake of Art Spiegleman’s groundbreaking Maus

·         The ways in which recent films have adapted comic-inspired figures to explore the ethnic other

·         The impact of Japanese Magna on American comics and culture

·         Problems of ethnoracial representation in the underground comix of the 1960s

·         The uses of classic superheroes, historic and contemporary, as images of the ethnic outsider

·         Comic journalism, such as that found in the work of Joe Sacco, as a medium to explore ethnoracial conflicts

·         Tropes of the monster, mutant, or zombie as a figuration of “the alien”

·         Graphic narratives of the U.S. border, both in south (e.g., the work of Los Bros Hernandez) and in the Canadian north (e.g, the comic art of Seth, Julie Douchet, Ho Che Anderson, and Chester Brown)

·         The cross-fertilization of comics and more traditional fictional narrative (such as that surrounding Michael Chabon’s character, The Escapist)

 

All essay submissions should be between 5,000 and 7,500 words, including notes and works cited.  Contributors should format submissions based on the MLA Style Manual, 2^nd edition. Manuscripts emailed as attached MS Word files are strongly encouraged. If mailed, please send along a SASE if requesting return of copies.

 

Deadline for submission is June 15, 2006. 

 

Please address all manuscripts and queries about this special issue to:

Derek P. Royal

Department of Literature and Languages

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Commerce, Texas 75429-3011

E-mail: Derek_Royal@tamu-commerce.edu     /   Fax: 903-886-5980

 

Only members of The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States may publish articles in MELUS

 

For more information on MELUS and its journal, please visit the MELUS web site at http://www.melus.org

http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/droyal/melus.htm

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Call for Roundtable Participants: Demystifying the Dissertation
April 2006 Annual MELUS Conference, Florida

Email 1 page abstracts by 11/14/05 to kcardozo@english.umass.edu

The future of ethnic/literary studies depends upon the retention of diverse graduate students. General doctoral attrition rates range between 40-50%, and dissertation completion is often cited as a major obstacle in the humanities. At the same time, the dissertation process is often relegated to the informal or "hidden curriculum" of graduate programs. While some commercial guides exist, few formal disciplinary resources or structures orient students to the dissertation's scope, format, and process--even though the thesis is the scholarly foundation of an academic career and a crucial factor in hiring.

MELUS constituents might consider the following questions: does the privatized nature of the dissertation process have a disparate impact on nontraditional or historically underrepresented students (who may lack access to private academic networks?) And, given tensions between politics and poetics in the study of ethnic literatures: What are the politics of writing and completing an ethnic literature project in departments where these areas and/or ethnic faculty are underrepresented? How do "traditional" literary programs view interdisciplinary dissertations and how do ethnic studies programs view literary methodologies? What is the relation between a dissertation and one's future scholarly career?

I'm soliciting participants at all career levels (including graduate students) for an informative roundtable theorizing these important issues, as well as how improvement of dissertation practices could aid in the diversification of the academy. Email 1 page abstracts (for brief 5-7 minute roundtable remarks) regarding major problems as well as best practices surrounding the dissertation process by 11/14/05.

 

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Updated September 2005
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